Agency profitability is an uphill climb. Promethean Research’s 2026 State of Digital Services survey puts the average digital agency’s after-tax net margin at about 13% in 2025. That is down from about 14% in 2024 and below a long-run average of roughly 15%. The same research shows average project margins around 35%, so a large share of margin disappears between delivery and the bottom line. Size matters too: reported net margins fall from about 19% at studios under 10 people to about 12% at 10 to 24 people, 9% at 25 to 49, and 8% at 50 or more.

Some agencies do much better. Predictable Profits’ 2025 benchmark of more than 300 agencies found that eight-figure agencies average 25% to 32% net margins and seven-figure agencies average 18% to 22%. Those top-tier figures describe larger agencies, not specialists in general.…