Agency Scope China 2025/26 | A multi-partner ecosystem with no single lead agency

Scopen has just finished a new wave of the Agency Scope Study in China and found that the Chinese market is structurally organised around multi-partner ecosystems. Pictured: Zhujiang River and modern building of the financial district at night in Guangzhou, China. (Image source: © 123rf 123rf)

Rather than relying on a single creative lead, marketers favour media-led coordination models that prioritise data, performance, agility and platform integration.

At an international scale, the presence of a lead agency varies significantly across markets.

While the global average stands at 41%, China data shows the lowest results, with only 19% of marketers declaring that they currently work with a lead agency.

Compared to other markets, China sits well below countries such as the United Kingdom (68%), South Africa (70%), Brazil (45%), Colombia (46%) and Mexico (41%), and even below markets with traditionally fragmented ecosystems such as Spain (32%), Chile (28%) and Argentina (24%).

Compared to the previous edition, China’s figures represent a decrease of 11 percentage point change, confirming a clear shift towards multi-partner models rather than lead-agency coordination.

The decline of the traditional creative lead agency model in China (among other markets where Scopen conducts this study) reflects the increasing complexity and speed of execution required in the market.

Marketing budget

The estimated average marketing-communications-media budget among respondents is RMB 300.6M (2025 average) (approx. $44,3M).

In terms of budget size profile: 15% are big companies (above RMB 450M), 50% are medium-sized advertisers (from RMB 50M to 450M) (approx. $7,4M - $66,3M), 23% are small advertisers (below RMB 50M) (approx. $7,4M) and 12% declare they do not have a budget (or do not want to share it).

Marketing budgets in China are mainly allocated to Media & Social (47%), followed by Branding & Creative (23%) and Experiential Marketing & Conversion (21%). Customer Operation & Tech (CRM, Data & Martech) represents 8%.

Partners

On average, marketers in China work with 12.2 different partners/agencies to cover their marketing, communication, advertising and media needs.

This ecosystem is built around a mix of partner types, with the highest number of partners coming from IMC agencies (2.5) and influence agencies (2.1), followed by commerce agencies (1.9) and digital & social agencies (1.8).

In addition, marketers collaborate with digital platforms (1.6), media agencies (1.4), and other partners (1.0).

External sources of information

When marketers in China create a long list of potential creative and/or media agencies, they rely primarily on sources that are external, rather than having direct contact with agencies.

Agency rankings-awards, credentials-cases, and recommendations from colleagues emerge as the three most used sources of information, confirming the importance of visibility in the marketplace and third-party validation at the earliest stage of the selection process.

Compared to the previous edition, the growing role of rankings, awards, and consultants’ input indicates a search for objectivity and risk reduction in an increasingly atomised and competitive agency landscape.

In contrast, owned media such as Agency websites or direct interaction with Agency professionals remain marginal when building long lists, suggesting that marketers prefer independent and external references at this stage.

About Agency Scope China

Scopen conducts the Agency Scope Study in China in collaboration with global independent consultancy R3.

This China Marketing Trends Study follows over six months of in-depth interviews with nearly 300 market leaders and senior marketing professionals.

The marketing executives interviewed are top executives from the most important advertising companies in China, including users and investors of professional marketing, communication, and advertising services.

The 2026 sample is strongly concentrated in Shanghai, with a more senior and experienced respondent profile than in the previous edition.

Interviewees are predominantly senior marketing decision-makers, with a higher representation of marketing directors and media directors, while digital directors decline.

Respondents show longer tenure, both within their companies and in their current roles, reinforcing the strategic nature of the sample.

The study remains largely driven by multinational companies, although Chinese multinational brands are gaining some weight.
From a sector perspective, FMCG dominates the sample, with growth in categories such as beverages and retail/apparel and telecoms, while durable goods decline slightly, confirming a broad but consumption-led industry mix.

The report highlights key insights related to the challenges faced by market leaders, their expectations and requirements for collaboration, and the evolving relationships between market leaders and agencies.

The primary value of Agency Scope is to provide subscribing agencies and other communication partners with first-hand information regarding the needs of their existing and prospective clients.

This report provides them with a unique tool to improve and supply new services as it covers the main findings and trends in the communication and marketing sector and, more specifically, the perception and image of their company in comparison to other agencies and communication partners that Chinese marketing professionals work with.

Agency Scope China 2025/26 is the 11th edition of the study in the country.

In this edition, 288 professionals from 212 different companies were interviewed, and 837 client-agency relationships were analysed.

The fieldwork took place between September 2025 and January 2026.

Agency Scope is also conducted in 10 other markets, enabling the inclusion of global benchmarks in some key criteria.