Who murdered Madison Avenue?

Who murdered Madison Avenue?

August 11, 2026 · 45 min · Episode 471

About this episode

Michael Farmer discusses the challenges in ad agency economics and the evolution of advertising business models over the past 30 years.

How did ad agency economics become so challenging? Fee-cutting and low growth are part of the equation, but the roots of the issue go back decades. Ad industry analyst and author Michael Farmer joins WARC's David Tiltman to discuss his new book 'Madison Avenue Revisited' and offer his take on 30+ years of change to advertising business models, including the impact of dysfunctional client-agency relationships, increased creative workloads and AI.

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