National Agency Report Cards: How the Report Cards Work

After years of evaluating ad agencies based on billings, we have added data on agency revenues and staff. This is a critical change, since the era of the fixed commission has largely ended and many clients use fee payments instead. And with the unbundling of full-service accounts, the true meaning of billings has faded. We still include them, because agencies continue to use them as a reference point for accounts and size. But our principal tool now is revenues, which are more reliably comparable.