With 2025 seeing the mega-merger between Omnicom and IPG now complete, WPP consolidating its media agencies under WPP Media, and more consolidations in the pipeline, for our year-ender series, we asked experts to share 'the one consolidation they see happening in 2026'.

Here's what Bhawika Chhabra, managing director, Toaster INSEA, had to say:

Only time will tell what the impact of 2025’s biggest consolidation will have on the marketing landscape. But going forward into 2026 I expect to see a shift toward fewer, more integrated partnerships rather than larger organisational structures.

As holding companies race to fuse creative, media, data, and production into ever-larger ecosystems, they risk mistaking scale for relevance. Clients aren’t walking away from networks because they lack capabilities; they’re walking away because those capabilities are slow, conflicted, and increasingly indistinguishable. The real consolidation ahead is a quieter one: brands consolidating their trust, budgets, and long-term partnerships with fewer, more focused independent agencies.

What’s interesting is that networks already know this. Every acquisition of an indie, a specialist shop, or an AI startup is an admission that originality, speed, and ownership don’t survive well inside monoliths. Yet instead of redesigning themselves around those qualities, they keep getting bigger.

In 2026, I expect the most meaningful consolidation to happen on the client side - CMOs simplifying their rosters, prioritising agencies that feel founder-led, conflict-free, and deeply accountable to business outcomes. Independents that combine strategic clarity with modern data and content capabilities will win disproportionate share, not by offering everything, but by offering exactly what’s needed.

Ironically, the future isn’t end-to-end empires. It’s tightly aligned partnerships. The agencies that grow next won’t be the ones that own the most pieces, but the ones that connect the right ones with intent.