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 Aditya Premani, co-founder and head - social, Social Pill, had to say: 

“If there’s one thing 2026 is going to make very clear, it’s that the agency ecosystem can’t keep operating in fragmented pockets anymore. Everyone, from legacy networks to newer digital players, knows the model needs a reset. What consolidation will really do next year is force the industry to rethink how different kinds of teams work together, and more importantly, who should be leading the evolution.

Interestingly, the most meaningful shift won’t come from networks merging with each other. It will come from networks absorbing the parts of the industry that currently hold all the cultural momentum. I’m talking about creator-first and influencer-led teams, the ones that have quietly become indispensable to how brands speak to India’s young, digital audiences. They move faster than traditional agency structures, they understand internet culture instinctively, and they’ve built operating models around agility, not hierarchy.

At the same time, these teams have reached a point where scale matters. India’s creator economy has grown exponentially over the last three years, but what it lacks is the infrastructure and long-term client access that agency networks have spent decades building. That gap is exactly where consolidation makes sense.

Legacy networks also stand to benefit the most. Partnering with younger, digital-native teams gives them a pathway to reinvent themselves without losing the strengths they’re known for. Meanwhile, agencies that already think and operate in a modern way will treat consolidation as acceleration rather than disruption.

So the consolidation I see ahead isn’t just operational, it’s cultural. And the merger of creator ecosystems with large networks is what will ultimately.”

Also read:

'If the last cycle favoured scale, the next one will reward precision and sharper thinking'

'Brands are consolidating their trust, budgets, long-term partnerships with independent agencies'

'Consolidation won't shrink agencies; it will rewire them'

'Creativity, culture, and taste won't consolidate; they'll collaborate'