How many marketing agencies are there in the UK?

There are 87,654 active marketing agencies with a registered office in the UK, according to Companies House records. 30,837 of them are not dormant and have filed accounts in the last 21 months (data to 31 Jan 2026).

These figures last changed on 9 Oct 2026 and were last checked against the data on 9 Oct 2026.

Active companies: 87,654
With recent accounts, not dormant: 30,837
Employees reported in accounts: 70,180
Median net assets: £5,676
Data as of: 31 Jan 2026

Of the 87,654 active marketing agencies registered in the UK, 6,187 are dormant and 30,837 are not dormant and have filed accounts in the last 21 months. The figures below describe those 30,837 companies, unless a table says otherwise.

Together, the 21,682 companies that reported at least one employee reported 70,180 employees in their latest accounts. The median among them is 1.

By size of accounts

Marketing agencies in the UK by accounts category
Accounts category	Companies	Share
Micro-entity accounts	16,678	54.1%
Small company accounts	14,066	45.6%
Medium company accounts	7	0.0%
Medium or large company accounts	2	0.0%
Category not known	84	0.3%

The category is the type of accounts a company filed, which follows its size. Micro-entities are the smallest.

By number of employees

Marketing agencies in the UK by average number of employees
Average employees	Companies	Share
None or not reported	9,155	29.7%
1 to 4	19,041	61.7%
5 to 9	1,359	4.4%
10 to 49	1,154	3.7%
50 to 249	128	0.4%
250 or more	0	0.0%

Average employees in the latest accounts. Many small companies have no employees other than their directors, or do not state a number.

By age

Active marketing agencies in the UK by years since incorporation
Years since incorporation	Companies	Share
Under 2 years	38,501	43.9%
2 to 4 years	16,347	18.6%
5 to 9 years	16,974	19.4%
10 to 19 years	11,463	13.1%
20 years or more	4,369	5.0%

All active companies, dormant ones included.

By year of incorporation

Active marketing agencies in the UK by year of incorporation
Incorporated in	Companies
2021	4,288
2022	4,918
2023	6,777
2024	8,949
2025	16,239

Companies incorporated in each year that are still active. Companies that have since closed are not counted, so these are not the numbers formed in each year.

Typical figures

Median figures for marketing agencies in the UK, with the number of companies each median is taken from
Figure	Median	Companies reporting it
Net assets	£5,676	24,466
Employees (companies with one or more)	1	21,682
Cash at bank	£17,963	12,010
Cash at bank per employee	£10,731	9,707
Fixed assets per employee	£1,461	10,921

The median is the middle company: half report more and half report less. Each median covers only the companies that reported that figure, so it describes those companies and not every company in the industry. A median is shown only when at least 30 companies reported the figure.

10,340 of the 21,238 companies with net assets for two consecutive years (48.7%) reported higher net assets than the year before.

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How these figures were produced

Industry

Companies with any of these SIC codes on their Companies House record:

73110 – Advertising agencies
73120 – Media representation services
73200 – Market research and public opinion polling
70210 – Public relations and communications activities

Location

Every company on the UK register, wherever its registered office is.

Active companies

Companies whose status at Companies House is active. Dissolved companies are not in the data.

Recent accounts

Accounts made up to a date in the 21 months before 31 Jan 2026, the newest accounts date in the data.

Registered addresses

11,008 of the 30,837 companies with recent accounts (35.7%) are registered at an address shared by 50 or more companies, such as an accountant's office. Those companies may trade somewhere else.