Outlook
Part of Why rising automation and ASA enforcement reshape PPC agency buying decisions
Before you forecast PPC agencies skills, check where the numbers come from
A practical check on the evidence behind any PPC agencies skills forecast, covering ad experience standards, consent rules and where to raise market concerns.
What to take away
- The commonest mistake is treating a skills forecast as a list of tools. It should be a list of named, dated evidence sources.
- Three external checks anchor a credible forecastad experience standards, consent rules for remarketing, and the route for raising market concerns.
- Budget for the roles the rules create, not the roles a vendor deck promotes.
Why forecasts go wrong first
Most teams begin a skills forecast by asking which platforms will matter. That is the wrong end. The better question is which evidence you will accept as proof that a skill is rising in demand.
If you are still setting the wider frame, the PPC agencies trends and outlook for England in 2027 piece sets out the structural picture this forecast sits inside.
Three sources that change the skills list
Ad experience standards
The Coalition for Better Ads publishes a status page for the Better Ads Standards, the format rules it maintains for desktop, mobile web, mobile in-app and short-form video advertising, and says where they apply. Those standards shape which formats and page experiences perform, and therefore what a paid search team must be able to build and measure.
Three sources to check
- Ad experience standardsCoalition for Better Ads status
- ConsentICO direct marketing guidance
- Market conductreport to CMA via GOV.UK
Read the current Coalition for Better Ads status listing before assuming a format will keep working. A format that fails an ad experience standard can drag down the landing experience around it.
Consent and remarketing
The ICO's Direct marketing guidance covers lawful basis and consent for electronic marketing, including remarketing audiences built from paid search traffic.
Skills that depend on audience lists are only as durable as the consent behind them. The ICO direct marketing guidance is the reference to cite when forecasting demand for consent-aware audience work.
Market conduct
When a client believes an agency or platform has behaved anti-competitively, there is a formal route. The GOV.UK page Tell the CMA about a competition or market problem sets out how to report a problem to the CMA.
That route matters here in one narrow way. Agencies that can evidence buying decisions and fee structures are better placed when questions are raised.
A worked example with labelled figures
Take an illustrative agency with a monthly paid search retainer of £6,000 and £40,000 of media under management. Suppose it wants to add a specialist role at a fully loaded cost of £4,500 a month.
The role would take 75 per cent of the retainer, or £54,000 a year, against £72,000 a year of retainer income. That leaves the case resting on the cited sources. The Better Ads Standards point to format and page quality work, the ICO guidance to audience and consent handling, and the CMA route to evidence and fee documentation.
On these figures the role is defensible only if one of those skills is rising in demand on cited evidence. If none is, the role is a preference.
A second illustrative agency, billing £2,500 a month with £12,000 of media, cannot carry the same role. It might buy the capability in for two days a month at perhaps £700 a day.
Where to check the underlying numbers
Skills forecasts often borrow credibility from market data, and that borrowing must be visible. If a claim about headcount or spend comes from a survey, name the survey, its fieldwork date and the population covered.
The IPA Bellwether Report is one such survey. Published quarterly by the IPA, it covers a panel of UK marketing executives, and each edition states its fieldwork dates and the panel behind the figures.
PPC agencies 2027 trends: data and sources explains how to test whether a dataset is fit for that purpose before you build a hiring case on it.
Where a figure covers the UK as a whole, say so. Where it covers England only, say that instead.
Common questions
How many sources does a skills forecast need?
Three or four sources are usually enough. The test is coverage, not volume. Aim for one on ad experience, one on data and consent, and one on market conduct.
Can a forecast rely on platform documentation alone?
No. Platform documentation says what a tool does, not what a regulator expects. Pair it with a standards body or regulator before committing to a role.
What should trigger a forecast review?
A change to a source you have cited. If a standard is updated or consent guidance is revised, reopen the forecast and diary a quarterly recheck.
Does a skills forecast need a budget line?
Yes. A forecast without a costed role or a costed day rate is a wish list. Label every figure as illustrative unless a cited source provides it.
