Like every other marketing function, media agencies too will face new challenges in adapting to a world where communication evolves dramatically and where paid media strategies have been replaced with a combination of paid, owned and earned media.

Here are three potential threats to the traditional (read: large) media agency:

1. Small agencies: Small agencies tend to be newer and less beholden to the older ways of doing business. It may be challenging for small agencies to develop and execute ideas, but at least they are free from the constraints of a legacy system. They can shift roles and deliverables based on the target audience and not on their internal business model.

2. Tech giants: With superior data mining and consumer insight management capabilities, there is an increasing fear in the industry that tech giants, like Google and Facebook will cut the agency out altogether and the continuous rise in their stock prices is a strong indicator that both creative and media agencies must challenge their own traditional roles.

3. Tech consultancies: Traditional media agencies are also facing new competition as technology consultancies, such as Accenture and IBM, offer executional platforms for digital ad campaigns along with their strategy consultancy businesses.

Extracted from 'The Changing Role of Media Agencies in Pakistan'. Read the full article in the Sep-Oct 2015 issue of Aurora. On newsstands soon.