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I’d separate execution from ownership here. If spend is high enough that percentage fees feel stupid, the answer is usually not agency vs in-house… it’s who owns strategy, tracking, creative feedback, and revenue accountability.
For high-spend accounts I work on, the best setup is often hybrid –> internal person owns context, approvals, product, sales feedback, and reporting rhythm — outside specialist handles media buying, testing structure, channel expansion, and ugly account decisions.
A full-time hire only makes sense if they can actually think across Google, Meta, YouTube, tracking, landing pages, attribution, margin, and pipeline. Most in-house hires become dashboard babysitters if leadership expects one person to replace a serious media function.
Also, AI changes the job but doesn’t remove the job. It can summarize data, flag anomalies, analyze search terms, speed up reporting, and find patterns. It still doesn’t know your board pressure, CAC ceiling, gross margin, close rate, or which leads sales secretly hates.
For larger budgets, I’d rather pay for senior judgment than cheaper hands.
