What changed
Agencies are moving away from fixed monthly retainers because AI has made production cheaper and faster. According to Viet Nam News and Media OutReach Newswire, 27% of agencies have already faced client requests to cut prices, and about half expect this pressure soon. The new model is a base fee plus a percentage of revenue attributed directly to agency work.
This is not just a trend. Agencies are reporting that AI has a positive effect on revenue, with 65% seeing gains, and many are building new AI-driven revenue streams. Touchmkt's live SMB pricing now uses a 5-9% revenue share on attributed sales. The industry is admitting that fixed retainers no longer reflect the real value or cost.
For operators, this means you will hear new pricing language from every agency you work with. The market is catching up to what we have built since day one: pricing tied to outcomes, not hours or outputs. If your process is still manual, you risk paying for a model that no longer matches how the work gets done.