The advertising industry is shifting to a more junior staff base, as mid level to seniors lose their jobs and new roles remain scarce.
Redundancies across the Australian digital advertising and adtech sector mean fewer jobs compared to 2023, according to the IAB – 2024 Industry Talent Report.
However, six in ten companies hope to increase head count in next six months
The Australian digital advertising and adtech industry job vacancy rate lifted slightly to 4.6% from 4.5% in 2024.
The talent report shows a significant shift in the level of experience companies are seeking, with more than three quarters of open positions targeting people with 1-5 years’ experience.
This aligns with a reported “juniorisation” of the advertising workforce. The most in-demand group are people with 3-5 years’ experience.
However, the report shows cautious optimism with more than six in ten companies looking to make modest increases to staffing levels, with only 11% looking to slightly decrease their workforce.
In a shift from 2023 when a range of companies indicated they thought AI may directly reduce the number of people in their teams, this year most companies are planning for AI to improve productivity without impacting current staffing levels.
The average salary increase over the last twelve months was 3.8%, down from 4.2%.
Overall, the cumulative increase in digital advertising specialist salaries over the last few years has increased the cost of talent significantly and Australia remains a premium job market with higher employee costs than many other markets.
“Over the last 12 months the digital advertising industry and ad tech talent market has felt the impact of ongoing global and local layoffs, but it is encouraging to see there’s increased optimism for modest increases in staffing levels from well over half of the industry," said Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia.
"As workforces become leaner in the executive ranks, there’s been a significant shift to the hiring of more junior members of staff.
"Unfortunately, there has been a dip in the number of women in senior management positions, although it’s encouraging to see continued positive movement in gender representation across the wider industry particularly in product and engineering roles.
"With the increase of less tenured employees who are experiencing rapid promotion, companies in the industry are looking to support and upskill staff in leadership and management skills.
"With the shift in composition in the workforce only 5% of the digital advertising and ad tech employees are now aged over 50 years of age.”
The report also found women holding senior management roles reduced to 34% from 38%.
However, female representation for commercial roles (which represent 45% of industry headcount) increased to 53% from 49% over the last year.
Females in product roles over the last few years has moved to 48% in 2024 from 36% in 2021.
While tech and engineering roles are still dominated by male employees, there has been an increase in females to 22% in 2024 from 13% in 2022.
Nearly half (48%) of organisations require most staff members to be in the office three days a week.
One in five (22%) have increased their part-time staff employee numbers over the last two years.
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