The top three markets with the highest investment ratios are Argentina, India, and Spain, with Chile ranking fourth.
This is according to Scopen’s fifth edition of its Agency Scope study in Chile.
The results provide a comparative analysis with previous editions in Chile and offer insights benchmarked against findings from other markets.
When asked how they distribute their budgets across different disciplines, marketing professionals indicate: Digital (49.3%), ATL (Above The Line) (37.1%), and BTL (Below The Line) (15%).
The budget allocated to Digital has nearly quadrupled over the past 13 years (from 12.4% in 2012 to 48% in 2025).
Among all markets covered by the study, Chile ranks fourth in terms of the share of the Marketing-Communication-Advertising budget allocated to Digital, following China (50.1%), Brazil (49.4%), and Mexico (48.8%).
Within digital specialties, 67% of the investment goes to Paid Media, Social Media & Influencers—a figure that has remained stable over the past two years.
In Chile, 61.1% of advertisers currently work with specialised agencies across different disciplines (Advertising, BTL, and Digital), while 31.1% work with an integrated agency that addresses multiple needs under one roof.
The remaining 7.9% report working with both types of agencies.
However, the preferred agency model for the future does not align with the current reality. A greater proportion of advertisers—55.6%, express a desire to work with an integrated agency moving forward.
This model allows for centralised resource management and a unified brand vision, combining digital, data, and technology capabilities to enable faster, more coordinated, and more effective execution.
At the international level, two distinct trends emerge: in countries such as Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, and South Africa, there is a stronger preference for integrated agency models; whereas in Argentina, Colombia, Spain, the United Kingdom, China, and India, advertisers show a greater inclination to continue working with specialised agencies.
Among the disciplines that marketing managers consider crucial for their companies, the top five are Strategic Planning, Creativity, Media Planning, Research, and Data.
Chile leads globally in the duration of relationships between advertisers and creative agencies.
The average length of an advertiser’s relationship with their creative agencies in Chile is 6.2 years (up from 5.3 years in 2023), positioning Chile as the global leader (global average: 4.8 years). Portugal and South Africa (5.7 years), Colombia (5 years), and the United Kingdom (4.9 years) also exceed the global average.
In other Latin American countries, Argentina (4.6 years), Mexico (4.5 years), and Brazil (4.2 years) fall below the average, while China continues to have the shortest advertiser-creative agency relationships, averaging 3.1 years.
For media agencies, the average relationship length is slightly higher, increasing from 5.4 years in 2023 to 5.5 years in 2025 (the global average is 5.1 years).
Mexico exceeds the average with 5.2 years, while Argentina and Colombia fall below with 4.8 and 4.5 years, respectively.
Portugal leads globally with an average of 6.6 years of advertiser-media agency partnerships.
The data indicates that long-term relationships yield better results.
The majority of Chilean advertisers maintain ongoing relationships with their agencies (91.3%), with only 8.7% working on a project-by-project basis—a figure similar to that recorded in 2023 (89.9%).
China is the market with the highest proportion of project-based work (41.5%).
On average, each marketing professional in Chile now works with eight different partners to address their Marketing, Communication, and Advertising needs,two more than reported in the 2023/24 edition.
These include: Advertising Agencies (2.2), BTL Agencies (1.7), Digital Agencies (1.2), Media Agencies (1.1), PR Agencies (0.8), and Marketing Divisions within Consulting Firms (0.4).
Frederic Messina, research manager at Scopen and head of Agency Scope, Chile, says that although in the latest edition of the Cannes Lions Festival Chile only won two bronze awards, advertisers perceive agencies as more creative than ever, and that is a great success because outstanding campaigns have been developed in recent years.
“It is worth highlighting that many of these campaigns belong to local brands, and even campaigns from the Chilean government appear in the Top 10.
“Advertisers recognise that they are increasingly betting on creativity and innovation, which will undoubtedly contribute to agencies producing work with greater international projection and recognition.
“The CREA Awards have gained visibility and prestige following their latest edition and are also helping to increase the visibility of talent within agencies”.
Meanwhile, César Vacchiano, president & CEO of Scopen says that in this fifth edition of Agency Scope in Chile, the fragmentation of the industry and the large number of agencies operating in a market where advertiser fees are among the lowest in the world is evident.
“In this context, it is difficult for agencies to operate and meet the growing demands of clients without significant possibilities to strengthen their capabilities due to such tight remuneration.
“The fact that clients are increasingly valuing the creativity and ideas of agencies will undoubtedly contribute to fee increases”.
While this is the fifth edition in Chile, the study has already been carried out 10 times in Brazil, is now in its eighth edition in Argentina and Mexico, and has reached its 24th edition in Spain.
Fieldwork for this edition was conducted between December 2024 and March 2025, with a total of 414 professionals interviewed.
Of these, 230 work for advertiser companies (representing 166 different companies), and 184 work at agencies—130 in creative agencies and 54 in media agencies.
This is the second time that agency professionals have been included in the study in Chile.
Among the marketing professionals interviewed, nearly all are based in Santiago (97%) and 61% are women.
On average, they are 40 years old, have been at their current company for just under four years, and in their current role for over six.
Most are executives at foreign multinational companies (48%), with the majority operating in the Services (50%) and FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) sectors (35%).
Agency Scope is the only study of its kind in the sector.
Its key value lies in offering participating agencies first-hand insights into their clients’ evolving needs, becoming a strategic tool for identifying growth opportunities, improving performance, and developing new services.
Conducted every two years across 11 key markets worldwide (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Spain, India, Mexico, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and South Africa), the study analyses advertising industry trends with the objective of understanding the processes, perceptions, and performance of the agencies that advertisers work with.
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