Automation turns up the heat on IT firms’ digital marketing units
As automation and GenAI accelerate creative output, IT-backed marketing units from TCS to Info Edge and Accenture are facing pressure on hiring, pricing and long-term viability.
MUMBAI: Automation tools are rapidly reshaping the economics of digital marketing and creative services. Tasks that once required teams of designers, website builders and editors are now being completed in minutes, cutting both billing cycles and the need for large production teams at some of the world’s biggest IT and advertising-linked firms.
The shift is already evident among Indian IT companies that built agency-like businesses after 2017 to ride the digital boom. Now, with automation lowering costs and accelerating creative output, the long-term viability of these units is coming under question.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Info Edge (India) Ltd, which owns Naukri, and Accenture Plc are among the firms seeing softer demand for human-led creative work as clients increasingly rely on automated and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)-driven tools.
A spurt in the usage of automation tools is expected to dent career prospects for thousands of website developers, photo editors and web creative specialists eyeing jobs in the world’s largest marketing and ad firms. Executives say the work itself is being reshaped.
“We run ads, for example, on Instagram, on Facebook, and on Google. Previously, we would experiment with a few creatives and take them live. It used to take a lot of effort and time and effort to make new creatives. Now you can use GenAI tools to create new creatives on the fly. You can create thousands of them very quickly and experiment with them," said Hitesh Oberoi, chief executive of Info Edge, during the company’s post-earnings analyst call on 12 November.
Naukri ended last quarter with ₹828 crore ($92 million) in revenue, down 0.5% sequentially.
A similar sentiment was echoed within TCS, with an executive saying automation is also influencing hiring for TCS Interactive, the company’s marketing and digital services arm.
“Automation is making everything simpler. Cut-outs that would take hours are now being done within a matter of minutes because of automation. Even the number of people we hire is expected to be lesser than last year because of auto-generated content," said a TCS executive on condition of anonymity.
TCS Interactive houses upwards of 15,000 people, according to the TCS executive. However, Mint could not independently ascertain Interactive’s revenue. TCS ended the July-September quarter with $7.47 billion in revenue, up 0.6% sequentially.
An email sent to TCS on Monday went unanswered.
Industry reset
Across the industry, global leaders are facing similar pressures. TCS Interactive is overshadowed by Accenture Song, the world’s largest digital marketing firm, which is also reworking its delivery model due to rapid AI adoption, according to two executives.
“There is no doubt that automation is applying downward pressure on traditional marketing and creative services pricing. Clients know that GenAI can generate copy, images, and campaign variations at a fraction of historical cost. This reduces the willingness to pay for large production teams," said Phil Fersht, chief executive of HFS Research, a Massachusetts-based IT research and advisory firm.
Accenture Song reported $20 billion in revenue last year, accounting for just over a fourth of Accenture’s full-year revenue of $70 billion.
Fersht added that every agency and digital marketing business is being forced to shift from labour-heavy delivery to outcome-focused work.
A second expert voiced a similar opinion.
“Like other segments of the industry, the marketing segment which Song targets has been flat. A significant driver of the absences of growth has been the compression of revenues caused by the more efficient and productive AI delivery models," said Peter Bendor-Samuel, chief executive of Everest Group, a Texas-based IT research firm.
Bendor-Samuel added that Accenture would have to grab more business from rivals “just to keep revenues at their existing levels which in turn sets up very aggressive pricing and strong head winds for growth."
TCS Interactive and Accenture Song provide digital and marketing services to clients, including building user interfaces for clients’ websites and marketing their products and services.
The pressure created by AI-driven efficiencies has also contributed to consolidation across the global advertising sector. Omnicom acquired Interpublic Group for about $13.5 billion in November and is now about to slash about 4,000 roles. Interpublic Group already laid off 3,200 employees in the first nine months of 2025, according to a Financial Times report.
Together, Omnicom ended last year with $15.69 billion in revenue and with the IPG acquisition, its total revenue is expected to be about $26 billion, which makes it a little smaller than TCS, which ended last year with $30.18 billion in revenue.
Fersht added that companies would have to use lesser traditional creatives and coordinators, more AI-fluent strategists, designers, data specialists, and industry experts if they were to gain market share in the digital advertising landscape.
topics
