B.C.’s top digital media agencies have struggled during the pandemic, according to data on Business in Vancouver’s Biggest Digital and Media Agencies in B.C. list (https://biv.com/lists).
Employment at B.C.’s largest agencies peaked in early 2020 before the pandemic hit North America. In 2020, the average number of B.C. employees reached a high of 78.7 and has fallen each year since. This year, the average employee count fell 22.2 per cent to 58.3 in 2022 from 74.9 in 2021.
The median number of employees showed signs of decline prior to the start of the pandemic, peaking in 2019. However, the median did not drop as much as the average during the pandemic, suggesting that smaller digital agencies lower on the list weathered the storm better than larger companies higher on the list.
In the longer term, many digital agencies have shown significant employment growth. For the top five digital agencies with at least five years of data available, the average employee growth was 37 per cent. No. 1 BroadbandTV had the largest five-year increase in B.C. employment: up 92.3 per cent to 400 employees in 2022 from 208 in 2018. No. 7 Major Tom Agency Inc. had the steepest five-year decline of top companies with complete data available: down 22.4 per cent to 45 in 2022 from 58 in 2018.
B.C.’s largest public relations firms, meanwhile, have bounced back after struggling through the first year of the pandemic according to data collected on Business in Vancouver’s Biggest Public Relations Companies in B.C. list (page 12).
The average number of B.C. employees working at the province’s top public relations companies peaked in 2019 at 17.4.
After decreasing slightly in 2020, average employment sank an additional 5.5 per cent by 2021 during the first year of the pandemic. Average employment rebounded in 2022 by 6.2 per cent but did not return to its 2019 high. Median employment followed a similar trend, peaking in 2020 then falling during the first year of the pandemic and recovering by 2022.
Over the past five years, B.C.’s top five public relations firms grew an average of 37.1 per cent.
No. 2 Hill + Knowlton Strategies Canada had the largest five-year growth among the top five. The company more than doubled its employee base with an increase of 123.1 per cent in 2022 from 2018. •
