In-house marketing teams have long ceased to be a temporary trend – today they are the standard for big business. According to a thematic study by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) titled "The Continued Rise of the In-House Agency," by 2023, 82% of companies had in-house teams (58% in 2013, 42% in 2008). The association forecasts further growth to 85–90%. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
This shift is driven by three factors: the importance of data protection, the need for high decision-making speed, and cost savings. The effectiveness of these drivers has been multiplied by AI.
Businesses seek to control their data by moving it into their own perimeter. Previously, storing marketing data with contractors was not seen as a serious risk, but in digital ecosystems the situation has changed. When data from dozens of businesses is combined into a single perimeter, its value skyrockets, along with security requirements.
The second driver is speed. An in-house team knows the product from the inside and responds to market changes instantly, without wasting time interacting with contractors.
Finally, cost savings. For comparable workloads, the cost of external agency services is on average about 60% higher. The gap is widening: according to a global guide to in-house marketing prepared last year by Runner Media, 22% of CMOs say GenAI has reduced their dependence on external creativity and strategy, and 39% plan to cut agency budgets.
For the Freedom holding company, this journey began with the creation of the advertising gateway Freedom Advertising (FADS). Initially, we solved an infrastructure problem – consolidating the holding's businesses into a single window through a billing tool.
Today, we are looking broader and have transitioned to a full-fledged Performance Marketing model: we manage the digital direction from start to finish, work deeply with analytics, and optimize processes.
The next step is expanding advertising channels by moving into offline events and outdoor advertising. In this sense, our goal is not just to build a unified perception of the Freedom brand. In practice, this means synergy: as I noted in an interview with Kursiv.media, we intend to use data from the entire ecosystem so that each client receives exactly the personalized offer they need, and each business within the holding gets the most efficient access to its target audience.
But one should not go to extremes. In-house is not a solution for everyone. There is a high entry threshold: the need for a consolidated budget, a single brand for multiple products, and a continuous, non-cyclical flow of tasks. According to the aforementioned ANA study, 88% of in-house agencies report an increase in workload. The model pays off only with constant pipeline load. Freedom is currently at the very beginning of building its ecosystem and actively developing Freedom SuperApp. Therefore, we can ensure a breadth of tasks not only for internal businesses but also for external players.
Consolidation dramatically changes negotiating positions, turning a group of companies into one large advertiser. This gives us direct contracts with Google and Meta, revised commissions, access to closed formats, and the status of an international player. At the same time, in-house does not mean complete isolation: according to ANA statistics, 92% of companies with in-house structures continue to work with external agencies, but on average they handle 61% of tasks internally.
Here, it is important to understand that the main risk of a standalone agency is being disconnected from the market and lacking an outside perspective. But this is effectively "fixed" by a hybrid model, where strategy and valuable data remain inside the perimeter, while external creative procurement and fresh ideas are brought in from outside. The strength of our method lies in synergy: we have a core – FADS – and in-house teams in each business of the holding, who know their specifics better than anyone. This allows us to work effectively at all levels.
The Kazakhstani advertising market has been growing by an average of 10–20% per year in recent years, although the bulk still goes to global platforms (Google, Meta, Yandex) and agencies. However, media inflation is steadily pushing customer acquisition costs (CAC) up, and the market has already begun to transform: organic traffic is falling, the share of media is declining, and user habits are changing (people google less and interact with AI more).
Over a 10-year horizon, these factors will completely change the landscape. The in-house model, with its cost efficiency and ability to handle sensitive data, could become the dominant option for businesses.