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# Agencies swap hourly fees for opaque AI platform and tech charges
- URL: https://www.medianexis.com/agencies-swap-hourly-fees-for-opaque-ai-platform-and-tech-charges/
- Published: 2026-09-27T21:01:24.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-27T21:01:24.000Z
- Description: MediaPost’s Maarten Albarda writes that labor-based agency compensation fell from 54% fifteen years ago to just 17% today, as AI erodes billable hours.
- Author: The Signals Desk
- Tags: Agencies, AI, Maarten Albarda, MediaPost column on agency margin transparency

**Why it matters.** Advertisers must now audit platform fees and principal media terms with the same scrutiny they once reserved for timesheets, since agencies are recouping lost labor margin through channels clients can’t verify.

*Signal from* [*mediapost.com*](https://mediapost.com/?ref=medianexis.com) *·* [*Maarten Albarda*](https://www.medianexis.com/tag/by-maarten-albarda/) *·* [*read the original*](https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/418294/out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-opaque-margin-fire.html?edition=143964&ref=medianexis.com)*.*