Agencies vs. Studios: The Distinction That Defines Who Survives the AI Shift

There's a distinction that I think matters more every month and it's agencies versus studios.

An agency sells services. A studio makes work. They sound similar but they lead to very different places.

An agency says "we can do AI commercials" and assembles a team of generalists. A studio says "this is the kind of work we make" and the right clients find them because of it.

When AI makes production accessible to basically everyone, having a big service menu stops being an advantage. Every agency can offer AI video. But not every studio has a real perspective on what makes a commercial worth watching.

I keep coming back to A24 as a reference point. They don't try to compete with Netflix on volume. They make a specific kind of thing and people come to them for that. And I think commercial production is heading in a similar direction — agencies fighting over the middle at competitive prices, studios owning the top because they stand for something specific.