‘The billable hour does not allow for any meaningful innovation’: S4 Capital builds subscription model for the AI age

Subscriptions were supposed to save publishers. Now, they’re becoming part of the survival logic for agencies too.

At agency holdco S4 Capital, the pivot is already taking shape.

By the end of the year, about a quarter of revenue at its Monks arm is expected to come from what it calls subscriptions — not in the Netflix sense but as a commercial model where, instead of selling hours, the agency sells ongoing access to a bundle that combines senior talent, AI workflows, agents and institutional knowledge for a steady, recurring fee.

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