New data from Cumulus Media’s Audio Active Group and Westwood One finds that marketers and agency personnel are commuting to the office at the highest rate recorded since tracking began in April 2022. An Advertiser Perceptions survey of 301 marketers and agencies conducted April 1-13 finds 92% commuting to an office in some fashion.
Of that 92%, 64% are commuting all or most days, up sharply from 53% in October 2025. Only 7% report working exclusively from home. The trend line has moved in one direction since the pandemic trough. Full-time work-from-home among the marketer/agency cohort stood at 37% in April 2022; it has since collapsed to single digits.
Among those commuting, the average now stands at 4.4 days per week in the office, up from 3.3 in April 2022. Wednesday is the peak in-office day for marketers and agency personnel, with 95% present, followed by Tuesday at 89% and Thursday at 85%. Friday remains the preferred remote day at 70% in-office, well below the Monday-through-Thursday range.
Notably, marketers and agencies are now commuting at a higher rate than average Americans. A separate Quantilope study of 1,601 adults 18+ conducted in April tracking pre-COVID commuters puts the broader population at 85% commuting in some form, with an average of 4.7 days per week in the office. The gap flipped in Spring 2024, when the two populations converged, and media buyers have since pulled ahead on overall commuting participation even as average Americans log slightly more days per week once in the office.
For the 36% still on a partial schedule, the permanence of hybrid work appears increasingly entrenched: 33% say they will not return to the office full time, though that figure has declined from roughly half who said the same in October 2024.
Face-to-face selling has also rebounded. Some 73% of marketers and agencies report they have already resumed in-person meetings with media vendors, compared to 41% in April 2022. In-person conference and event attendance tells a similar story, with 76% having returned, more than double the one-third who said so four years ago.
