Trade sector · July 2026

Werbeagentur in Austria

Dense market, but still growing — use the timing window. Density, 13-month trend and market movement for every federal state and 23 Vienna districts — recomputed monthly.

Free · no signup · Data snapshot July 2026 · updated monthly · CC-BY 4.0

Active locations in Vienna

7,316
35.83 per 10k inhabitants Very high Growing, volatile
Monthly trend · Vienna · Werbeagentur 6,689 7,316 +9.4 %
Mar 25 – Jul 26 · 15 data points · GISA CC-BY 4.0
Annual report (before change) Method jump (not the real market) Monthly report (clean data)
Monthly trend Vienna · Werbeagentur: 10,510 active locations in Mar 25, 7,316 in Jul 26, net change plus 9.4 percent. 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 Switch to monthly report Mar 25: 10,510 locations Apr 25: 10,497 locations May 25: 6,689 locations Jun 25: 10,619 locations Jul 25: 6,795 locations Aug 25: 6,835 locations Sep 25: 6,876 locations Oct 25: 6,894 locations Nov 25: 6,950 locations Dec 25: 6,971 locations Jan 26: 6,952 locations Feb 26: 7,020 locations Apr 26: 7,125 locations Jun 26: 7,262 locations Jul 26: 7,316 locations Mar 25 Jun 25 Sep 25 Dec 25 Apr 26 Jul 26

Key figures

Active in Vienna 7,316 35.83 per 10k inhabitants
Austria total 22,945 Vienna share: 31.9 %
Vienna trend since May 2025 +9.4 % Post-break baseline (clean, no method break)
Movement dynamics 113 % Growing, volatile

Whitespace: 3 districts with the lowest density

Shortest path to a decision: the three districts with the lowest number of Werbeagentur businesses per 10,000 inhabitants — on paper the largest market gaps in Vienna (for population ≥ 20,000).

  1. 1
    1110 Simmering Low
    11.4 per 10k · 128 locations · 112,149 inh. +18.5 % since May 25
  2. 2
    1210 Floridsdorf Low
    15.1 per 10k · 286 locations · 189,551 inh. +19.2 % since May 25
  3. 3
    1100 Favoriten Low
    15.9 per 10k · 354 locations · 223,190 inh. +24.2 % since May 25

Note: low density is a signal, not a guarantee. Combine it with the market movement above and the OSM visibility below before you commit.

What does this trajectory tell you?

The stock is growing noticeably since May 2025 (+9.4 % post method change). For founders the direction is a signal, but not the whole picture — low per-capita density can still spell opportunity if the remaining businesses are overloaded.

Insider view: methods, fluctuations, readability notes

Method change May 2025. Before May 2025 the figures come from the annual report (reference-date based), from May 2025 on from the monthly OgdAufrechteGewerbeberechtigung snapshots. The two sources count slightly differently — hence the visible break between April and May 2025. For the churn indicator we use only the clean May-2025-plus window, so the calculation is not distorted by the method jump.

Seasonal fluctuations. Smaller month-to-month movements are normal — trade licences are issued in bursts (month turns, quarter ends) and deregistered (often at year ends). A single month at +5 or −3 is not a trend break.

What a line does not show. The stock is a stock, not a flow. 500 active trade licences at a steady monthly stock can mean: (a) 500 dormant businesses with no movement, or (b) 480 stable plus 20 deregistering this month and 20 newly registering. The churn indicator measures exactly that difference — the curve does not show it.

Why we don't go back further. The GISA dataset only exists in structured form from 2018, before that only as non-anonymised internal data. Annual reports from 2019 could theoretically be integrated — that is a planned expansion. Currently: monthly snapshots since March 2025.

Context

What you should know about Werbeagentur

An advertising agency is a free trade — no master craftsman certificate, no proof of qualification. That explains the strong concentration: in Vienna alone there are over 7,000 active trade licences, and more than 22,500 across Austria. From the classic copywriter to the full-service agency with 50 employees, everyone operates under the same Gewerbeschlüssel.

The market is heavily fragmented and hyper-local: many agencies work only in their own region for SME clients. The big names (Jung von Matt, Demner Merlicek, etc.) are concentrated in Vienna's Innere Stadt. In the outer districts, one-person offices dominate, often specialised (social media, print, B2B industry). The OSM map shows only a fraction — agencies are mostly office-based trades without a storefront.

Timing — when to start?

In Austria, budgets are traditionally set in Q4 (for January campaigns). Anyone starting in autumn can already get in on new clients' annual planning. The summer months are weak for client acquisition (holiday season) but good for positioning and building your portfolio.

Pitfalls that are often overlooked

  • Copyright usage rights in contracts

    Without a clear usage-rights clause, every creative work remains legally with the agency — even when the client has paid for it. The UrhG distinguishes between non-exclusive and exclusive usage rights, and between territorial and time limits. Template client contracts without a usage-rights clause are one of the most common pitfalls in the industry.

  • Pitch costs as a hidden subsidy

    The Austrian advertising industry has an established culture of pitching without a fee. Two to three weeks of unpaid concept work is standard. That is financially high-risk for small agencies. The DMVÖ recommends a pitch fee of at least €1,500, which in practice is rarely enforceable.

  • Competition-law traps in content

    Advertising copy that compares competitors' products or references brands can fall under the UWG (unfair competition). 'Touched-up' before/after images, stock-photo misuse, and comparative price claims are also regular grounds for costly cease-and-desist notices.

Free trade under § 5 GewO. Gewerbeschlüssel 500398. Trade association: WKO Werbung & Marktkommunikation.

Insider analysis · Vienna

What does your competition really look like?

As ofJuly 2026Next snapshot: ~August 1, 2026

The typical active business in Vienna is 6 years old (median). 32 % are younger than 3 years, 15 % older than 20 years. Dominant legal form: 67.3 % sole proprietors.

How long have they been in the market?

Distribution of age in years across all 7,316 active locations. Median 6 years · P10–P90 0–23 years.

996<1
7761-2
5872-3
8313-5
9925-8
9078-12
1,14912-20
87920-30
16230-50
3750+

Bars = number of businesses per age-year bucket. Highlighted bar = median age. Small buckets under 5 businesses are suppressed as "·" (GDPR minimum cell size against re-identification).

Founding waves

When were the currently active businesses founded?

before 2000
407(6 %)
2000-2009
1,067(15 %)
2010-2014
822(11 %)
2015-2019
1,264(17 %)
2020-2026
3,756(51 %)

Solo (natural person) vs. registered company (GmbH, OG, KG, AG).

Sole proprietors
67.3 % (4,921)
Legal entity
32.7 % (2,395)

Distribution across Vienna postal-code areas

The higher the Gini index, the more the sector concentrates in a few postal-code areas. 0 = evenly distributed, 1 = everything in a single postal-code area. Vienna has 23 districts, which split into several postal-code areas.

0.21Gini indexvery evenly distributed
23Active postal-code areasin which at least one business is active
23 %Top-3 shareacross 3 postal-code areas combined
  • #11010594 businesses
  • #21030543 businesses
  • #31220511 businesses

Method: Active locations only (legally effective, not dormant). Snapshot 2026-07. Data source: GISA via data.gv.at, CC-BY 4.0.

Honest data limit: The open dataset contains no owner IDs. Who stands behind which business, and whether one owner holds several locations/sectors, cannot be derived from open data alone. The postal-code concentration above is a proxy signal for chain tendencies, not a real ownership analysis.

Complementary signal

What is the market searching for? — Google Trends bridge

Our data shows how many businesses exist. Google Trends adds how often people search for “Werbeagentur” — the demand side. Together you see whether a market is constrained by supply or by demand.

Google Trends is a free third-party tool. We store nothing and pass no data on — the link opens directly on trends.google.com in a new tab.

Market compass · Vienna · Werbeagentur compared

Saturation × market movement at a glance

Each dot is a trade sector. Left = lower density per 10,000 residents, top = more movement (registrations and deregistrations over the last 11 months).

Market compass for Vienna · Werbeagentur compared 20 trade sectors in Vienna · Werbeagentur compared, positioned by density per 10,000 residents (x-axis, logarithmic) and churn index (y-axis). Top-left is the prime zone: undersupplied and active. Density per 10,000 residents → ← Market movement (churn index %) Prime zone undersupplied · active Slots opening saturated · active Stagnant undersupplied · quiet Entrenched saturated · quiet Bäcker: density 0.8/10k · churn 40 % Bäcker Baumeister: density 6.8/10k · churn 128 % Dachdecker: density 0.4/10k · churn 125 % Dachdecker Elektrotechnik: density 8.2/10k · churn 109 % Elektrotechnik Fleischer: density 0.7/10k · churn 66 % Fleischer Berufsfotograf: density 12.6/10k · churn 87 % Berufsfotograf Friseur: density 10.1/10k · churn 49 % Friseur Fußpflege: density 3.2/10k · churn 79 % Fußpflege Gärtner & Florist: density 1.6/10k · churn 106 % Gärtner & Florist Gas- und Sanitärtechnik: density 5.9/10k · churn 102 % Gastgewerbe: density 37.6/10k · churn 30 % Gastgewerbe IT-Dienstleistungen: density 80.5/10k · churn 118 % IT-Dienstleistungen Kosmetik: density 9.6/10k · churn 102 % Lebens- und Sozialberatung: density 17.7/10k · churn 83 % Lebens- und Sozialberatung Massage: density 8.7/10k · churn 115 % Nagelstudio: density 5.7/10k · churn 54 % Nagelstudio Taxi: density 21.2/10k · churn 81 % Taxi Tischler: density 2.7/10k · churn 99 % Tischler Unternehmensberatung: density 52.3/10k · churn 92 % Unternehmensberatung Werbeagentur: density 35.8/10k · churn 113 % Werbeagentur
Active market · growing steadily Growing, volatile Quiet Shrinking

All federal states compared

Density per 10,000 inhabitants plus market dynamics over the last 11 months. Sorted by density, descending.

Federal state Locations per 10k Density Market dynamics net 11 mo
Salzburg → 2,394 41.7 Very high Growing, volatile +3.7 %
Wien(here) 7,316 35.8 Very high Growing, volatile +9.4 %
Tirol → 2,115 27.1 High Growing, volatile +6.9 %
Steiermark → 2,645 20.8 High Growing, volatile +8.3 %
Oberösterreich → 3,169 20.6 Medium Growing, volatile +6.3 %
Kärnten → 1,128 19.8 Medium Growing, volatile +7.0 %
Vorarlberg → 731 17.7 Low Growing, volatile +8.1 %
Niederösterreich → 2,948 17.0 Low Growing, volatile +7.5 %
Burgenland → 499 16.5 Low Growing, volatile +12.1 %

Vienna — all 23 districts

Sorted by Werbeagentur density per 10,000 inhabitants, descending. “Licensed” = GISA trade licences, “OSM” = shop addresses visible in OpenStreetMap, “since May 25” = district net delta post method break (clean signal, without the May-2025 jump).

Postcode District Lic. OSM Inh. per 10k Density since May 25
1010 Innere Stadt 594 0 16,281 364.8 Very high rising  +8.8 %
1070 Neubau 416 0 31,330 132.8 Very high rising  +5.6 %
1060 Mariahilf 354 0 31,083 113.9 Very high rising  +0.6 %
1040 Wieden 268 0 33,444 80.1 Very high rising  +8.5 %
1080 Josefstadt 180 0 24,242 74.3 Very high rising  +4.0 %
1090 Alsergrund 301 0 41,664 72.2 High rising  +4.5 %
1030 Landstraße 543 0 98,881 54.9 High rising  +7.7 %
1180 Währing 281 0 51,376 54.7 High rising  +3.3 %
1050 Margareten 294 0 54,581 53.9 High rising  +6.5 %
1190 Döbling 374 0 76,074 49.2 High rising  +8.7 %
1020 Leopoldstadt 502 0 112,675 44.5 High rising  +11.3 %
1130 Hietzing 246 0 56,108 43.8 Medium rising  +10.8 %
1150 Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus 257 0 75,902 33.9 Medium rising  +3.6 %
1170 Hernals 180 0 56,767 31.7 Medium rising  +13.9 %
1140 Penzing 307 0 99,049 31.0 Medium rising  +15.4 %
1230 Liesing 307 0 123,714 24.8 Medium rising  +8.9 %
1160 Ottakring 246 0 102,727 23.9 Medium rising  +18.8 %
1120 Meidling 233 0 102,393 22.8 Low unchanged  +0.0 %
1220 Donaustadt 511 0 228,158 22.4 Low rising  +14.6 %
1200 Brigittenau 154 0 86,950 17.7 Low rising  +4.8 %
1100 Favoriten 354 0 223,190 15.9 Low rising  +24.2 %
1210 Floridsdorf 286 0 189,551 15.1 Low rising  +19.2 %
1110 Simmering 128 0 112,149 11.4 Low rising  +18.5 %

Lic. vs. OSM: GISA also counts mobile or home-based businesses without a shop; OSM shows only those with a visible address. Vienna total: 7,316 licensed vs. ~0 in OSM (0 with postcode, 0 without).

Other trades with a similar market situation

Other trade sectors with volatile, growing market dynamics in Vienna.

Berufsfotograf 12.6 per 10k · Density very high
Friseur 10.1 per 10k · Density low
Gärtner & Florist 1.6 per 10k · Density low

Frequently asked questions

Quick answers to the typical questions about Werbeagentur in Austria.

How many Werbeagentur businesses are currently active in Wien?
7,316 active trade licences per the GISA snapshot July 2026. That is 31.9 % of all 22,945 Werbeagentur businesses in Austria — or, put differently, 35.83 businesses per 10,000 inhabitants.
Which federal state has the most Werbeagentur businesses per capita?
Salzburg leads with 41.73 Werbeagentur businesses per 10,000 inhabitants. At the other end of the scale sits Burgenland with 16.54. The bottom position is, on paper, the biggest market gap — whether that is a real opportunity depends on purchasing power and demand.
Is the market for Werbeagentur in Vienna moving?
In the window May 2025 – July 2026 roughly 113 % of the average stock saw movement (registrations and deregistrations), at a net growth of +9.4 %. Classification: growing, volatile. High movement means: even when the market looks saturated, slots open up regularly.
Which Vienna districts have the lowest Werbeagentur density?
Vienna districts with below-average density per 10,000 inhabitants (only districts with at least 20,000 inhabitants counted): 1110 Simmering (11.4 per 10k), 1210 Floridsdorf (15.1 per 10k), 1100 Favoriten (15.9 per 10k). On paper these are the districts with the largest whitespace for a new Werbeagentur business.
Which Vienna district has the highest Werbeagentur density?
1010 Innere Stadt with 364.84 businesses per 10,000 inhabitants. That usually means strong competition and a tough spot for newcomers. Exception: inner-city districts benefit from commuter and tourism demand, so the per-capita figure understates the real customer base there.
Do I need a master craftsman's certificate for a Werbeagentur trade?
That depends on the specific trade code. Free trades (e.g. cosmetics / beauty care) only need a trade registration at the district authority; regulated crafts (e.g. hairdresser, roofer, butcher) additionally require the master craftsman's certificate (Meisterbrief) or an equivalent qualification before you can go self-employed. Details in the glossary and at the WKO.
What does the full market check cost?
This overview — density, 13-month trend, market movement, district data and insider demographics (age, legal form, concentration) — is free and needs no signup, and it stays that way. If you need the figures in writing as a complete report and Excel export plus 12 months of automatic updates, that is what the Pro Report is for: a one-off €49 (SEPA transfer, small-business scheme — no VAT, no subscription).
How is the figure calculated?
The basis is the GISA dataset OgdAufrechteGewerbeberechtigung (data.gv.at, CC-BY 4.0). We count active trade licences with a location in the respective region and the trade code 500398. Density = active businesses ÷ inhabitants × 10,000. Full documentation on Methodology & data sources.

Optional · if you need more

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