[kypro]

My friend ran one for years and was forced to close his late last year after doing layoffs earlier in the year.

I suppose it wasn't quite a "web agency" as they also took on some more complex projects, but demand really started to dry up in the back half of last year.

My understanding was that it was less AI competing, but that there was just far fewer companies with the budget or interest to spend. I live in the UK though and our economy is horrendous which I'm sure is 80% of it.

I think you're right though... Web agencies are probably more or less cooked. Not because there will be no demand for someone to build a website, but because increased competition and efficiency will make it a much less profitable business to run. If you can do in a day what used to take a week you won't be able to charge the same for the same project, so you either find 5x more clients or make far less money.