Global Ad Spend Set for Growth This Year

Global advertising spend will grow by 5.1% this year, a slightly slower rate of growth than in 2025 (estimated at 5.5%), according to a recent forecast [download page] from dentsu. In so doing, global ad spending will pass $1 trillion for the first time, per the outlook.

This mark was already projected for 2024 by WARC, which at the time predicted that 2026 would end with a total ad spend of more than $1.24 trillion.

Beyond this year, the global advertising market will continue its 5%+ rate of growth over the next couple of years, dentsu predicts, with a 5.1% climb in 2027 and a 5.2% rise in 2028.

Here are some key takeaways from dentsu’s forecast.

Region

On a regional basis, dentsu forecasts that ad spend growth will be fastest this year in the Asia-Pacific (+5.4%), closely followed by the Americas (+5.2%), with Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) trailing (+4.2%).

The world’s largest advertising market – the US – is predicted to have a rate of growth (+5%) just slightly trailing the global average.

The Americas will account for the largest share of ad spend (44.3% share), compared to 36.2% for the Asia-Pacific region and about one-fifth (20.5% share) for the EMEA region.

Industry

Three industries will almost double the global rate of growth, with double-digit increases expected. Those are the Technology (+10.3%), Government, Social, Political and Organizational (+10.1%) and Beverage (+10.1%) industries. By contrast, the Automotive industry – which has in recent times lagged in ad spending growth – will have the slowest rate of increase, at just +1.8%.

Channels

Digital advertising is expected to again lead the way this year, with a 6.7% expansion in ad spend, exceeding two-thirds (68.7%) of total ad expenditures.

Fast-growing retail media will set the pace with a 14.1% increase this year. Its growth is such that it is now expected to overtake paid search in size as soon as 2028. For its part, paid search is forecast to grow by just 3.1% this year, less than half of its rate of growth in 2025.

Other fast-growing digital ad spending channels include online video (+11.5%) and social media (+11.4%).

CTV is also expected to show strong growth this year, of 9.5%, fueling TV ad spend’s projected 2.4% increase. For its part, traditional TV ad spend is projected to remain flat this year (0% growth), though that would be a better result than 2025 (-4.2%). TV ad spend overall is expected to account for only 17.1% share of total ad expenditures this year.

Among traditional media, it’s a stronger outlook for out-of-home (OOH) advertising, which has a 4.1% increase projected, though that’s driven by digital OOH (+7.2%). Cinema advertising is expected to grow by 2.2% after a healthy 5% expansion last year.

Audio advertising is forecast to increase only slightly (+0.7%), though digital audio, including streaming services and podcasts, will enjoy a faster rate of growth (+5.5%).

Finally, print advertising is predicted to decline by 3% this year.

For more, download the full report here.