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Global advertising spend is forecast to reach $1.30 trillion in 2026, while U.S. internet advertising revenue was a reported $294.6 billion in 2025. Those figures describe different markets and measures: one is a worldwide forecast of advertising investment, the other is reported U.S. online-ad revenue. Read the figures below with their geography, date and status in view; they show a growing market, fast-moving digital channels and a large share of spend concentrated among a few platforms.
How much is spent on advertising each year?
WARC’s January 2026 forecast put global advertising spend at $1.30 trillion for 2026, an increase of 9.1% year over year. WARC described that projected total as roughly $150 per person worldwide. These are forecasts, not a final reported tally.
Forecasts shift with their publication date. WARC’s December 2025 forecast had put global spend at $1.19 trillion for 2025, up 8.9%, and projected $1.30 trillion for 2026 and $1.40 trillion for 2027. The 2026 figure matched WARC’s January 2026 forecast. Treat the 2025 amount as a forecast from that vintage, not as a final audited result.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteWARC says its global projections combine data from 100 markets and use a proprietary neural network drawing on more than two million data points. That is a modeled market estimate, not a count of invoices from every advertiser.
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How is the U.S. outlook changing?
IAB’s buyer outlook moved higher during 2026. Its January forecast called for U.S. advertising spend to grow 9.5% for the year, compared with a 5.7% estimate for 2025. The January study put projected 2026 growth at 7.1%–7.8% after removing major cyclical events. In September, IAB raised its full-year 2026 growth forecast to 12.3%, 2.8 percentage points above January’s estimate. The September outlook drew on more than 200 brand and agency investment decision-makers.
These are survey-based projections of buyer spending, not measured U.S. advertising revenue. IAB said the stronger first half included major cyclical events. Its January outlook also identified the Winter Olympics, FIFA World Cup and U.S. midterm elections as factors contributing to the event-sensitive forecast.
Which U.S. ad channels are growing fastest in 2026?
The September IAB outlook projects year-over-year U.S. growth by channel. The January column shows the earlier forecast, not a measured result; the change is the revision between those two projections.
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| Channel | September 2026 projection | January 2026 projection | Revision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social media | 16.5% | 14.6% | +1.9 percentage points |
| Connected TV (CTV) | 15.6% | 13.8% | +1.8 percentage points |
| Commerce media | 13.6% | 12.1% | +1.5 percentage points |
| Digital video excluding CTV | 9.4% | 9.6% | −0.2 percentage points |
| Podcasts | 8.7% | 8.6% | +0.1 percentage points |
| Paid search | 8.1% | 8.2% | −0.1 percentage points |
| Digital out-of-home (DOOH) | 7.0% | 7.4% | −0.4 percentage points |
| Linear TV | −1.5% | −1.7% | +0.2 percentage points |
Social, CTV and commerce media lead the September projections, while linear TV is forecast to contract. The revision column matters: it distinguishes the current projection from the change in outlook, and neither column represents actual full-year results.
What U.S. internet advertising revenue was reported for 2025?
IAB and PwC reported $294.6 billion in U.S. internet advertising revenue for 2025, up 13.9% from 2024. This is a reported revenue measure, not a forecast of global advertising spend. The report covers online advertising sold through websites, commercial online services, ad networks and exchanges, mobile devices, email providers and other online sellers.
Here are the reported 2025 totals for selected formats and categories:
| Category | U.S. revenue | Year-over-year change | Share of total internet ad revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social advertising | $117.7 billion | +32.6% | 40.0% |
| Digital video | $78.0 billion | +25.4% | 26.5% |
| Commerce media | $63.4 billion | +18.0% | 21.5% |
| Search | $114.2 billion | +11.0% | 38.8% |
| Podcast advertising | $2.9 billion | +17.6% | 1.0% |
| Display | $81.6 billion | +9.8% | 27.7% |
These categories overlap and should not be added as if each dollar belongs to only one row. For example, digital video includes CTV, social video, online video and short-form video, so video can also be counted within social. The category shares therefore do not sum to 100%.
Other reported U.S. digital figures
- Programmatic advertising revenue was $162.4 billion in 2025, up 20.5% year over year.
- IAB’s report release identified creator advertising spend at $37 billion for 2025.
IAB says PwC compiled data supplied directly by online ad sellers alongside public-company data. PwC does not audit the supplied information or provide assurance, so the report is an industry revenue study rather than an audited census.
Which platforms have the most advertising share?
WARC and EMARKETER both point to substantial concentration among large platforms, but their figures use different definitions. WARC’s share is a portion of global advertising spend excluding China; EMARKETER’s figures concern worldwide digital ad spending and modeled net ad revenue. They are not interchangeable market-share measures.
WARC’s global advertising-spend estimates
| Measure | WARC estimate or forecast | Period and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Alphabet, Amazon and Meta combined | 56.1%, or $556.6 billion | 2025 estimate; share of global advertising spend excluding China |
| Alphabet, Amazon and Meta combined | 58.0% | 2026 forecast; share excluding China |
| Alphabet, Amazon and Meta combined | 58.8% | 2027 forecast; share excluding China |
WARC’s December 2025 forecast also put the U.S. at 35.3% of global advertising spend, or $421.1 billion, for 2025. China was forecast at $200.1 billion, or 16.8% of the global total, with 6.9% growth; WARC identified it as the second-largest market. The U.K. was forecast at $58.1 billion, growing 9.3%, making it the third-largest market and the largest in Europe. Together, the ten largest advertising markets were forecast to account for 70.4% of global expenditure. All of these 2025 values are estimates from WARC’s December 2025 forecast vintage.
EMARKETER’s worldwide digital platform estimates
EMARKETER’s April 2026 release estimated worldwide net ad revenue across each umbrella company’s properties. The figures below are estimates for 2025 and forecasts for 2026; they are not audited company-reported advertising revenue.
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| Company | 2025 estimate | 2026 forecast | 2027 forecast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta | $196.17 billion | $243.46 billion | not stated (EMARKETER, April 2026) |
| $214.06 billion | $239.54 billion | not stated (EMARKETER, April 2026) | |
| Amazon | $68.64 billion | $82.07 billion | $97.07 billion |
In that same April 2026 release, EMARKETER forecast Meta at 26.8% of worldwide digital ad spending in 2026 and said Google’s share was 26.4% at publication. Amazon was forecast at 9.0% for 2026, up from 8.0% in 2024. The three companies together were projected to account for 62.3% of worldwide digital ad spending in 2026.
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EMARKETER describes its estimates as products of proprietary quantitative and qualitative analysis, company and government data, research-firm data and interviews with industry executives. It says its forecasts are regularly reevaluated.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What trends are reshaping advertising?
Budgets are following performance and commerce
IAB attributed especially strong 2025 growth to social, digital video and commerce media, and described commerce media as benefiting from first-party data. It also characterized programmatic as an expanding automated buying channel. Those are IAB’s interpretations of the market, not separate causal measurements. The revenue figures show where reported growth occurred, while the September outlook shows where U.S. buyers expected growth to continue.
Discovery is spreading beyond traditional search
IAB’s September 2026 release describes audiences fragmenting across traditional search, conversational AI, commerce platforms and social media. It also reports increased buyer attention to creator and influencer advertising, cohort-based advertising, publishers with first-party data and contextual advertising. This describes shifts in buyer attention; it does not establish a quantified market share for conversational AI advertising.
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Planning assumptions are less stable
WARC argues that structural and technological change is disrupting static media plans, rigid audience personas and stable channel definitions. For planners, that means channel forecasts should be treated as dated inputs rather than permanent assumptions, especially when platforms and formats overlap.
How to compare advertising statistics without mixing them up
- Check geography. Global spend is not the same as U.S. revenue; WARC’s platform concentration shares explicitly exclude China.
- Check the status and publication date. A reported 2025 revenue result, a 2025 estimate and a 2026 forecast are different kinds of evidence.
- Check the metric. Total advertising investment, internet ad revenue, company net ad revenue, channel revenue and share of spending answer different questions.
- Check category boundaries. Video, social, commerce media and other formats can overlap, so category totals should not automatically be summed.
- Check the method. IAB’s outlook is a buyer survey projection; IAB/PwC reports online seller revenue data; WARC models global investment; EMARKETER estimates company revenue and digital share.
- Check for event effects. IAB’s U.S. growth outlook included major sports and election cycles, so an annual growth rate may not describe the underlying pace in an ordinary year.
For planning, use the latest forecast that matches the geography and channel you need, then keep actual revenue reports separate from projections. A strong headline number is useful only when its scope and method are clear.
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