A rising tide is lifting advertising, and audio is in the boat. A new global forecast shows the overall market climbing sharply on AI investment and major events, with audio advertising growing as online audio gains and radio, still a large category, adjusts at the margins.
Global ad spend is forecast to rise 11.9% to $1.34 trillion in 2026, according to WARC Media’s Global Ad Spend Forecast Q3 2026. That follows 10.0% growth in both 2024 and 2025. WARC cites corporate AI investment and major events including the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup, and the US mid-term elections as drivers. It names further escalation of global tensions as a downside risk.
Growth is expected to moderate to 8.4% in 2027, reaching $1.46 trillion, and to 7.9% in 2028, reaching $1.57 trillion.
Audio is forecast to grow 2.5% to $41.9 billion in 2026 and 1.2% in 2027. Within that, radio is forecast to fall 1.9% to $25.3 billion this year and 3.0% in 2027, while online audio is forecast to rise 9.9% to $16.6 billion this year and 7.5% in 2027. Radio’s $25.3 billion is about 1.9% of the global total.
In April, PQ Media’s forecast showed digital audio streaming posting the fastest growth of any category it tracked while total radio ranked as the smallest of its media spend silos.
Social media, search, and retail media are expected to account for 66.4% of global ad spend in 2026, rising to 70.0% in 2028. Social media leads growth, rising 21.3% to $394.6 billion, with a path to more than $500 billion in 2028. Retail media is forecast to rise 14.3% to $202.1 billion and search 14.2% to $295.7 billion. Video on demand (15.1% to $48.4 billion) and digital out-of-home (13.7% to $21.7 billion) also post double-digit gains. Television is forecast to grow 1.2% to $176.2 billion in 2026 and fall 1.8% in 2027. Online display is forecast to fall 2.5% in 2026, and publishing media to fall 2.4%.
Technology and electronics is the fastest-growing product category, rising 20.7%, followed by travel and transport (19.3%) and automotive (17.8%). Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta are set to take a combined 59.7% of global ad spend excluding China, or $659.6 billion, rising to 61.5%, or $804.1 billion, in 2028. WARC says generative search and AI assistants are becoming gateways to product discovery and purchasing, and ad dollars will follow. The US ad spend per capita is forecast at $1,395 in 2026.
