New forecasts from WARC show that global advertising spend surpassed $1 trillion for the very first time in 2024, and it is expected to grow 10.7% this year, to a total of $1.08 trillion. In fact, global ad spend has more than doubled over the last decade, growing 2.8x faster than global economic output since 2014, with more media channels available to marketers than ever before.
But, should that excite linear media leaders who continue to experience core ad weakness with few growth prospects?
WARC’s Future of Media 2025 report, just released, “takes a look at how the endless optionality within the media ecosystem creates new opportunities for marketers to drive effectiveness and deliver growth.” It looks at how Google search is being disrupted by social and retail platforms, as well as the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI). Developments within the retail media and commerce sector and how advertisers can adjust to an environment where commerce is increasingly “everywhere” is also reviewed by WARC.
The big takeaway, however, comes with respect to the “net sentiment percentage” of those asked how they expect investment in media channels to change this year.
TV is on the down slide.
Notably, radio and audio (excluding podcasts) is also down, but to a lesser extent.
Paul Stringer, Managing Editor of Research & Insights at WARC, commented, “Today, media is so vast, so complex, and so changeable, that it can be difficult for brands to make sense of it all. As we reach the midpoint of the decade, this is also the most exciting time to be a media planner.”
Stringer adds that digital advertising has matured beyond direct-response to support brand-building and long-term effectiveness. As such, advertisers are focusing more on quality over cost when deciding which media environments to advertise in, and signal fidelity is improving thanks to the growth of AI-powered media solutions and an influx of retail media and commerce media networks.
Three key trends are outlined:
- Planning in an era of abundance
- New challenges and opportunities in search
- Retail growth fuels commerce media expansion
