Ad Spend Forecast To Grow By 4.9% In 2025, Despite A Reduced Economic Outlook

• Worldwide ad spend is forecast to grow by 4.9% in 2025 to reach $992 billion, despite a reduced economic outlook.
• Digital ad spend is forecast to grow by 7.9% in 2025 to reach US$678.7 billion and a 68.4% share of spend.
• Algorithm-based precision advertising remains a strong trend with a predicted 78.1% of ad spend forecast to be algorithm driven by 2027.

Advertising spend is forecast to grow by 4.9% globally in 2025, according to the latest dentsu Global Ad Spend Forecasts report, a midyear update examining major shifts in ad spend by geography and by media channel across 56 markets. Overall, an anticipated $992 billion will be spent worldwide by the end of the year. Although the pace of growth in 2025 is forecast to be slower than the 6.7% we observed in 2024 – a strong year boosted by the quadrennial events such as the Paris Olympics and Paralympics and the US Presidential election – it is still tracking ahead of the pace of the global economy by 2.1 percentage points.*

• Asia-Pacific: Now forecast to be the most dynamic region, growing by 6.0% to reach $361.5 billion (36.4% share of spend). India is the fastest market in that region (7.9%).**
• EMEA: Expected to grow by 4.5% to reach $200.7 billion (20.2% share of spend). The United Kingdom see the highest growth in that region (6.9%).**
• The Americas: Projected to grow by 4.2% to reach $429.6 billion (43.3% share of spend). Brazil is the most dynamic market in that region (7.1%).**

Will Swayne, Global Practice President – Media & Integrated Solutions, dentsu said: "Our mid-year forecasts show that despite the current uncertainty of the economic outlook that limits long-term visibility on growth prospects, there is regional resilience and adaptability in the global advertising landscape. Additionally, our forecasts confirm the rising importance of algorithms in transforming media strategies, as algorithmically enabled ad spend is now expected to reach 78.1% of total ad spend by 2027.”

Looking at the media breakdown, digital continues to power ahead. Digital ad spend is forecast to grow by 7.9% in 2025 to reach US$678.7 billion and a 68.4% share of spend, with the wealth of data held by tech platforms enabling hyper-relevance marketing and commerce. Retail media spend is forecast to grow by 13.9% in 2025 and Social by 9.2%. Programmatic spending is projected to grow by 8.4% and Search spending by 8.3% as the search environment becomes more fragmented with conversational AI, Social search and Voice search.

Growth is also coming from advertising on streaming platforms such as Netflix with the number of subscriptions growing. Connected television ad spend is now forecast to grow by 10.9%, whilst total television spend including broadcast television is expected to decline by 1.8%.

OOH is forecast to increase by 2.7% in 2025. Traditional OOH is to retain steady growth at 2.0%, whilst DOOH accelerates at 4.2%.

The two sectors expected to grow the fastest in 2025 are Telecommunication (+8.3%), fueled by 5G expansion, high-speed internet demand, and digital content consumption, and Cosmetics & Personal Care (+7.3%), driven by consumer demand for skincare and wellness products, and by an increasing focus on self-care, sustainability, and natural ingredients.

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Matt Cross / ++44 20 7430 6319
matt.cross@dentsu.com / media.pressoffice@dentsu.com