Global advertising spend projected to reach $1.34 trillion by 2026

Global advertising investment is projected to grow by 11.9% in 2026, reaching an estimated $1.34 trillion, according to the latest WARC Media forecast. This growth continues a trend of dynamic performance following increases in both 2024 and 2025.

Social media, search, and retail media are the primary drivers of this expansion. Together, these three channels are expected to account for 66.4% of total global ad spend in 2026, a figure projected to rise to 70% by 2028. Social media specifically is forecast to see a 21.3% increase this year.

Other sectors are also expected to see double-digit growth, including video on-demand (15.1%), retail media (14.3%), search (14.2%), and digital out-of-home advertising (13.7%). Industry experts note that while artificial intelligence is a major catalyst for this growth, the increasing spend also intensifies competition for consumer attention, requiring more intelligent use of marketing data.