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Automated ad systems, boosted video ad spending, and platforms leaning into their unique qualities led to a bounce-back year in 2024 for social networks overall.

Streaming grew in March, but tariffs could threaten the CTV ecosystem: Despite upward trends, the CTV ad market could become stagnant in the year ahead.

President Donald Trump’s shifting stance on tariffs has created a volatile environment for both consumers and retailers. With some Chinese goods facing tariffs as high as 245% and a blanket 10% on most imports, the market is seeing rapid shifts in consumer behavior, supply chains, and strategic planning.

Web publishers, especially those who relied on indirect monetization, are being buffeted on all sides by challenges.

Live sports programming accounted for nearly 40% of US national TV ad spend in both Q4 2022 and Q4 2023, according to September 2024 data from iSpot.tv.

YouTube ad growth is strong, but concentrated funding and economic uncertainty mean only the most distinct startups may thrive.

In-store retail media is a small part of the retail media landscape, but it's growing: In-store retail media ad spending will exceed $1 billion by 2028. Retailers can offset the cost of investing in certain customer-facing in-store technology by focusing on tech that enables revenues from advertising.

Retail has come off its lengthy run of outperforming overall US ad spending growth. While growth will dip below the average for all industries in 2024, the pace is set to pick up again in 2025 and 2026.

The second-largest digital advertiser among industries will post strong ad spending growth in 2024, but deceleration is on the horizon, and its various subcategories have starkly different outlooks.

Despite uncertainty related to the economy and tariffs, US social network ad spending is expected to grow. AI offerings, social commerce, and lower-funnel investments will drive outlays.

Despite these limitations, we expect in-store retail media ad spending to jump by 45.5% next year and to surpass $1 billion by 2028. Marketers want full-funnel solutions.

Gaming opportunities for advertisers flourishing: IAB PlayFronts unveiled insights into how marketers can meet gamers where they’re at.

Google and Meta landed slightly below expectations in Q3, allowing a collection of hungry competitors to inch ahead. But overall, the ad industry remains healthy. Sports events drove streaming and CTV to record gains, and retail media continues to be the sector’s fastest-growing ad channel.

Snapchat reimagines its Partner Program for SMBs: The changes will see the program split into two tiers, with features to help SMBs advertise.

Streaming services are leaning more on advertising than they used to, resulting in increased overall ad spending but lower ad prices.

Samsung GameBreaks turns ads into games: A new CTV ad unit lifts brand recall by 53% and signals a shift toward high-engagement, opt-in formats.

The connected TV ad opportunity is growing significantly in scope. The promise of broad yet targeted reach, retail media tie-ins, campaign measurement, and ad interactivity are fueling strong spending growth.

YouTube has more users than Facebook, Netflix, or Spotify. But its advertising revenues do not match its vast reach. This report contextualizes the opportunities and scope for growth in various media spheres.

After an unexpectedly solid 2023, the good times will continue for ad spending in most US industry verticals in 2024. Telecom will lead in growth, and numerous categories will outpace their 2023 increases. A few unusual results are on tap as well.

Amazon is already the biggest US retail media player by far, accounting for 76.2% of all US retail media ad spend, per our November 2024 forecast. Amazon’s ad revenues will continue double-digit growth through the end of our forecast period next year, and while it's losing share of the overall retail media pie, those losses are slowing.

Until Google rolls out generative search to all users, most consumers won’t adopt the technology. That means AI isn’t driving search ad spending—yet.

Mounting pressure will squeeze the long tail of retail media networks: Amazon and Walmart combined will gobble up more than 84% of all retail media ad spending in 2025, leaving a rather narrow slice of the market for all other players.

The double-digit growth in US consumer packaged goods (CPG) digital ad spend will come to a halt next year and hover around just 6% through 2026, per our forecast.

First-party data makes personalization possible in the wake of signal loss from privacy restrictions, but taking full advantage of the opportunity requires overcoming a series of obstacles.