In a significant upward revision, global advertising expenditure is now projected to grow much faster than previously anticipated in 2025, propelled by the dual forces of artificial intelligence and a less severe impact from international tariffs. According to a fresh forecast from the media investment giant WPP Media, the worldwide advertising landscape is set for a robust expansion.
Revised Forecasts Point to Stronger Growth
WPP Media has raised its global advertising revenue forecast for 2025 to an 8.8% growth, reaching a staggering $1.14 trillion. This figure notably excludes U.S. political advertising. This is a sharp increase from the 6% growth the group had predicted back in June 2024. For the following year, 2026, the forecast has also been revised upwards to 7.1% growth from an earlier estimate of 6.1%.
The report, led by Kate Scott-Dawkins, President of Business Intelligence at WPP Media, attributes this positive adjustment to a clearer picture emerging in the latter half of 2024. "In June, we were reacting to more recent tariff announcements," Scott-Dawkins explained. "The summer gave us a chance to see how those played out, to see how resilient consumer spending was... and to see what sort of negotiations and arrangements were made that lessened the impact."
How Tariffs and AI Are Shaping the Market
Marketers demonstrated remarkable agility in softening the blow from new tariffs. Strategies included accelerating imports to beat implementation deadlines, meticulous inventory management, and absorbing a portion of the extra costs themselves. However, the report cautions that some of the delayed effects of these tariffs will likely be felt in 2026.
Conversely, the surge in investment and innovation around Artificial Intelligence has injected more momentum into ad spending than initially expected. Businesses are leveraging AI to streamline operations in marketing and product development, and are reinvesting the resultant savings into new advertising campaigns. Furthermore, the birth of new companies within the AI sector itself is creating a fresh cohort of advertisers promoting their own technologies and services.
Retail Media Overtakes Television in Historic Shift
One of the most striking predictions in the forecast concerns the rapid rise of retail media. This segment, where businesses like grocery chains and big-box retailers offer targeted advertising using their rich customer data, is poised for a landmark achievement. Global retail media advertising revenue is expected to jump 11.3% to $174.2 billion in 2025, surpassing traditional and streaming television ad revenue for the first time ever.
In contrast, television advertising spending across both traditional broadcast and streaming platforms is projected to see a minimal increase of just 0.6%. This data underscores a fundamental shift in where marketing budgets are being allocated, favoring highly targeted, data-driven platforms over broader broadcast mediums.
The updated outlook from WPP Media paints a picture of an advertising industry that is adapting quickly to macroeconomic challenges and harnessing new technologies to drive growth. The trillion-dollar market continues to evolve, with retail media emerging as the new powerhouse channel.
