Ad market growth holds up as the AI shift helps ‘traditional’ media

Next week, we will publish our subscriber-only annual advertising market forecast, analysing trends in the TV, radio, print, outdoor, cinema and digital segments out to 2030. This free brief provides a preview of some of the key results. The biggest change is the decline of Google search under pressure from AI substitutes. This will drive a shift into digital display, which will benefit YouTube. In many ways, Google is pivotal in the key trends shaping the advertising industry. Paradoxically, this will benefit ‘traditional’ sectors, specifically television and radio, as search spending flows back into display. Both BVOD and digital radio offers are now maturing, and we expect a return to revenue growth for these sectors as their digital offers gain scale. This requires a rethink of ad placement strategies.