Latest Marketing & Advertising News
WARC upgrades global ad forecast to $1.19 trillion for 2025
WARC now projects global advertising spend will reach $1.19 trillion in 2025, an 8.9% rise driven by strong performance from major digital platforms and retail media. The forecast notes Alphabet, Amazon and Meta (excluding China) will capture the majority of incremental ad spend, taking roughly 56.1% of global spend in 2025
.
Big Tech (Alphabet, Amazon, Meta) to capture over half of global ad spend
WARC’s analysis shows Alphabet, Amazon and Meta are expected to take 56.1% of global ad spend in 2025, concentrating growth in a few platforms and expanding to an anticipated 58.8% by 2027. The report ties this concentration to rising retail media, search and social budgets, particularly from sectors like clothing and accessories
.
Retail media expands as major source of ad budgets
WARC highlights retail media now represents nearly 15% of worldwide ad spend and is a leading channel for incremental budgets, supporting growth for Amazon and retailer ad networks. Industry commentary also links commerce media expansion to brands moving spend into platform-native buying and measurement solutions
.
Creator and influencer ad spend surges — creator spend to hit $37B
WARC and industry reporting show creator-driven advertising continued rapid growth in 2025, with creator ad spend projected around $37 billion and influencer marketing near $33 billion globally. Markets including South Africa report brands increasingly prioritise micro- and nano-influencers for autenticity and performance in 2025
.
Adobe and Amazon deepen AI partnership to accelerate creative marketing tools
Adobe announced expanded collaboration with Amazon Web Services to embed generative AI across Adobe products — including Firefly, GenStudio and Express — enabling brands to create on‑brand ads and connect to Amazon Ads for faster campaign production. The partnership emphasizes access to foundation models via Amazon Bedrock and integration of AI assistants for personalized creative workflows
.
Marketers face AI knowledge gap and self-funded upskilling
An Adobe study and industry reporting find many marketers are overworked and undertrained on AI: significant numbers are funding their own training and struggling with tool inefficiencies while employers expect AI skills. Key upskilling needs cited include AI automation, design and data analytics as teams adapt to expanded AI-driven responsibilities
.
Platform and measurement shifts: data accuracy and identity resilience shape 2026 planning
Analysts predict 2026 marketing will centre on data quality, identity resilience and unified measurement as AI moves from experimentation to routine activation, linking performance more tightly to outcomes. The trend signals increasing emphasis on first‑party data and measurement solutions that support AI-driven personalization and commerce media
.
Autonomous AI agents and campaign automation accelerate across martech
Industry surveys and vendor releases show platforms introducing agentic AI and autonomous campaign management in 2025, with HubSpot research indicating fast adoption and marketing organisations planning capacity gains through automation. Investment in agentic AI soared in prior years and vendors are embedding autonomous features for optimization and scaling
.
Google Ads and other ad platforms update product prompts & recommendations
Google Ads altered its UI behavior around AI-driven recommendations (removing a dismiss pop-up for an AI Max suggestion), reflecting iterative changes to how platforms surface automated advice to advertisers. Microsoft Advertising also rolled out December 2025 policy updates across verticals, illustrating continued platform-level policy and UX adjustments for advertisers
.
Short-form video and 'search without screens' remain dominant content and discovery trends
Marketing trend coverage for 2025 emphasises short-form video (Reels/Shorts/TikTok) as the most effective creative format and rising 'search without screens' behaviours — voice, assistants and zero‑click answers — that demand new SEO and structured‑data strategies. Brands are urged to optimize for conversational queries and fast-format storytelling to retain visibility
.
Regional focus: African marketers adopt AI and personalization at scale
Regional reporting from Africa notes marketers in 2025 moved rapidly to AI-enabled personalization and hyper-local creator strategies, using multilingual, culturally specific content to boost conversions and loyalty. Industry leaders say 2025 shifted marketing from experimentation to operationalized AI across campaigns in several African markets
.
Industry events and publications highlight measurement, privacy and skills battles
Ad and marketing trade outlets list conferences and thought leadership emphasising measurement convergence, privacy-compliant data practices, and workforce upskilling as top agenda items heading into 2026. These conversations reflect advertiser demand for clearer ROI, identity solutions and governance for AI-driven personalization
.