Gitnux/Report 2026

Advertising Industry Statistics

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Advertising Industry Statistics
Samuel NorbergWritten by Samuel Norberg·Fact-checked by Maya Johansson
Published
How this report is researched
01Editorial Scope

An editor sets the topic, the inclusion criteria, and the evaluation framework before research starts.

02Source Research

AI search agents locate sources and extract each figure together with the document it came from.

Read our full methodology →

Search agents attach provenance to every extracted figure.

Next review: within 39 days

01 Industry overview

The advertising industry at a glance

Global advertising is projected to reach $1.34 trillion in 2026, with growth increasingly concentrated in digital, retail media, video and algorithm-driven platforms.

$1.34T[77]
Global ad spend, 2026
$294.6B[1]
U.S. internet ad revenue, 2025
59.7%[77]
Top three platform share, 2026
39.8%[22]
North America share, 2026
Market size
Global advertising spend is forecast at $1.34 trillion in 2026. In the United States, internet advertising revenue reached $294.6 billion in 2025, up 13.9% year over year.[77][1]
Forecast & CAGR
WARC Media forecasts global advertising growth of 11.9% in 2026, while WPP Media projects 7.1% growth for the same year. These are annual growth forecasts rather than multi-year CAGR estimates; no reliable current multi-year CAGR was identified.[77][22]
Market share & regions
North America is forecast to account for 39.8% of global advertising revenue in 2026, followed by Asia-Pacific at 31.5% and Europe at 22.2%. Latin America is projected at 4.7% and the Middle East and Africa at 1.9%.[22]
Segmentation
U.S. internet advertising in 2025 was led by search at $114.2 billion, display at $81.6 billion and video at $78.0 billion. Search represented 38.8% of digital revenue, while video reached 26.5%.[1]
Key players & concentration
Alphabet, Amazon and Meta are forecast to capture 59.7% of global advertising spend excluding China in 2026. In global media-agency billings, WPP Media held a 13% share in 2025, according to COMvergence.[77][26]
Trends, drivers & challenges
Growth is being driven by retail media, connected television, video, social platforms and algorithmic targeting. Dentsu forecasts that algorithm-driven advertising will represent 75% of ad spend by 2028, while geopolitical uncertainty and economic volatility remain constraints on budgets.[20][1]
Consumer behavior & competition
U.S. digital advertising growth in 2024 was strongest in social advertising, which rose 36.7% to $88.8 billion, followed by podcast advertising at 26.4% growth and retail media at 23.0%. The shift reflects competition for video, creator, commerce and first-party-data audiences.[1]
M&A
Omnicom completed its acquisition of Interpublic Group on November 26, 2025. The transaction was valued at approximately $13.5 billion, with legacy Omnicom shareholders owning about 60.6% of the combined company and legacy IPG shareholders owning 39.4%.[78][79]
Regulation
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Endorsement Guides apply to advertising across television, print, radio, online, podcasts, social media and reviews. The FTC revised the guides in June 2023, including provisions relevant to modern influencer and digital marketing practices.[79]
Latest news
The latest available forecasts point to continued expansion in 2026: WARC Media projects global advertising revenue of $1.34 trillion, while dentsu forecasts $1.06 trillion and 5.0% growth. The difference reflects varying methodologies and market definitions, so the figures should not be treated as directly interchangeable.[77][20]
report visual · Projection

U.S. internet advertising revenue

U.S. internet advertising revenue grew from $139.8B in 2020 to $258.6B in 2024.

$139.8B
Start
+16.62%
CAGR · 4y
$258.6B
Projected
20202024
source-verifiediab.com2024

02 Ranking

Top 7 Companies in the Advertising Industry

The leading companies in the advertising industry, ranked on market impact, performance, momentum, innovation and brand popularity.

Updated November 10, 2026 · Next review December 10, 2026

Verdict

Publicis Groupe leads Gitnux's 2026 advertising ranking with an Overall score of 9.9, with €14.547 billion in 2025 net revenue across more than 100 countries. Dentsu Group is the runner-up at 8.9, with services spanning about 120 countries, including creative and media offerings.

Ranked by Overall score · How we score ↓

Editor's top 3 picks

Where to start, by need.

  1. #1 Overall · Leader in creative and media services

    Publicis Groupe

    FR

    Ranked #1 · 9.9 · Creative and media services

    Why we picked it: It supports global creative, media, data and marketing services, with 2025 net revenue of €14.547 billion.

    See in ranking ↓Visit publicisgroupe.com ↗

  2. #2 overall

    Dentsu Group

    JP

    Ranked #2 · 8.9 · Creative and media services

    Why we picked it: It covers creative, media, customer experience and marketing technology services across about 120 countries.

    See in ranking ↓Visit dentsu.com ↗

  3. #3 overall

    WPP

    GB

    Ranked #3 · 8.6 · Creative and media services

    Why we picked it: It operates via integrated agencies, media operations, public relations and specialist agencies.

    See in ranking ↓Visit wpp.com ↗

Pick 1 is the #1 company overall. No other segment places in the top 5, so picks 2 and 3 follow rank.

Full ranking

Sort by
Top 7 companies in the advertising industry, 2026 – Gitnux ranking
#CompanyOverall ↓Company snapshot
1

Publicis Groupe

Creative and media services · FR

9.9
2

Dentsu Group

Creative and media services · JP

8.9
3

WPP

Creative and media services · GB

8.6
4

Stagwell

Creative and media services · US

8.6
5

Havas

Creative and media services · NL

8.5
6

Hakuhodo DY Holdings

Japanese and international advertising and marketing services · JP

7.9
7

S4 Capital

Digital advertising, marketing technology and commerce · GB

7.2

How we score

  • Impact (30%): scale and weight in the market (revenue, market share, employees, market position).
  • Performance (20%): recent revenue growth and operating margin; an analyst assessment where a company does not publish them.
  • Momentum (20%): growth trajectory and future potential.
  • Innovation (15%): R&D intensity and how technologically advanced the company is.

Popularity (brand search demand, 15%) counts toward Overall but is not published as a column. Overall leaves out what is not known.

Scale Scores are shown on a 7–10 scale with one decimal; bars start at 7.0.

Cadence Recalculated when new figures are published; next review December 10, 2026.

Independence. Rankings are editorially independent. Scores, ranks, picks and the verdict follow the method above; no company can pay to change them.

Cite this ranking

APA

Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 10). Top 7 companies in the advertising industry. In Advertising Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/advertising-industry-statistics/#top-companies

04 Statistics

Technology & Innovation

AI adoption is shifting from pilots into production workflows, with AI-powered ad buying estimated at 8% of U.S. advertising revenue ($35 billion) in 2025.

AI in the advertising industry

  • U.S. digital advertising revenue reached $294.6 billion in 2025, a 13.9% year-over-year increase during the industry’s shift toward AI-enabled advertising.[1]
  • 45% of advertising-industry respondents identified generative AI as the biggest driver of advertising innovation in 2025.[2]
  • 86% of digital-video ad buyers were using or planning to use generative AI to build video-ad creative in 2025.[1]
  • 97% of marketers planned to use AI in at least some media-planning, buying or optimization activities in 2026, according to a global DoubleVerify study.[3]
  • 83% of advertising executives said their companies had deployed AI in the creative process in 2025, up from 60% in 2024.[1]
  • 37% of marketers used AI to summarize media briefs in 2025, up from 28% in 2024, according to DoubleVerify.[3]

Automation in the advertising industry

  • AI-powered ad buying is projected to represent 26% of U.S. advertising revenue, or $142 billion, by 2030.[4]
  • AI-powered ad buying represented an estimated 8% of U.S. advertising revenue, or $35 billion, in 2025.[4]
  • 86% of digital-video buyers were using or planning to use generative AI to automate parts of video-ad creative production in 2025.[1]
  • 70% of agencies, brands and publishers had not fully scaled AI across media planning, activation and analysis in 2025, limiting full workflow automation.[1]
  • Agencies using AI agents for budget pacing captured an average of 97.4% of their allocated monthly spend in 2026, compared with a 94% industry average.[5]
  • 68% of PPC professionals at advertising agencies worldwide said their agencies were automating repetitive tasks to improve efficiency and reduce costs in late 2025.[6]

Digital Transformation in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • Among U.S. advertising organizations, 87% relied on manual budget pacing in 2026, highlighting continued scope for advertising-workflow automation.[5]
  • 30% of agencies, brands and publishers had fully integrated AI across the media campaign lifecycle in the advertising industry in 2025.[1]
  • Across 15 countries, 70% of organizations used generative AI to measure and track customer and marketing metrics in 2025.[7]
  • Across 15 countries, 75% of organizations used generative AI for search-engine optimization in 2025.[7]
  • Among German digital-industry companies, 76% expected marketing automation to become more important in the future in 2025.[8]
  • Across 15 countries, 72% of organizations were using generative AI extensively or to a limited extent in their marketing departments in 2025.[7]

Technology Adoption in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 83% of advertising executives said their companies had deployed AI in the creative process in 2026, up from 60% in 2024.[1]
  • 77% of marketers reported using AI in 2024, up from 57% in 2023, based on Digiday+ Research surveys.[9]
  • 96% of major brands used AI in marketing in 2026, including 80% using it for content creation and 54% for media buying or optimization.[10]
  • 63% of multinational brand owners were already using generative AI in marketing in 2024, most commonly for content creation, ideation and task automation.[10]

Cloud Computing in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 72% of EU enterprises using cloud computing used it for office software in 2025, while another 72% used it for file storage.[11]
  • 85% of large EU businesses used paid cloud computing services in 2025, compared with 52% of small and medium-sized enterprises.[11]
  • 85% of EU enterprises using cloud computing used it to host email systems in 2025.[11]
  • 52.74% of EU enterprises used paid cloud computing services in 2025.[11]

Big Data in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 25% of enterprises in Poland performed data analytics internally or externally in 2025, the lowest share among the EU countries reported.[11]
  • 33% of EU enterprises used data analytics performed by their own employees in 2025.[11]
  • 60% of enterprises in Denmark performed data analytics internally or externally in 2025, the highest share among EU countries.[11]
  • 40% of EU enterprises performed data analytics internally or through another organization in 2025.[11]

05 Statistics

Data & Analytics

Business intelligence in the advertising industry

  • 77% of marketing agencies reported artificial-intelligence adoption in 2024, across the surveyed agency market.[12]
  • 86% of agency leaders expected artificial-intelligence usage to increase in 2024, across the surveyed agency market.[12]
  • 79% of agencies reported saving at least five hours per week with artificial intelligence in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 6.6 services were offered on average by digital agencies in 2025, according to a global digital-agency industry report.[13]
  • 38% of agencies reported using agentic AI for workflow automation in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 42% of agencies said reporting and performance summaries were the leading areas where artificial intelligence saved five or more hours per week in 2026, across the surveyed agency market.[12]

Data analytics in the advertising industry

  • Nearly half of agencies struggled to track users who discovered brands through AI tools in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 31% was the North American attribution score reported by Nielsen’s 2025 marketing survey, covering advertising markets in North America.[14]
  • 15% of marketing leaders said effectiveness data was a primary influence on budget decisions in 2026, according to an advertising measurement survey.[15]
  • 28% was the Asia-Pacific attribution score reported by Nielsen’s 2025 marketing survey, covering advertising markets in the Asia-Pacific region.[14]
  • 97% of agency clients rated accurate reporting important for retention in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 34% was the South American attribution score reported by Nielsen’s 2025 marketing survey, covering advertising markets in South America.[14]

Data Quality in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 67% of marketing professionals report that poor data quality disrupts lead handoffs between marketing and sales.[16]
  • 45% of CMOs estimate that the marketing data their teams use for decisions is incomplete, inaccurate, or outdated; the survey covered marketers across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 2025.[17]
  • 73% of marketers say at least 10% of their lead data is inaccurate or outdated, based on a survey of more than 200 marketing operations and demand-generation professionals.[16]
  • 31% of CMOs say data completeness is the biggest data-quality problem affecting their marketing organizations across the surveyed markets in 2025.[17]
  • 30% of CMOs identify improving data quality as the biggest lever for improving marketing performance across surveyed marketing organizations in 2025.[17]

Data Governance in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 45% of respondents identify regulatory compliance as a goal of their data-governance program in 2024, in a global survey of data and analytics professionals.[18]
  • 58% of organizations with data-governance programs report improved data quality in 2024, based on a global survey of data and analytics professionals.[18]
  • 14% of organizations in the Dutch marketing sector report using data governance in 2024, down from 16% in 2022.[19]
  • 92% of marketing decision-makers report investing in automated data-governance platforms, according to a survey of more than 200 marketing operations and demand-generation professionals.[16]
  • 49% of advertising and data decision-makers at U.S. brands, agencies, and publishers are creating or planning dedicated teams or departments in response to privacy and data-governance requirements in 2024.[1]
  • 71% of global respondents report that their organization has a data-governance program in 2024, up from 60% in 2023.[18]

KPIs in the advertising industry

  • 39% of agency leaders cited campaign performance as a top client-retention factor in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 17% of agencies produced a client report in under 15 minutes in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 76% of agencies rated accurate reporting extremely important for client retention in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 46% of agencies produced a client report in under 30 minutes in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 32% of agency leaders cited transparent reporting as a top client-retention factor in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 84% of agency clients wanted clear visual reporting in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]

06 Statistics

Strategy & Growth

Annual growth expectations diverge by methodology. WARC Media projects 11.9% growth in 2026, while WPP Media projects 7.1% for the same year.

Growth in the advertising industry

  • Global advertising spend was forecast to grow 4.9% in 2025 to reach $992 billion across 56 markets.[20]
  • Global advertising revenue was forecast to grow at a 5.4% compound annual rate from 2025 through 2030.[21]
  • Global advertising spend was forecast to grow 6.8% in 2024 to reach $772.4 billion in dentsu’s 2025 forecast.[20]
  • WPP reported increasing its annual investment in WPP Open from £250 million to £300 million to support AI, data and technology capabilities.[22]
  • Retail-media advertising was projected to grow from $169.6 billion in 2025 to $252.1 billion in 2030.[21]
  • Algorithm-driven advertising was forecast to represent 78.1% of global advertising spend by 2027.[20]

Mergers and acquisitions in the advertising industry

  • Marcom merger-and-acquisition activity fell sharply in 2024, while acquired companies represented 13,324 employees.[23]
  • The proposed Omnicom–Interpublic transaction was valued at approximately $30 billion when announced in December 2024.[24]
  • The average number of employees per marcom acquisition declined to 833 in 2024 from 868 in 2023.[23]
  • Publicis Groupe reported that acquisitions contributed less than 1% of consolidated net revenue in 2024.[25]
  • Omnicom and Interpublic announced a stock-for-stock transaction expected to create an advertising group with almost $26 billion in combined annual revenue.[24]
  • Publicis Groupe reported €13.965 billion in net revenue for 2024, up 6.6% from 2023.[25]

Strategic partnerships in the advertising industry

  • WFA partnered with Ebiquity and 16 national advertiser associations to produce its 2026 global and local media-budget benchmarks.[10]
  • WPP reported that six agency networks represented approximately 92% of its business in 2024 after simplifying its client-facing structure.[22]
  • The WFA 2026 media-budget project covered advertiser associations from 16 national markets.[10]
  • OMG recorded an 85% client-retention rate in 2024, the highest among the agency groups compared by COMvergence.[26]
  • WPP said WPP Open contributed to new-business wins involving Amazon, J&J, Kimberly-Clark and Unilever in 2024.[22]
  • OMG led agency groups in 2024 new-business volume, including a $7 billion winning streak, according to COMvergence.[26]

07 Statistics

People & Workforce

Work model preferences show a continued tilt to hybrid. In the 2024 Myers Report survey, 74% of advertising professionals reported working in hybrid situations.

Hiring in the advertising industry

  • 6.5% of U.S. advertising, public-relations and related-services workers were aged 20–24 in 2023, down from 10.5% in 2019.[6]
  • More than 3,462 advertising professionals participated in the Myers Report 2024 survey of advertising-industry working preferences.[27]
  • 47% of advertising-agency leaders said their agencies had lost staff during the previous year in 2025.[28]
  • 67% of B2B marketing organizations reported that recruiting and hiring ethnic, religious or racial-minority talent was effective in 2024.[29]
  • 58% of B2B marketing organizations reported that recruiting and hiring LGBTQ+ talent was effective in 2024.[29]

Employee retention in the advertising industry

  • 71% of digital agencies reported voluntary turnover below 10% in the 2022 SoDA Talent, Culture & Operations Study.[30]
  • Under 30% of advertising-industry employees with two or fewer years of experience preferred fully remote work in the 2024 Myers Report survey.[27]
  • 80% of marketing-agency leaders said strong relationships were the top factor in client retention in 2026, a measure of agency relationship stability rather than employee retention.[12]
  • 40% of marketing agencies identified team retention as a challenge in 2024, up from 16% in 2023.[31]
  • 4.1 years was the average employee tenure reported by respondents in a 2022 digital-marketing-agency outlook survey.[32]

Remote Work in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across management, marketing and sales respondents, 20% reported working fully remotely in the State of Sales and Marketing Report.[33]
  • Across marketing organizations, 37.8% reported working from home all the time in Fall 2024, according to a U.S. CMO survey.[34]
  • Among U.S. marketing, advertising and public-relations office job postings, 12.2% were advertised as remote in 2024.[35]
  • Across marketing organizations, 55.6% reported working from home some of the time in Fall 2024, according to a U.S. CMO survey.[34]

Hybrid Work in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across management, marketing and sales respondents, 57% said their employer offered a hybrid work option to at least some employees.[33]
  • Across advertising professionals, 74% reported working in hybrid situations in the 2024 Myers Report survey of 3,462 respondents.[27]
  • Across advertising professionals, 64% preferred hybrid work over fully remote or fully on-site work in the 2024 Myers Report survey.[27]
  • Among marketers, 68.7% said in 2024 that their current balance of office and home-working days was appropriate.[36]

Upskilling in the advertising industry

  • 83% of advertising executives said their companies had deployed AI in creative work in 2025, requiring creative teams to develop generative-AI capabilities.[1]
  • 45% of advertising-industry respondents identified generative AI as the leading innovation driver in 2025, making AI literacy a central development priority.[2]
  • More than 70% of agencies and publishers said AI met or exceeded expectations for reducing manual work in 2025, increasing pressure to retrain staff for higher-value tasks.[1]
  • 97% of marketers planned to use AI in media planning, buying or optimization in 2026, expanding the need for AI-related training across advertising teams.[3]
  • More than 50% of U.S. advertising and marketing leaders said AI had reshaped discovery and consideration by 2026, changing the skills required for strategy and planning.[37]

Employee Engagement in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across organizations with highly activated communications strategies, 40% reported increased employee engagement in Gallagher’s 2026 global survey.[38]
  • Across organizations surveyed globally, 32% reported an increase in employee engagement from their previous survey in Gallagher’s 2026 Employee Communications Report.[38]
  • Across organizations with low-activation communications strategies, 23% reported increased employee engagement in Gallagher’s 2026 global survey.[38]
  • Across the global workforce, 21% of employees were engaged in 2024, according to Gallup’s worldwide workplace measure.[39]

DEI in the advertising industry

  • 78% of B2B marketing organizations reported that creating an inclusive culture was effective in 2024.[29]
  • 74% of B2B marketing organizations reported that increasing women in senior marketing leadership was effective in 2024.[29]
  • 67% of B2B marketing organizations reported that recruiting ethnic, religious or racial-minority talent was effective in 2024.[29]

08 Statistics

Customer & Sales

Retention remains a measurable lever in client services. U.S. agencies reported an average monthly client-retention rate of 96.4% in September 2026.

Customer experience in the advertising industry

  • Understanding the client’s business and industry was the most important agency-selection and partnership requirement reported by clients in 2024.[31]
  • 79% of agencies said their customer service was satisfactory in 2022, according to a survey of digital marketing agencies in the United States.[40]
  • 48% of client-side marketers said they would recommend their primary agency to a friend or colleague in 2024.[31]
  • 88% of clients said they would work with their current agency again if they switched roles in 2024.[31]
  • Nearly 70% of clients planned an agency review by the end of 2024, indicating substantial dissatisfaction with existing agency partnerships.[31]

Customer retention in the advertising industry

  • 70% of agencies reported retaining clients for two or more years in the 2023 Agency Benchmarks Report.[12]
  • 62% of marketing-agency clients stayed for at least two years in 2026.[12]
  • 96.4% was the average monthly client-retention rate for U.S. advertising agencies in September 2026.[41]
  • 64.4% of clients remained with U.S. advertising agencies after 12 months in September 2026.[41]
  • 27.8 months was the average client lifetime for U.S. advertising agencies in September 2026.[41]

Customer acquisition in the advertising industry

  • 64% of digital marketing agencies used social media to find clients in 2022.[40]
  • 79% of agencies expected client acquisition to be more challenging in 2023 than in 2022.[40]
  • 54% of digital marketing agencies used technology partnerships to find clients in 2022.[40]
  • 41% of agencies identified referrals as a top source of new clients in 2026.[40]
  • 50% of agencies identified organic social as a leading source of new clients in 2026.[40]

Customer loyalty in the advertising industry

  • 3.7 years was the average client-agency relationship tenure for media-only agencies in 2025.[42]
  • 7.3 years was the average client-agency relationship tenure for integrated full-service agencies in 2025.[42]
  • 88% of clients said they would work with their current agency again after changing roles in 2024.[31]
  • 55% of clients were likely to switch from their primary agency within six months in 2023.[43]
  • 40% of clients were likely to switch from their primary agency within six months in 2024.[31]

Lead generation in the advertising industry

  • 37% of digital marketing agencies used referrals to find clients in 2022.[40]
  • 66% of agencies reported paid search as a leading new-business source in 2026.[40]
  • 50% of agencies reported organic social as a leading new-business source in 2026.[40]
  • 64% of digital marketing agencies used social media for client acquisition in 2022.[40]
  • 41% of agencies reported referrals as a top source of new business in 2026.[40]

09 Statistics

Marketing & Brand

Platforms and formats are shaping service demand. Agencies cited SEO and content marketing (38%) and PPC or paid advertising (73%) as core services in 2026.

Marketing in the advertising industry

  • 56% of client-side respondents continued using an agency-partnership structure in 2024.[31]
  • 69% of agencies expected their marketing budgets to increase in 2026.[40]
  • 38% of marketing agencies listed SEO and content marketing as a core service in 2026.[12]
  • 26% of agencies planned to keep their marketing budgets unchanged in 2026.[40]
  • More than 80% of client-side and agency-side marketers used artificial intelligence to enhance marketing strategies in 2024.[31]

Digital marketing in the advertising industry

  • 52% of agencies listed SEO as a core service offering in 2026.[12]
  • 38% of agencies listed social media as a core service offering in 2026.[12]
  • 59% of agencies identified SEO as a leading source of new clients in 2026.[40]
  • 60% of agencies prioritized lead scoring or qualification for artificial-intelligence use in 2026.[40]
  • 73% of agencies listed PPC or paid advertising as a core service offering in 2026.[12]

Branding in the advertising industry

  • 73% of agencies expected increased Instagram investment in 2026, making it the leading social platform for planned agency-client activity.[12]
  • More than 50% of clients sought social-media support from agency partners in 2024.[31]
  • 64% of agencies cited Google’s AI Overviews as their top industry concern in 2026.[12]
  • 40% of clients were likely to switch from their primary agency within six months in 2024, placing agency brand equity under pressure.[31]
  • 48% of client-side marketers said they would recommend their primary agency to a friend or colleague in 2024, a measure of agency-brand advocacy.[31]

Social media in the advertising industry

  • 64% of digital marketing agencies used social media for acquisition, compared with 37% using referrals, in 2022.[40]
  • 48% of client-side marketers would recommend their primary agency to a friend or colleague, including agencies delivering social-media services, in 2024.[31]
  • 30.8% was social media’s share of total digital advertising spend in the 2025 global overview report.[44]
  • 73% of agencies expected increased Instagram investment in 2026.[12]
  • More than 50% of clients sought social-media help from agency partners in 2024.[31]

Influencer Marketing in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 77.7% of surveyed U.S. companies increased their creator-economy budgets in 2025, according to a survey of 139 marketers.[6]
  • 54% of multinational marketers expected influencer-marketing budgets to increase over the following 12 months in 2025, with average projected growth of 23%.[10]
  • Six in 10 multinational brands had dedicated influencer-marketing budgets globally in 2025, up from 37% in 2019.[10]
  • 74% of surveyed brands, agencies and creators reported year-over-year creator-marketing budget increases in the 2025 survey covering nine countries.[45]
  • $37 billion in U.S. creator advertising spend is projected for 2025, growing four times faster than the broader media industry.[1]

10 Statistics

Operations & Execution

Budget pacing capture remains a benchmark for automation. The industry-average share of allocated monthly advertising spend captured through budget pacing was 94% in the 2026 agency benchmark.

Process optimization in the advertising industry

  • 70% of agencies changed their service mix in 2025, according to a survey of digital agencies worldwide.[13]
  • 35% of agencies rated their operational efficiency as average or below in 2024.[46]
  • 61% of agency leaders said their operational efficiency could be improved in 2024.[46]
  • 67% of agency leaders planned to increase AI adoption in 2024.[46]
  • 73% of agency leaders believed AI would positively affect efficiency and profitability in 2024.[46]

Operational efficiency in the advertising industry

  • 33% of agency leaders said employees submitted time-tracking data on time about 90% of the time.[47]
  • 40% of agency leaders strongly agreed in 2023 that their technology vendors understood their agency needs.[48]
  • 18% of agencies always reached their billable-versus-non-billable time targets.[47]
  • 69% of agency leaders’ time was spent in meetings or team management, according to a survey of agency leaders.[47]
  • 57% of agencies did not complete projects profitably on a weekly basis in 2024.[46]

Quality management in the advertising industry

  • 15% of respondent companies were a little dissatisfied with their external marketing agencies in 2023.[49]
  • 14% of respondent companies were unsure about their satisfaction with external marketing agencies in 2024.[49]
  • 56% of respondent companies were mostly satisfied with their external marketing agencies in 2024.[49]
  • 60% of respondent companies were mostly satisfied with their external marketing agencies in 2023.[49]
  • 3% of respondent companies were very dissatisfied with their external marketing agencies in 2024.[49]

Supply chain in the advertising industry

  • $26.8 billion in global programmatic media value was estimated to be lost annually through supply-chain inefficiencies in the ANA’s Q2 2025 benchmark.[42]
  • 94% was the industry-average share of allocated monthly advertising spend captured through budget pacing in the 2026 agency benchmark.[5]
  • 64% of strategists who gained time through agentic automation reinvested it in strategic growth planning.[5]
  • 60% of agencies cited risks from manual budgeting workflows in 2025, up from 56% in 2024.[5]
  • 97.4% of allocated monthly advertising spend was captured on average by agencies using AI agents for budget pacing.[5]

Outsourcing / Offshoring in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 63.1% of marketers outsourced work to an agency or third party during the previous 12 months in the 2025 survey, covering more than 3,500 respondents globally.[36]
  • 93% of companies used third-party resources such as agencies or contractors for content to some degree in 2024, while 57% planned to outsource more than half of content creation.[50]
  • 57% of marketing respondents outsourced video production fully or partly in 2024, the most commonly outsourced marketing function in the survey.[51]
  • 45% of marketing respondents outsourced design functions fully or partly in 2024, according to the Marketing Benchmark Survey.[51]
  • 49% of marketing respondents outsourced digital content production fully or partly in 2024, according to the Marketing Benchmark Survey.[51]

11 Statistics

Finance & Pricing

Pricing models remain centered on retainers. 85% of agencies preferred working with clients on a retainer basis in 2025.

Pricing strategy in the advertising industry

  • 85% of agencies preferred working with clients on a retainer basis in 2025.[52]
  • 81% of agencies primarily worked on a retainer basis in 2024.[52]
  • 43% of agencies reported an hourly billable rate between $100 and $199 in 2023.[48]
  • 18% of digital agencies used value-based pricing in 2025, down from 31% in 2024.[53]
  • 65% of surveyed agencies priced services between $150 and $224 per hour in 2024.[13]

Cost reduction in the advertising industry

  • Agencies that reduced their service offerings grew 13% on average in 2025.[53]
  • Agencies that reduced their service offerings averaged 30% net margins in 2025, according to Promethean Research.[13]
  • Agencies that expanded their service offerings grew 9.8% on average in 2025.[53]
  • 35% of agencies rated their operational efficiency as average or below in 2024, indicating substantial scope for process-related cost reduction.[46]
  • Agencies that held their service mix steady grew 5.7% on average in 2025.[53]

Profitability in the advertising industry

  • 11% was the average net margin for development agencies in 2025.[53]
  • 18.2% was the entry point for the top quartile of operating profit margins in the 2025 marketing-services survey.[54]
  • 13.7% was the average operating profit margin for PR consultancies in the 2025 marketing-services survey.[54]
  • 19% was the average net margin for studio-sized digital agencies in 2025.[53]
  • 10.2% was the average operating profit margin for surveyed marketing-services companies in 2025.[54]

Financial planning in the advertising industry

  • 68% of agency leaders reported operating margins above 20% in 2026.[12]
  • 26% of agency leaders reported operating margins between 21% and 30% in 2026.[12]
  • 92% of agency leaders were at least somewhat confident their agency would be more profitable in 2024.[48]
  • 48% of agency leaders said operating margins stayed about the same in 2026 compared with the prior year.[12]
  • 39% of agency leaders said operating margins improved in 2026 compared with the prior year.[12]

12 Statistics

Product & Service

Service packaging tracks channel change. 89% of surveyed marketing agencies offered paid advertising as a service in 2025.

Product development in the advertising industry

  • 45% of advertising-industry respondents identified generative AI as the biggest driver of innovation in 2025, globally.[2]
  • 89% of surveyed marketing agencies offered paid advertising as a service in 2025, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 39% of digital-video advertising creative was expected to be built from scratch or enhanced with generative AI in 2026, United States.[1]
  • 51% of digital-video buyers were already using generative AI to build or enhance video advertising creative in 2025, mainly among advertisers and agencies in the United States.[1]
  • 73% of marketing agencies listed PPC or paid advertising as a core service in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]

Product lifecycle in the advertising industry

  • 2% of marketing agencies reported average client lifetimes of less than six months in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 62% of agency clients stayed with their agency for two or more years in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 19% of marketing agencies reported average client lifetimes of more than five years in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 43% of marketing agencies reported average client lifetimes of two to five years in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 24% of marketing agencies reported average client lifetimes of one to two years in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]

After-sales in the advertising industry

  • 66% of agencies added new services or offerings for existing clients as a retention strategy in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[40]
  • 79% of digital marketing agencies said their customer service was satisfactory in 2023, according to a survey of agencies primarily in English-speaking markets.[40]
  • 48% of agencies provided analytics and reporting, compared with 6% of agencies whose typical client lifespan was zero to 12 months, in 2026.[40]
  • 68% of agencies increased reporting efforts as a client-retention strategy in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[40]
  • 71% of agencies increased communication and transparency as a client-retention strategy in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[40]

Value proposition in the advertising industry

  • 75% of clients found agency selection time-consuming in 2024, across the surveyed client market.[31]
  • 59% of agencies identified industry expertise as the leading factor in winning new business in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 48% of clients cited dissatisfaction with delivery as the leading reason for ending agency partnerships in 2024, across the surveyed client market.[31]
  • 55% of clients asked agencies to connect marketing performance to revenue in 2026, across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.[12]
  • 40% of clients said they were likely to switch from their primary agency within six months in 2024, across the surveyed client market.[31]

13 Statistics

Sustainability & Ethics

Sustainability and responsible-AI principles are increasingly codified. Publicis Groupe reported 94% of employees received training in 2025.

Sustainability in the advertising industry

  • 90% of marketers worldwide agreed in 2023 that sustainability agendas need to be more ambitious.[10]
  • 43% of brands had sustainability as a KPI in their marketing dashboards in 2023, up from 26% in 2021.[10]
  • 35% of marketers identified lack of internal resources as a leading challenge to sustainable marketing in 2023.[10]
  • 82% of marketers said in 2023 that companies need to be braver in communicating sustainability efforts.[10]
  • 30% of marketers cited a lack of transparency in measurement as a leading sustainable-marketing challenge in 2023.[10]

ESG in the advertising industry

  • 33% of brands in the WFA survey had adopted sustainability as a responsible-AI principle.[55]
  • 78% of brands in the WFA survey had adopted privacy as a responsible-AI principle.[55]
  • 65% of brands in the WFA survey had adopted respect for intellectual property as a responsible-AI principle.[55]
  • 88% of large corporates had a responsible marketing framework in 2023, according to WFA research covering major advertisers.[10]
  • 52% of brands in the WFA survey had adopted diversity, equity and inclusion as a responsible-AI principle.[55]

Ethics in the advertising industry

  • 39% of European social-responsibility complaints in 2024 concerned gender issues and discrimination.[56]
  • 5% of complaints received by Ireland’s advertising standards body in 2024 alleged offensive advertising.[57]
  • 45% of UK adults surveyed in 2024 were concerned about misleading images or descriptions in advertisements.[58]
  • 8% of European cross-border advertising complaints in 2024 concerned social responsibility.[56]
  • 89% of European cross-border advertising complaints in 2024 concerned misleading advertising.[56]

CSR in the advertising industry

  • 2,402,682 hours of employee training were delivered by Publicis Groupe in 2025.[59]
  • 94% of Publicis Groupe employees received training in 2025.[59]
  • 51.8% of Publicis Groupe’s workforce was female in 2024.[60]
  • 22 hours of training per capita were delivered by Publicis Groupe in 2025.[59]
  • 108,179 people worked for Publicis Groupe in 2024.[59]

Circular economy in the advertising industry

  • 68.5% of Publicis Groupe paper used in 2024 was FSC-certified, PEFC-certified or eco-labelled.[25]
  • 2,680 metric tons of non-recycled waste were generated by Publicis Groupe in 2024.[25]
  • 1,805 metric tons of Publicis Groupe waste were recycled in 2024.[25]
  • 399,941 cubic metres of water were consumed by Publicis Groupe in 2024.[25]

Carbon footprint in the advertising industry

  • 65.2% of Publicis Groupe’s direct energy sources were renewable in 2024, excluding renewable-energy certificates.[25]
  • 94.9% of Publicis Groupe’s direct energy sources plus renewable-energy certificates were renewable in 2024.[25]
  • 5,610.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent was the global operational carbon footprint reported by one advertising company in 2024.[61]
  • 50% is Publicis Groupe’s 2030 target for reducing Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions against its target baseline.[59]
  • 287,077 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent were Publicis Groupe’s total Scope 1, Scope 2 market-based and Scope 3 emissions in 2024.[25]

15 Statistics

Globalization & Expansion

Regional growth and share patterns define opportunity. North America is forecast at 39.8% of global advertising revenue in 2026.

Globalization in the advertising industry

  • $1.08 trillion in global advertising revenue was forecast for 2025, with the market projected to grow 6.1% in 2026.[21]
  • India was forecast to record 8.4% advertising-market growth in 2025, reaching $21.3 billion in advertising revenue.[21]
  • Brazil was forecast to record 11.9% advertising-market growth in 2025, the highest rate among the listed major markets.[21]
  • China was forecast to generate $211.6 billion in advertising revenue in 2025, with 6.8% growth.[21]
  • The United States was forecast to account for $404.7 billion of advertising revenue in 2025, representing 5.6% growth.[21]

Distribution channels in the advertising industry

  • Digital advertising was forecast to grow 7.9% globally in 2025, reaching $678.7 billion.[20]
  • Digital advertising was projected to account for 74.0% of global advertising spend in 2026.[69]
  • Outdoor advertising was projected to reach $56 billion globally in 2025, representing 7.1% year-over-year growth.[69]
  • Digital advertising was projected to account for 72.9% of global advertising revenue in 2025.[69]
  • Digital out-of-home advertising was forecast to represent 41% of the global $52 billion out-of-home market in 2025.[21]

16 Statistics

Regional markets

National channel mixes show strong digital weighting. In Japan in 2024, 47.6% of total advertising expenditure came from internet advertising.

The advertising industry in Brazil

  • R$37.9 billion was invested in digital advertising in Brazil in 2024, up 8% from 2023.[70]
  • 74% of Brazil’s digital advertising investment was allocated to mobile formats in 2024.[70]
  • 42% of Brazil’s digital advertising investment went to video formats in 2024.[70]
  • R$3.5 billion was invested in retail media advertising in Brazil in 2024, up 41% from 2023.[70]

The advertising industry in Japan

  • ¥2,336.3 billion was spent on traditional media advertising in Japan in 2024, up 0.9% year on year.[71]
  • ¥3,651.7 billion was spent on internet advertising in Japan in 2024, up 9.6% year on year.[71]
  • 47.6% of Japan’s total advertising expenditure came from internet advertising in 2024.[71]
  • ¥7,673.0 billion was spent on advertising in Japan in 2024, up 4.9% year on year.[71]

The advertising industry in New York

  • The New York metropolitan area had an advertising and promotions manager location quotient of 2.77 in May 2025.[72]
  • Advertising and promotions managers in the New York metropolitan area earned mean annual wages of $202,940 in May 2025.[72]
  • $9,187.6 million was Interpublic Group’s 2024 revenue before billable expenses.[73]
  • 3,630 advertising and promotions managers were employed in the New York metropolitan area in May 2025.[72]

The advertising industry in South Korea

  • 3.2191 trillion won was spent on broadcast advertising in South Korea in 2024, representing 18.8% of total advertising expenditure and a 5.0% decline from 2023.[74]
  • 17.1263 trillion won was South Korea’s total broadcasting and telecommunications advertising expenditure in 2024, up 3.5% from 2023.[74]
  • 10.1011 trillion won was spent on online advertising in South Korea in 2024, representing 59.0% of total advertising expenditure and a 7.9% year-on-year increase.[74]
  • 21.4610 trillion won was the combined 2024 billings of South Korea’s 10 largest advertising companies, up 3% from 2023 and equal to 87% of the surveyed advertising volume.[75]
  • 197.885 trillion won was the South Korean advertising-industry market size in 2024, generated by 6,688 businesses and up 1.9% from 2023.[76]

Key questions about the advertising industry

What is global advertising projected to be in 2026?
Global advertising is projected to reach $1.34 trillion in 2026, with spend growth increasingly concentrated in digital, retail media, video and algorithm-driven platforms.
How fast is global advertising growth expected to be in 2026?
WARC Media forecasts global advertising growth of 11.9% in 2026, while WPP Media projects 7.1% growth for the same year.
Which companies lead the advertising industry?
Publicis Groupe leads Gitnux's 2026 advertising ranking with an Overall score of 9.9, with €14.547 billion in 2025 net revenue across more than 100 countries. Dentsu Group is the runner-up at 8.9, with services spanning about 120 countries, including creative and media offerings.
What technology shift is changing how ads get made and bought?
Generative AI is driving automation and creative production. For example, 86% of digital-video ad buyers were using or planning to use generative AI in 2025.
How concentrated is ad spend among major platforms and where does revenue come from by region?
Top three platform share is forecast at 59.7% of global advertising spend excluding China in 2026. North America is forecast to account for 39.8% of global advertising revenue in 2026.
What is a key operational constraint when scaling AI in advertising workflows?
70% of agencies, brands and publishers had not fully scaled AI across media planning, activation and analysis in 2025, limiting full workflow automation.
Reference

Cite This Report

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APA
Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 10). Advertising Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/advertising-industry-statistics
MLA
Samuel Norberg. "Advertising Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 10 Nov 2026, https://gitnux.org/advertising-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Samuel Norberg. 2026. "Advertising Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/advertising-industry-statistics.

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