WPP Media cuts 2025 global advertising revenue growth forecast to 6% on trade concerns

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(Reuters) -Global advertising revenue is expected to grow 6% this year, WPP Media said on Monday, lowering its earlier target of 7.7% due to uncertainty over U.S. trade policies.

Advertisers are appearing to delay making new commitments to their marketing plans because of the shifting policies, according to a report by the media investment arm of ad group WPP .

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Digital ad spending by companies is a major driver of revenue for Alphabet-owned search giant Google and social media firms such as Meta Platforms, Pinterest, Reddit and Snap.

Economic uncertainty is accelerating the adoption of AI tools in ad production and targeting, the WPP Media report said.

Meta aims to allow brands to fully create and target ads with its AI tools by the end of 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

Research firm Emarketer recently said companies that rely on traditional keyword-based search ads could lose revenue due to the growing popularity of AI-driven search ads.

BY THE NUMBERS

WPP Media now expects global ad revenue to reach $1.08 trillion in 2025, with 6.1% growth projected for 2026.

Digital advertising is expected to account for 73.2% of the global revenue this year.

In 2025, user-generated content will account for a greater share of ad revenue than professionally produced content, the report said.

It forecast print advertising revenue will fall 3.1% to $45.5 billion this year, while search revenue is expected to grow 7.3%.

CONTEXT

WPP Media said brands are expected to prioritize flexible ad contracts, shift budgets toward media placements that reach consumers directly and focus on secure data strategies amid economic uncertainty.

The U.S. remains the largest ad market and is expected to grow 5.6% to $404.7 billion, followed by China and the UK, according to the report.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)