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Impact of Tariffs on US Social Ad Spending

Sector Broadly Positioned for Growth Despite Headwinds

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About This Report
US social ad spend will grow YoY in 2025, even as platforms grapple with tariff-related budget cuts from industries that spend heavily on social channels, like CPG and retail.
Table of Contents

A tariff-induced economic slowdown could knock off up to about $10 billion from our forecast for US social network ad spending in 2025. But even under “heavy tariffs,” we expect spending to rise YoY as brands seek the flexibility, scale, and measurable performance that large social platforms like Meta provide.

Key Question: How will tariffs affect social advertising?

Key Stat: Tariffs could reduce our forecast for US social network ad spending by up to about $10 billion in 2025. But that’s still close to $1.5 billion more than what US advertisers spent on social ads in 2024.

This report can help you:

  • Develop media strategy and allocate budget for campaigns (agencies and brands)
  • Showcase opportunities to customers (media platforms)

In this report, we model three potential outcomes for US social network ad spending, based on the severity of tariffs, to show how ad spending could shift.

Here’s what’s in the full report

1file

Exportable files for easy reading, analysis and sharing.

5charts

Reliable data in simple displays for presentations and quick decision making.

Table of Contents

  1. Executive Summary
  2. Despite challenges, social ad spending will grow in 2025
  3. Social media is more susceptible to big swings in spending than many other digital channels
  1. Meta would be the biggest winner in a tariff-induced economic slowdown
  2. Recommendations for advertisers
  3. Sources
  1. Media Gallery

authors

Jasmine Enberg, Minda Smiley

Contributors

Rahul Chadha
Director, Report Editing
Vladimir de Leon
Chart Editor
Eleni Digalaki
Zach Goldner
Senior Forecasting Analyst
Vladimir Hanzlik
Executive Editor and SVP, Content
Penelope Lin
Director, Data Visualization
Naomi Rebuelta
Copy Editor
Paul Verna
VP, Content
Zia Daniell Wigder
Chief Content Officer
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