YouTube’s established dominance faces new competition from TikTok, long-held digital habits are maturing, and digital video is universal. Our latest forecast data reveals where each age group overindexes, how their time spent is shifting across platforms, and what marketers should prioritize next to stay relevant.

Less than 3% of consumers in India recall digital ads they see despite spending an average of 2.17 hours daily consuming videos on mobile devices, per a report from RK Swamy Centre for Study of Indian Markets. Digital advertising is an essential part of a well-rounded campaign strategy in the digital-first era. But with ad effectiveness low, advertisers must carefully tailor strategies to drive the best outcomes.

Global ad spending has steadied after a turbulent year, setting the stage for modest acceleration in 2026. Digital is still the main engine, but traditional media’s rebound will add lift as markets stabilize.

Latin America’s digital ad market is transforming as new formats, channels, and players emerge. Understanding the market forces, challenges, and opportunities driving these shifts is key to staying competitive in this fast-evolving landscape.

Automation, new commerce models, and a fresh generation of consumers are transforming the rules of connection and creativity. Explore the 11 trends shaping the digital future.

This benchmark covers how ad buyers can calibrate their digital ad spending and budget allocations against the market, and how publishers and solution providers can assess whether their ad revenues align with industry trends.

This benchmark covers how ad buyers can calibrate their social media ad spending and budget allocations against the market, and how publishers and solution providers can assess whether their ad revenues align with industry trends.

This benchmark covers how ad buyers can calibrate their total media ad spending and budget allocations against the market, and how publishers and solution providers can assess whether their ad revenues align with industry trends.

Meta’s internal documents show it knowingly earned up to 10% of its annual revenues in 2024—around $16 billion—from scam and banned product ads, per Reuters. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, reportedly served 15 billion high-risk scam ads daily, often letting them run unless 95% fraud certainty was detected. Brands should audit ad placements to see if scam ads dilute their impact. Seek platforms guaranteeing ad integrity, and require clear enforcement and accountability from ad platforms.

Canada’s mediascape continues to change as new formats attract younger and older users alike. The GMI report for Canada is a deep dive into the country’s shifting habits relating to time spent with media, media adoption, and device ownership.

Meta posted $51.24 billion in Q3 revenue, up 24% YoY, with Instagram driving the bulk of growth as Reels, AI discovery, and cross-device formats redefine engagement. Reels now account for half of all Instagram time spent, while Meta’s upcoming CTV app positions it to compete directly with YouTube. Facebook’s US user base remains stable near 181 million, but Instagram’s will climb to nearly 170 million by 2029. For advertisers, Meta’s evolution marks a shift from scale to yield—emphasizing creative iteration, storytelling, and AI-powered optimization across its maturing social and video platforms.

From short-form videos to AI-driven targeting, this report reveals how each generation assesses digital ads and whether they act upon them.

68% of US ad spending by microdrama apps went to social networks from January to September 2025, according to US ad spend reports from ReelShort, DramaBox, GoodShort, NetShort, and ShortMax, compiled by Sensor Tower.

Influencer marketing is no longer optional—it’s a performance-driven growth engine. As consumer trust and expectations reshape engagement, brands must adapt their strategies to sustain returns in a fast-moving yet maturing channel.

Meta withdrew from Media Rating Council (MRC) brand safety audits last week, just months after its accreditation was officially issued, per Adweek. Despite its other brand safety moves, Meta’s step away from the MRC indicates that advertisers are now navigating a digital ad landscape that necessitates investment in platforms without stringent brand safety protocols—requiring marketers to strengthen their own brand safety monitoring and verification processes.

A Yext analysis of 6.8 million citations across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity found that 86% of AI-generated answers rely on brand-managed content—from official websites and listings to reviews. First-party sites led with 44% of citations, followed by listings (42%) and reviews (8%). The findings suggest AI models increasingly trust structured, authoritative data over publisher or community sources. But fewer users click through—only 8% from AI summaries versus 15% from standard search—indicating that generative platforms are capturing more engagement directly. To stay discoverable, marketers must pair clean, structured first-party data with strong social visibility as AI search reshapes traffic flows.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping marketing, from how content is created to how advertisers evaluate transparency and trust on digital platforms. Marketers can harness AI to streamline operations, enabling more campaigns more quickly by analyzing large data sets—but do so thoughtfully—avoid using AI for entire ad creation, as consumers still respond negatively to this. Brands must operate with an eye toward maintaining trust and authenticity.

Video is now core to B2B marketing. This report shows how trust-building through creators, as well as increased AI use, are supporting video’s rise—and how to link performance to pipeline despite rising costs and resource gaps.

Meta will begin using conversations with its AI assistant to personalize ads and feeds across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp starting December 16. The change represents Meta’s most aggressive AI monetization effort to date, moving beyond likes and follows to conversational intent—a richer, real-time signal of consumer interest. Regulators are already raising alarms about surveillance and privacy. With 98% of Meta’s revenues tied to ads, even small gains could shift billions.