The news: Linear TV—already struggling amid the rise of digital—is at risk as US leaders across parties push for a crackdown on the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical ad market. Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pursuing policies that would require advertisers to disclose drug side effects more transparently or risk losing the ability to deduct ad spending from their taxes, per Bloomberg. Our take: Restrictions on pharma advertising would isolate linear TV from omnichannel budgets and put it at a greater disadvantage against more data-rich platforms, accelerating the shift to digital.

“The lines between social media and CTV are blurring, with more people watching social videos and creator content on TV sets,” said our analyst Jasmine Enberg. “Marketers must break down the silos between media and creative and think more holistically about their video strategies.”

The news: Out-of-home (OOH) and TV advertising are outperforming popular channels like connected TV (CTV) and digital across metrics, per a five-year study from Clear Channel Outdoor and Kantar. Our take: OOH and TV advertising will continue playing a critical role in an effective omnichannel strategy, and the most savvy advertisers will recognize the enduring effectiveness of these channels for reaching key audiences when they’re likely to purchase.

Our analysts took a look at the first half of this eventful year and provided their own very specific—albeit unlikely—predictions at what could happen in the second half of the year and beyond.

The trend: Most healthcare and pharma marketers plan to increase their CTV/over-the-top (OTT) spending in the next year, according to Nielsen’s Global Annual Marketing Survey. Our take: CTV’s gain of healthcare and pharma ad dollars isn’t necessarily linear TV’s loss. Campaign strategies for linear should focus on brand awareness, while CTV allows drug ads to be highly targeted.

The news: Linear ad impressions declined 4.25% YoY in Q1, falling from about 92% of impressions in early 2023 to around 86% in March 2025, per iSpot’s Q1 TV Ad Transparency Report. But despite the decline, linear ad spend grew 4% in Q1, reaching $12.34 billion—indicating that while audience preferences are shifting, advertiser interest in linear remains steady. Our take: The most effective ad strategies will strike a balance between sustaining investment in linear to capitalize on its scale and reliability, and steadily increasing investment in streaming to align with evolving viewer behavior and future-proof campaign performance.

Total time spent with media per day in the US is no longer growing meaningfully, but there will still be significant churn between devices, activities, and platforms as consumers choose how to spend their time.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss our ‘very specific, but highly unlikely’ predictions for 2025. What would happen to the social media world if OpenAI bought Snap, what if Starbucks launched a Stablecoin, and why some companies might still want to buy linear networks. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Vice Presidents of Content Suzy Davidkhanian and Paul Verna, and Principal Analyst Yory Wurmser. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss the battle between linear TV and CTV, one mobile device metric that is going down, and a surprising finding about which age group uses YouTube the most. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Principal Forecasting Writer Ethan Cramer-Flood, and Senior Director of Forecasting Oscar Orozco. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Connected TV (CTV) is booming in households and becoming significantly more important for advertisers.

Streaming now grabs nearly 44% of US TV time—mostly ad-supported—and more than half of marketers expect to raise connected TV (CTV) budgets in 2025, new research from Nielsen shows. As dollars flow from linear to streaming, unified cross-channel measurement is becoming the new must-have.

FAST shows no signs of slowing down: From the Roku Channel to Tubi, FAST continues a path of acceleration that will be bolstered by economic uncertainty.

Studio and linear remain a dark cloud for WBD and Paramount: Revenues were down YoY for both companies, but streaming remains a beacon of hope.

Digital video ad spend will increase 14% in 2025: The IAB findings highlight advertisers’ confidence in digital video as a valuable opportunity to meet goals.

Streaming grew in March, but tariffs could threaten the CTV ecosystem: Despite upward trends, the CTV ad market could become stagnant in the year ahead.

Nielsen is sunsetting its legacy panel-only measurement this year. What do advertisers need to know as they prepare to transact on big data-based metrics at scale?

Ad revenues outlook declining amid economic uncertainty: The latest Magna ad sales forecast indicates several factors are at play in the downturn.

Younger consumers increasingly prefer creator content over TV, film: A Deloitte study indicates that advertisers need to rethink their strategies to remain competitive.

Top-line time spent with media will grow very little in the US going forward, making it essential to identify which formats and platforms are winning the newly zero-sum competition for consumer attention.