Next week, Advertising Week New York will be buzzing with brand leaders, agency executives, tech experts, and creators, all offering perspectives from the front lines on how the media playbook is changing and how making personal connections with customers is still possible amidst all the noise. This fall marketers are bracing for big changes brought on by AI transformation, social media, and the maturing creator landscape. AI discoverability is on everybody’s radar, building on presentations this month at EMARKETER’s Future of Digital summit.

Advances in technology, the rise of autonomous vehicles, and changes in the way consumers shop for cars are all transforming the auto industry. Here are the latest trends in ad spending, and how shoppers research and buy cars.

Football is commanding more media budgets as premium ad inventory gets pricier and college sponsorship options expand. Now, brands face a widening trade-off between its unmatched reach and rising ad costs.

Football season is a delivery app season. As the 2026 NFL and college football seasons kick off, fans will be inviting friends and family over to watch the games, and they will be ordering the snacks and drinks to feed them. That gives brands a window through commerce networks to reach hungry fans on delivery apps, introduce new products, and help them plan the right mix for their guests.

Live sports remain advertising's last reliable mass-reach environment, and 2026 is proving the point: the NBA Finals shattered viewership benchmarks, the FIFA World Cup is reaching US audiences across every screen, and leagues are moving content onto streaming channels. This FAQ covers how sports audiences are changing, where the ad dollars flow, and how marketers should plan sports investments in 2026.

In H1 2026, most ad spending in the auto and truck parts and accessories sector went to digital channels, while overall investment remained relatively steady month to month. Outlays remained concentrated among a handful of cities and a few advertisers.

CTV is becoming the center of video advertising, but bigger budgets bring demands for measurement, pricing, and performance. Here’s where the market is headed and how advertisers can deliver results.​

Live sports represent the last mass TV audience, driving a surge in sports TV ad spending. But ad prices are climbing as demand intensifies, forcing advertisers to face rising costs and limited inventory.

Advertisers running on all nine streaming platforms account for 34% of US streaming TV ad spending, according to a March report from MediaRadar.

US streaming TV advertising is seeing a significant influx of new advertisers and increased budgets. While Hulu maintains its ad revenue lead, a growing number of brands are diversifying their spend across multiple platforms to reach viewers.

Big media acquisitions and streaming integrations will contribute to consolidation in connected TV (CTV) ad spending.

CTV inventory has surged, but the linear TV ad market remains much larger.

Streaming services are leaning more on advertising than they used to, resulting in increased overall ad spending but lower ad prices.

The number of companies generating more than $1 billion in annual US CTV ad sales more than doubled from two in 2020 to five in 2024. With ad dollars spreading out among services, a few streaming platforms stand out because of their heavy usage.

Netflix is building an ad business to diversify its revenue streams.

Among major streaming services, Netflix’s time spent share exceeds ad revenues the most, indicating it has the most room to expand.

The range of costs per thousand on major US streaming services is narrowing as new entrants Netflix and Disney+ come down from their initial ad-tier launch highs in late 2022.

Netflix’s advertising strategy is evolving as streaming services raise subscription prices to sway users to ad-supported tiers.

Podcast listening keeps making gains, and the medium is becoming a bigger part of marketers’ audio strategies.

Connected TV ad spending continues to expand substantially.