Comcast leans on sports and Peacock in Q2: Live events still deliver outsized results, but long-term success depends on turning audiences into streaming users.

AI, sports partnerships, BNPL, Gen Alpha, and digital asset infrastructure will be top of mind for payment providers in H2 2026.

Media consumption is climbing again after years of slower growth, thanks partly to genAI. New forecasts reveal how AI, streaming video, live sports, and converged TV are reshaping how US adults spend their time—and driving more screen time in the process.

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.

Global ad spending is accelerating again, despite geopolitical shocks. Digital is tightening its grip, even as traditional media gets a temporary boost from major events. The sources of growth are shifting across regions—and among platforms.

US ad market cools in March: The 2.8% gain trails February’s spike as energy shocks, tariffs, and fewer tentpole events curb spend.

Ad spending will surge in 2026 as AI-driven gains and a packed events calendar offset mounting economic strain. Social will lead the way as Meta overtakes Google in net revenues and the wider ad industry closes in on the half-trillion-dollar milestone.

Comcast rides sports lift: Super Bowl and Olympics drove 135% ad jump, masking modest core gains and proving live events anchor CTV dollars.

Its partnership with Major League Baseball will give it mass reach, but real value comes from extending TV moments into digital channels.

Live sports command major leverage; NBCUniversal is using scale and bundling to defend pricing power as sports rights costs surge and distribution fragments.

Latin America’s video market is hitting peak penetration as streaming dominates media time. Mobile-first behaviors, platform concentration, and the popularity of short-form video are reshaping media consumption habits.

Spotify sports podcast listening jumps 358% after games, outpacing pregame gains and opening a bigger ad window beyond live TV.

Streaming takes nearly half of TV viewing in a new record, driven by sports and major cultural hits, proving live events still dominate TV.

The Olympics and World Cup will propel sports ads to a record year, pushing global spend past $1 trillion.

In a year marked by platform volatility, AI acceleration, tariff shocks, and shifting consumer behavior, marketers searched for clarity across EMARKETER’s most-read topics. The top 10 themes reflect where advertiser attention truly moved in 2025. These trends captured the forces reshaping performance, discovery, and measurement: AI-driven optimization, creator-centric social ecosystems, commerce-led advertising, and CTV’s rise as the new premium video default. Together, they tell the story of a market recalibrating around efficiency, accountability, and cultural relevance as marketers prepared their 2026 strategies.

Dentsu forecasts the global advertising market will surpass $1 trillion for the first time in 2026, growing 5.1% and powered by digital channels that will capture nearly 69% of total spend. Retail media leads with projected 14%–16% growth, while online video and social also expand double digits. Major global events—including the Winter Olympics, FIFA World Cup, and a packed political calendar—will drive attention and pricing pressure across markets. APAC remains the fastest-growing region, led by India and China, while the US will represent about 40% of worldwide spend. For marketers, algorithm-first planning, advanced measurement, and early tentpole buying will be critical.

Publicis Groupe’s 100th-anniversary film, “A Lion Never Gives Up,” blends live action with 4,500 AI-generated images to retell the company’s evolution and project its future. With more than half its workforce now in data, engineering, and AI, leadership says the next era will reward companies that fuse creativity with machine-driven operational scale. The film lands as Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG reshapes the competitive field, and Publicis argues its AI maturity gives it an edge in a more concentrated market.