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Advertising spend growth in Australia will moderate to 4.1% in Australia next year, according to dentsu’s end of year Global Ad Spend Forecasts.
This is down, despite uplift from global sporting events, on the 2025 number of 4.5%, which was boosted by the federal election.
Australia’s growth will be below the global average which is forecast to rise by 5.1% in 2026, passing the $1 trillion ($1.04 trillion) mark for the first time, despite macroeconomic uncertainty.
However, the rate of increase is still better than the predicted global economic growth of 3.1%, thanks to major events such as the Olympic Winter Games and FIFA World Cup.
Asia-Pacific at 5.4 % is expected to remain the fastest growing region in 2026, versus the Americas at 5.2% and Europe, the Middle East and Africa at 4.2%.
Globally, algorithm-driven advertising is forecast to represent 71.6% of total spend in 2026, rising to more than three-quarters (76%) by 2028, as artificial intelligence continues to permeate the media and marketing ecosystem.
In 2026, CMOs plan to focus their AI effort in media on: understanding the use cases; opportunities and risks of generative AI (34%); developing AI agents and related technologies (31%); and leveraging AI for data analysis and reporting (31%).
Retail media is predicted to remain the fastest growing digital channel, increasing 14.1% in 2026, supported by first-party shopper data and closed-loop measurement.
Within digital advertising (+6.7%), both online video and social are projected to accelerate in 2026, reaching growth rates of 11.5% and 11.4%, respectively.
Television ad spend is expected to grow moderately by 2.4% in 2026, driven by connected TV (CTV) and ad-supported streaming, while traditional broadcast continues to decline slightly as audiences fragment.
Out-of-home advertising is projected to grow by 4.1% in 2026, supported by both traditional placements and the expansion of digital formats, which are increasingly treated as standalone solutions in some markets.
Technology (+10.3%), driven by product launches and innovation in connected ecosystems, is forecast to be the fastest growing sector in 2026, followed closely by government, social, political, and organisations (+10.1%) and beverages (+10.1%).
More than eight in ten (86%) of CMOs globally expect their marketing budget to increase in the next 12 months, according to dentsu’s CMO Navigator research.
A similarly high number of CMOs view media as a strategic growth lever and 2026 will bring them a wealth of media opportunities.
“Major sports events such as the FIFA World Cup will dominate headlines and attract significant investment. Yet, there will also be many other occasions for brands to leverage fast growing spaces to connect with consumers,” the dentsu report said.
“For example, 40% of consumers globally watched a sports docuseries in the last month, making this format a powerful way to engage women, Gen Z, and audiences in emerging markets who are less engaged with traditional sports programming.
“Japanese anime, once considered niche, is now watched weekly by 50% of Gen Z, and in the US, more Gen Z identify as anime fans than as fans of major sports leagues.
“From gaming to microdramas, the 42% of CMOs planning to increase their investment in original content production and sponsorship (e.g., TV shows, podcasts) will have no shortage of options.
Other promising spaces are set to accelerate as advertising opportunities expand.
“Messaging apps have introduced new ad formats over the past year, now making business messaging a more attractive channel in Western markets where it was historically limited.
“Ad monetisation is also imminent across AI-augmented search and LLM assistants, which could become the next major digital advertising success story, following in the footsteps of retail media.”
Dentsu global forecasts:
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