Advertising investment is now expected to rise faster in 2025 than earlier projections suggested, driven by the softer-than-anticipated impact of tariffs and an uplift from AI technologies, according to the latest forecast from media investment group WPP Media.
As The Wall Street Journal reported, WPP Media has significantly upgraded its outlook for the global advertising market. The group now expects worldwide ad revenue—excluding U.S. political advertising—to rise 8.8% in 2025, reaching $1.14 trillion, up from its earlier June projection of 6% growth. For the year ahead, WPP Media now anticipates global ad spending to increase 7.1%, revising its previous 6.1% estimate.
Marketers were able to blunt the effect of tariffs by accelerating imports ahead of the deadlines, managing inventory more strategically, and absorbing a portion of the added costs themselves.
According to Kate Scott-Dawkins, WPP Media’s president of business intelligence, the June forecast reflected the immediate reaction to newly announced tariffs. Over the summer, however, the team was able to see how those measures actually played out -how consumer spending held up and how negotiations and adjustments helped ease the impact, leading to a revised outlook.
The report notes that part of the tariff impact has merely been postponed and is expected to hit in 2026. At the same time, stronger-than-anticipated AI investment is fueling additional ad growth. According to Scott-Dawkins, many companies are using AI to streamline functions such as marketing and product development, then redirecting the resulting savings into advertising. The expanding AI sector is also generating new businesses – many of which are becoming advertisers themselves.
The report adds that retail media, advertising placed through retailers like supermarkets and big-box chains using their rich customer data, is set to overtake global television ad revenue for the first time in 2025, climbing 11.3% to $174.2 billion. Meanwhile, WPP Media projects that total TV advertising, spanning both linear and streaming platforms, will edge up by just 0.6%.
