From slowdown to surge: How advertising spending is poised for big growth

Mar 12, 2026

MARK McCORMICK

Following a year of decelerated spend, 2026 is expected to see global advertising and marketing spend rise nearly 10% and exceed $2 trillion, according to recent projections from PQ Media, propelling “the strongest industry growth in years.”

“The slowdown in 2025 growth was caused by several factors,” says the PQ Media press release, “including economic uncertainty over more stringent tariff policies, fewer federal elections and the lack of major international sporting events that tend to drive up advertising and marketing spending due to increased consumer time spent with various key media segments.”

That mere 6.6% rise in 2025 is expected to reach 9.8% this year, with traditional advertising and marketing “pacing to post” a 4.8% increase and digital and alternative advertising and marketing expected to exceed 13.8%.

In the United States, spending rose 7% last year (down from a 9.6% gain in 2024), but like the global numbers, the United States is “expected to post much stronger growth in 2026.”

PQ Media points to the FIFA World Cup, which the United States is hosting with Canada and Mexico, as well as “the specter of hotly contested Senate and House races, which we project to heat up even further in 2028, when the US hosts the Summer Olympics and what is expected to be a fierce Presidential election campaign that will produce record ad and marketing spending.”