Digital ad budgets slowing in 2025, UBS finds
Investing.com -- Growth in digital advertising budgets is set to slow in 2025, according to a UBS, signalling caution amid economic uncertainty and potential tariff impacts.
Buyers expect a 5.5% increase in digital ad spending over the 12 months, a slowdown of nearly one percentage point from the prior year, UBS said.
Facebook (NASDAQ:META) is the only major digital platform expected to see an acceleration in ad budget growth, with buyers planning to increase spending by 1.7% year-over-year.
Instagram growth is set to slow, though it remains a top choice for social commerce and potential TikTok budget shifts.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is forecast to see a relatively modest slowdown in ad growth to 2.8%, while Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) faces steeper deceleration across both its Search and YouTube platforms.
YouTube’s ad budget growth is expected to fall to 4.1% from higher levels last year.
Among other platforms, Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) and Snap are both expected to see slight declines in ad spending, while The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) is projected to maintain relatively stable growth in connected TV budgets.
On the traditional media side, nearly 60% of buyers expect to cut TV spending over the next two years, though sports programming remains a bright spot.
Disney’s cable networks showed the strongest ad spend intentions, while FOX showed the most year-over-year improvement.
CTV continues to gain traction, with Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), YouTube, and Amazon Prime leading in advertiser interest, even as overall enthusiasm dipped slightly from last year.
