WARC Ad Spend Forecast Q3, 2026 – industry comments

Excerpt from Mediashotz' WARC Ad Spend Forecast Q3, 2026 – industry comments

Global advertising spend is continuing to grow despite persistent economic pressures, but the latest WARC forecast points to an increasingly concentrated market as social, search and retail media capture a growing share of budgets.

With AI also emerging as a new force in the advertising economy and channels including digital OOH, VOD and audio attracting investment, the Q3 2026 forecast raises fresh questions over where growth is heading — and who stands to benefit.

Mediashotz asked industry leaders for their take on the trends shaping global ad spend…

James Macdonald, Co-Founder & CRO, Limelight Inc:

“The growth in global ad spend is encouraging, but the increasing concentration of that spend should give the industry pause.

“If close to 60% of investment outside China is flowing to Alphabet, Amazon and Meta, advertisers need to think carefully about how dependent they become on a small number of ecosystems.

“What we’re seeing is a growing appetite for more control and flexibility. Businesses want to choose the partners and technology that work best for them, rather than being locked into a single way of operating. As budgets grow, maintaining that freedom will become increasingly impossible.”