Advertising Industry Trends 2025: Summer is here…the first four months of the new Trump administration are over, so are the upfronts and the newfront season. It’s time to take stock and provide ten key takeaways about where the industry is headed.
1. Wait and See Attitude of Advertisers due to Tariff Uncertainty
Leading executives at media buying agencies tell Portada that uncertainty surrounding future tariff levels has led advertisers to adopt a wait-and-see attitude over the last few months, significantly slowing ad investment. In some cases, media agencies are asking media properties for concessions in the form of lower pricing to release campaigns.
According to eMarketer, the worst-case scenario is that if tariffs revert to the original “Liberation Day” levels, the US could experience its first decline in total media ad spending since 2009.
However, according to the report, if current conditions persist, with reduced tariffs for most countries except China, growth is expected to slow compared to 2024. (In 2024, U.S. advertising volume increased by 12.4% year-over-year to U.S. $380 billion, according to MAGNA.)
2. Did Anyone Mention Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?
Nobody did, at least at the Newfronts. Surprising? Not really, considering the pressure the administration is exerting. Verizon, the telecommunications giant that has Hispanics as one of its primary growth markets, is the latest example of a major company revising its policies around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to appease the U.S. government. It appears to be working for the executive branch, with Verizon complying because it required the FCC’s approval for its acquisition of Frontier Communications. Ten days ago, the Federal Communications Commission approved Verizon’s $20 billion deal to buy broadband provider Frontier Communications. The FCC said that the deal will allow Verizon to upgrade the technology providing internet access to 25 states, including rural communities, and to deploy fiber-optic access to at least 1 million homes per year.
DE&I may be under fire, but there remains an extreme business case to reach diverse audiences, who are the new majority among U.S. consumers, as Joe Bernard, CRO and partner at NGL Mitu, puts it, “We, as a culture, are undeniable.” Bernard described and celebrated the “200 percenter,” a person who embraces and seamlessly blends two cultural identities, often Hispanic and American.
“We as a culture are undeniable.”
Companies, including NGLMitu, which, by the way, continues to be on the sales block, Canela Media, and LatiNation, touted their capabilities to advertisers through a mostly social-first approach to the Hispanic consumer. “A convergence of cultures is happening in real time and requires a nuanced approach,” one of the executives explained. According to Gisella Fu-Ripp, SVP of Sales at LatiNation, there is only a 1% overlap between its audience and Telemundo’s. LatiNation announced a partnership with Red Bull Media House to bring four new sports and music series to LATV starting this summer. NGLMitu announced a social-first partnership with Fuse Media, combining NGLmitú’s engaged social audience of more than 8 million followers with Fuse‘s expansive multi-platform reach to create a cross-cultural powerhouse for advertisers. Canela Media promoted a new free loyalty program launched in April that gives registered users of the Canela TV AVOD platform a chance to earn points and badges that translate to rewards (like access to exclusive content, sweepstakes, and digital gift cards. Club Canela launch partners include Coca-Cola, Hyundai Motor America, and McDonalds.
3. Advertising Industry Trends 2025: Social Media’s Growth Drives the Creator Economy
The social first approach of most media companies reflects the enormous and increasing audience fragmentation, a salient feature of the advertising industry in 2025. The clear winners are social media giants Meta, TikTok and Youtube (Google-Alphabet). For advertisers to align with their target audience and achieve scale, influencers and creators have become essential. With creators and influencers playing an increasingly critical role in an otherwise fragmented media space, it should come as no surprise that entertainment stars were a salient upfronts strategy this year; stars of every stripe were all over the upfronts and in parts of the NewFronts as well. They were the centerpiece of every presentation. Netflix and Amazon showcased megastars including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Momoa, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman. A validation of the vitality of the influencer/creator economy is Publicis Media’s recent acquisition of influencer technology marketing platform Captiv8. In truth, major agency holding companies have been engaging in M&A activity that has been defensive rather than proactive and innovation-driven, as discussed further under point 9 below.
4. The Relentless Advance of Audience Fragmentation
A critical factor shaping the advertising industry is the continued advance of audience fragmentation. As Deloitte Insights 2025 media trends points out, “looking across generations, preferences among respondents appear to be shifting away from pay TV and toward streaming video services, social video platforms, and gaming. Although TV once dominated video entertainment time, we now see US audiences—and especially younger generations—engaging more evenly with SVOD companies, social platforms, gaming, and even audio entertainment like music and podcasts.” The impact on fragmentation and the broader societal implications are clear to the authors of the Deloitte report: algorithmic-driven fragmentation of audiences originates an “ever-narrower view of the world through their social media.”
“We now see US audiences—and especially younger generations—engaging more evenly with SVOD companies, social platforms, gaming, and even audio entertainment like music and podcasts.”
5. Advertising Industry Trends 2025: Live Sports is Where it’s At
A consequence of the high degree of media fragmentation is that brands are less likely to commit to investing advertising dollars in the upfronts and newfronts. The one exception is live sports. Live sports are becoming a lifeline for traditional TV as audiences increasingly turn to streaming. Alison Levin, President of Advertising Sales & Partnerships at NBC, highlighted the centrality of sports, including Telemundo soccer and sports broadcasts, in the NBCU presentation ahead of the upfronts. With the 2026 men’s Soccer World Cup just around the corner, media executives are promoting their ability to connect with soccer fans, including Luis Romero, EVP of Sales at Canela Media. This company exclusively represents soccer site aggregator Futbol Sites, an exclusive relationship it no longer has with the soccer site Marca. MyCode touted its sports and soccer wares, including the 2026 World Cup as one of its tentpole events, and showcased a content program that amplifies the voice of Latinas in sports.
Live sports are becoming a lifeline for traditional TV as audiences increasingly turn to streaming.
6. Younger Audiences’ Lifestyle Habits and Media Consumption Are About to Disrupt Things Even More
Interestingly, members of the media buying community told Portada that research indicates that live sports are less popular among Gen Z and younger members of the U.S. population. Another symptom of the changing patterns of consumption and leisure behavior among younger consumers is the decline in sales of alcoholic beverages. At least that is what Asahi’s CEO, Atsushi Katsuki, thinks. According to the leading executive at Japan’s largest brewer, changes in leisure activities driven by the younger generations, particularly screen time (gaming, streaming, social media), are a larger driver for reduced alcohol consumption than health concerns, Asahi recently told the Financial Times. Katsuki suggests that these digital distractions are eating into alcohol’s share of entertainment and joy.
“Are digital distractions eating into alcohol’s share of entertainment and joy?”
7. The Growth of Streamed Video Advertising Demands More Flexibility from Media Providers
According to the above-cited Deloitte report, “Twenty years ago, many households may have considered pay TV an essential cost. Since then, the number of digital entertainment options has grown significantly, but the amount of time and money available for it has not. This has enabled greater consumer choice, more competition, and more fragmentation.” Digital and video advertising is subject to different rules compared to traditional linear advertising. According to IAB video advertising rules, advertisers can cancel spots in a 14 day time frame versus 30 days for linear TV. The massive migration from linear to video advertising, including CTV, demands more flexibility from media providers.
8. Retail Media and AVOD: Closing the Funnel and Increasing Sophistication.
Among the primary beneficiaries of these trends are Netflix and Amazon. Netflix told advertisers that its ad-supported plan (AVOD) now reaches more than 94 million global monthly active users and that it has more 18-34-year-old viewers than any other U.S. broadcast or cable network. Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s president of advertising, also stressed that subscribers to its ad-supported tier were highly engaged, spending an average of 41 hours per month on Netflix. Netflix recently announced its in-house ad tech, which includes a Supply Side Platform (SSP)- Magnite – and a custom ad server, capable of delivering the Netflix-style personalization that members are familiar with, such as recommended shows and movies, for advertising purposes. Related to the growth of AVOD, it is worth noting that this growth is very unevenly shared among CTV players. (Check out our in-depth article. CTV Advertising: A Tale of Have and Have-Nots?.)
Amazon’s Prime Video now reaches more than 130 million ad-supported customers in the U.S and 220 million worldwide, according to the retail giant. Amazon’s footprint from the top to the bottom of the consumer conversion funnel is exceptional. Amazon also introduced an ad format utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to generate contextually relevant ads, pairing dynamically created messaging with on-screen imagery. Additionally, a new shoppable ad format leverages real-time Amazon store information, while expanded interactive formats with various calls to action are targeted at brands that don’t sell on the platform.
9. AI is Threatening Advertising Agencies
AI summaries in Google and other search engines, as well as the increased use of chatbots, have led to a 20% average decrease in incoming traffic for publishers over the past six months, according to publishing sources interviewed by Portada. But artificial intelligence is also threatening the media agency business as Google, Meta, Amazon, and other companies provide media buyers with self-serve technologies that optimize the media buy. The acquisition of IPG by Omnicom must be viewed as a defensive move in the context of the declining relevance of media agencies due to the impact of AI and other factors. However, when it comes to targeting diverse audiences, media agencies can play a crucial role (e.g., see our interview with Ana Crandell of Lopez Negrete). “We do a manual overwrite,” one media agency executive tells Portada, explaining that they usually have to adjust AI-generated recommendations. Artificial intelligence, which tends to optimize the cost side but not other important considerations, is not reliable when it comes to engaging diverse audiences.
“We do a manual overwrite,” one media agency executive tells Portada, explaining that they usually have to adjust AI-generated recommendations.
10. Advertising Industry Trends 2025: The News Category is Irrelevant to Most Advertisers
During the IAB Newfronts, the panel “Spotlight on: News @ NewFronts” focused on the role of credible and trustworthy journalism and its importance to advertisers. Executives from The Guardian, Yahoo, NBCUniversal, and The Washington Post discussed the significance of the news category for advertisers. They emphasized that there are various types of news, defined as reporting without bias, extending beyond traditional political news to include finance and sports as well. Examining the raw data, the news ad category has become almost irrelevant. The IAB executive, who moderated the panel, cited a research study according to which “10 years ago, advertising in the news category amounted to 20% of the open web digital advertising budget, in 2025 it only represents 5%. Not only is the proportion much smaller, but open web advertising dollars have substantially declined as a percentage of overall digital dollars between 2015 and 2025, due to the rise of search, as well as social and retail media.
The New York Times, a prominent player in the traditional newscategory, held its first NewFronts event in six years and, somewhat ironically, highlighted the breadth of its “lifestyle” brands in games, cooking, consumer products (the Wirecutter), and sports (The Athletic) as critical to supporting its core journalistic mission. Another takeaway from the “Spotlight on: News @ NewFronts” session was that younger audiences are primarily on apps, and journalists have various ways to connect with them, including chat and social media. The role of the journalist is becoming increasingly similar to that of the creator.
10 years ago, advertising in the news category amounted to 20% of the open web digital advertising budget, in 2025 it only represents 5%.
