U.S. HISPANIC
IAB Adjusts 2025 Outlook Amid Ad Buyers’ Macroeconomic Concerns
28 de septiembre de 2025
Advertisers facing a shifting economy are sharpening their focus. That’s what was revealed in IAB’s 2025 Outlook Study September Update: A Snapshot of the Latest Ad Spend Trends, Opportunities, and Strategies for Growth.
Amid rising tariff concerns and macroeconomic headwinds, ad buyers expect to spend less in the second half of the year than originally projected, leading IAB to lower its 2025 U.S. ad spend projection 1.6 ppts from +7.3% to +5.7%.
Spend in the first half held steady with IAB’s original forecast (+7.0%), but new sentiment, driven largely by tariffs, pushed the second-half projection down to +5.0%, driving a lower full-year outlook.
The IAB 2025 Outlook Study September Update is based on a survey of over 200 buyers at brands and agencies to understand their growth strategies, anticipated spend by channel, and the challenges they foresee.
Buyers are focused on performance, with customer acquisition being the top goal (64%) and increased urgency on driving repeat purchases (+8 percentage points vs. 2024; 5 percentage points since January’s projection).
Even with the full-year ad spend forecast revised downward by 1.6 points to +5.7%, key digital channels are still expected to post double-digit growth:
Social Media: +14.3%
Retail Media: +13.2%
CTV: +11.4%
“In our January report, we saw real concerns about the economy, and a shift toward performance-driven media. Now that shift is accelerating. If consumers are pulling back, that means every single dollar of ad spend has to earn a return — and that’s more important than ever for auto, retail, and consumer electronics advertisers,” said Chris Bruderle, Vice President, Industry Insights & Content Strategy, IAB.
Budgets Continue to Shift From Traditional Media
Linear TV will decline -14.4% compared with IAB’s January projection of -12.7%. Other traditional media will decline more than twice as much as projected in January (-3.4%, compared with -1.5% earlier this year.)
“The silver lining in all of this is that the overall attitude of buyers remains positive. Budgets may tighten somewhat, but they’re confident that digital media can deliver the measurable results they need,” concluded Cohen. “This update to our projections should help the industry make the most of the remainder of 2025 while keeping an eye on 2026.”
