The WARC Podcast Global Ad Trends: navigating media's 'new normal'
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Jan 8, 2026 Kate Scott-Dawkins, Global President of Business Intelligence at WPP Media, and James McDonald, Director of Data Intelligence at WARC, dive into the evolving ad landscape. They explore how ad spending is rising despite economic detachment, powered by AI and significant events like the FIFA World Cup. Kate discusses the shifting impact of tariffs and the concentration of growth among tech giants. The duo also highlights retail's ad boom, the K-shaped economy's effects, and the tensions between commerce media and traditional platforms, painting a complex picture of the future.
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Budget From Business Metrics Not Sentiment
- Set marketing budgets based on business metrics like revenue share rather than consumer sentiment alone.
- Kate Scott-Dawkins notes advertisers typically allocate a percent of revenue and adjust year-to-year.
Ad Spend Has Decoupled From Local GDP
- Advertising spend is decoupling from local GDP because money flows across borders and into dominant global platforms.
- Legacy media fell while social media equalled legacy spend in 2025, highlighting distribution shifts, James McDonald said.
AI Spurs Ad Spend And New Advertisers
- AI fuels ad growth indirectly by boosting GDP sentiment and directly via cost savings that get reinvested into advertising.
- New "AI endemic" advertisers (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic) also enter and spend on brand-building channels early, Kate Scott-Dawkins said.