Global advertising is ending the week in a mood of guarded optimism, defined by AI acceleration, consolidation at the top, and a scramble for new performance channels.

Fresh estimates from WARC indicate global ad spend is on track to grow about 8.9 percent in 2025 to roughly 1.19 trillion dollars, an upgrade driven largely by big tech platforms capturing most of the incremental dollars compared with earlier forecasts this year.[5] This continues a multi‑year pattern in which digital platforms and retail media networks concentrate the bulk of growth.

Structurally, the biggest recent shock is Omnicom’s 13.5 billion dollar all‑stock acquisition of IPG, completed in late November, creating the world’s largest advertising group with more than 25 billion dollars in annual revenue and roughly 32 percent global market share, ahead of WPP and Publicis.[4] Compared with prior years’ more modest network tuck‑ins, this marks a decisive consolidation that tightens competition for independents and mid‑sized holding groups.

Over the last 48 hours, deal activity has focused on performance channels and AI. Pinterest announced it will acquire connected TV performance platform tvScientific, aiming to combine its 600 million monthly active users with measurable, outcome‑driven CTV buys so advertisers can see how television lifts digital performance campaigns.[7][9] Universal Ads expanded its Universal Audience Network to more than 20 CTV and video publishers, promising simpler cross‑publisher video buying and measurement for brands that are shifting budgets from linear to streaming environments.[7]

AI is moving from experimentation to front‑line creative and media. Mirakl launched a fully AI‑generated global Christmas film as its first major brand campaign, explicitly positioning AI agents and automation as core to commerce storytelling.[1] Gutenberg announced a strategic partnership with CambrianEdge to position itself as a global AI‑powered marketing agency, signaling how agencies are retooling service models around generative and predictive tools.[15] On the regulatory front, marketers are still digesting Google’s decision to wind down the Privacy Sandbox due to low adoption and Meta’s new, lighter personalization options in the EU, which are already fragmenting signals and forcing heavier reliance on first‑party data and modeled conversions compared with earlier privacy rollouts.[3]

Consumer behavior is tilting further toward AI‑mediated discovery and streaming. Marketers report more volatile performance in the EU and rising cost pressure in premium video, but leaders are responding by leaning into measurable channels like CTV performance, investing in AI creative pipelines, and pursuing scale through mergers and data partnerships, a clear escalation from the more cautious tests seen even a few months ago.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI