Overview
- OWM’s 2026 Trendbarometer reports 9% of members expect higher spend next year, 29% foresee cuts and 62% plan no change.
- Advertising volumes fell in 2025 versus 2024, and the share of companies reducing budgets this year more than doubled.
- Marketers cite the lack of provable ad impact as the top challenge (92%), followed by fragmented reach (89%) and data quality for programmatic (85%).
- Spend continues to migrate to online video, CTV, social, influencer and retail media, with print and linear TV under sustained pressure and search viewed cautiously.
- OWM leaders back pragmatic AI for efficiency and ideation, warn that AI-driven discovery will force new brand findability strategies, and call for a cross-platform Open Web ID to measure unique reach.