WPP estimates commerce media spending to overtake TV this year

December 08, 2025 Presented by Advertiser spending on retail, travel and financial services media channels will surpass the amounts spent globally on television this year, according to new projections from WPP. The company's latest global ad spend forecasts predict that commerce media will account for 15.6% of global ad spend in 2025, compared with the 14.6% spent on linear and connected TV. It's a sign of advertising's altered geology. Advertisement TOP STORY Retail Media Rewritten WPP estimates commerce media spending to overtake TV this year Agency giant projects spending on ad networks operated by retailers, travel operators and financial services companies will exceed TV investment by end of this year. There’s still time to save. Get 50% off a 3-month Digiday+ membership. Offer extended—ends Dec. 12. Multimodal AI enables machines to understand and evaluate multiple data types, providing greater understanding and flexibility than a single data type could ever offer. Partner insights from Dstillery. Weather targeting can predict the exact moments when weather shifts a consumer's mindset toward purchase, delivering deeper emotional resonance that drives both immediate sales and long-term brand growth. Partner insights from The Weather Company.   MEDIA & PLATFORMS AI Revenue Generation Meta enters AI licensing fray, striking deals with People Inc., USA Today Co. and more The platform has secured seven multi-year deals with publishers including CNN, Fox News, People Inc., USA Today Co to incorporate their content into its large language model (LLM) Llama.  A MESSAGE FROM CRITEO Make every ad, offer and moment feel like discovery, not noise Shoppers say online shopping can feel dull — uninspired, fragmented and short on surprise and delight. To create richer, more memorable experiences, brands and retailers are upgrading their advertising with commerce intelligence. Lift every shopping moment with AI trained on commerce and built to match every shopper with the right products, right when and where it matters most. Learn more Member exclusive Media Buying Briefing: Overheard at DPMS — How agencies grapple with AI in programmatic The conversation at the Programmatic Marketing Summit highlighted the confusion and complexity surrounding the intersection of programmatic advertising and agentic AI. PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM MIQ Experimenting with personalization boosts loyalty and builds additional targeting strategies By engaging with more thoughtful personalized engagement activities, such as scent quizzes, brands can learn more about customers to better match them with products, also collecting valuable information for lookalike targeting to reach similar customers without any PII. PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM META Is incrementality the future of measurement? Meta thinks so Incrementality is the measure of value generated by a marketing investment, beyond what would have happened without it. For Meta, incrementality is a key part in how the company talks to marketers. MARKETING 'We just did the math': The new baseline for ad tech transparency  Ad execs said the industry is shifting toward a renewed transparency push driven as much by day-to-day operational pressure as by principle.  How Criteo is turning LLMs into its next big advertising channel Through experiments with LLMs, the outfit wants to position its  commerce media footprint to help power product discovery in the AI-era. Advertisement PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM URBAN ONE Why understanding Black cultural influence is a marketing imperative There are untapped growth opportunities for brands that foster authentic, sustained connections with Black audiences through meaningful engagement. AUDIO EVERYWHERE Audio Anywhere As big brands flood the podcast ad space, startups are refining strategies to stand out While a influx of big advertisers is good news for podcast companies, it also makes it more challenging for small- to mid-sized brands to stand out in the space. Written by Jim Cooper and Sara Jerde Were you forwarded this email? Sign up to get it daily. Advertise | Digiday+ | Events | Awards Update your email | Unsubscribe | Privacy policy