Industry surveyInteractive Advertising Bureau, Sep 2026

CTV ad spend is forecasted to grow 15.6% in 2026

Channel validation

15.6%

projected increase in U.S. CTV ad spend for 2026 over 2025 (forecast issued September 2026)

Reader Note:: This is what media buyers expect, not a forecast built from spend data: 211 people were asked what they think will happen and the answers were averaged. The whole set of expectations was revised upwards in this update, not CTV alone — buyers' overall figure for US ad spend in 2026 rose to 12.3% from 9.5% in January, and commerce media was upgraded to 13.6%. Social media is the other channel pulling ahead.
Evidence:: Stated intention
Vendor interest:: Moderate — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
Sample:: Email survey of 211 U.S. buy-side ad investment decision-makers, primarily at agencies (52%) and brands (44%); fielded July 17-31, 2026.

Good for

Reading the mood, and deciding what to test yourself.

Not for

Predicting what people will actually do. Intentions and behaviour come apart.
This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
The source says how much it looked at, but not how any of it was chosen.

4.4x

How much better an AI search visitor converts compared to an organic search visitor, on average

of Google searches that showed an AI summary ended with a click on a link inside that summary (US, March 2025)

20% of Gen Z and 17% of Millennials discover new brands through influencer endorsements, vs 12% of Gen X and 5% of Boomers

Share of each generation who discover new brands via influencer endorsements
Generation	Share who discover brands through influencers (%)
Gen Z	20%
Millennials	17%
Gen X	12%
Baby Boomers	5%

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Fixing your influencer marketing campaign: How to get into the top 10% of advertisers

11.4%

of shopper sessions in the US involved an AI tool as of June 2026, up 2.3 percentage points from a year earlier

is the short-term ROI index for influencer campaigns in the UK, right on the market average with 4.5% of short-term sales (excluding campaigns that produced no result)

21–26%

of consumers in the US, UK, and Germany report using AI tools to research products online, per Statista's 2026 Global Survey (Jul 2025–Jun 2026).

CTV ad spend is forecasted to grow 15.6% in 2026

Good for

Not for

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