With global advertising on track to pass the $1trn mark in 2025, marketers expect part of this to be driven by a surge in retail media spend, with 32% of them saying that investment in retail media will increase next year.
In fact, marketers are generally optimistic all round about advertising in 2025, with 65% of them expecting improved trading conditions. However, marketing budget expectations aren’t quite as positive.
According to WARC, retail media investment is part of a concerted swing to prioritising spend on digital marketing, with online video and social media expecting to see a 65% and 55% uptick in spend next year. Traditional media – radio, TV, mail, cinema and print – are all expected to see a drop.
Challenges abound
Optimism on budgets is markedly lower among agencies: just over a quarter (28%) of agency survey respondents expect budgets to increase compared to nearly half (46%) of brands.
Some marketers will continue to prioritise long-term growth: one-third of marketers (35%) expect investment in brand marketing to increase in 2025, and one-third (38%) expect investments in performance to increase in 2025.
The impact of the environment and diversity, inclusion, and social justice on marketing strategies has decreased in recent years. Only 28% of survey respondents expect the environment and 20% expect DEI to significantly impact marketing strategies next year, versus 38% and 30% respectively last year.
In addition, almost half of marketers (44%) highlighted media and audience fragmentation as one of the biggest causes for concern in 2025, an increase of 9% from last year. Along with the challenges, there are more opportunities to experiment in reaching and engaging consumers.
The wider business environment
Marketers are largely optimistic about the business environment for 2025. Two out of three (65%) marketers expect business to improve next year, the highest in three years.
However, escalating geopolitical conflicts and the implementation of trade policies threaten progress. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of marketers think economic conditions will significantly impact their marketing strategy in 2025.
Consequently, marketers appear less optimistic about increasing marketing budgets for the year ahead: just a third (34%) expect marketing budgets to increase (compared to 41% last year). However, more marketers seem to expect budget increases from last year to be maintained (44% compared to 39% last year), with those expecting lower budgets largely steady at 22% (compared to 20% last year.)
