INFOGRAPHIC

Quarterly Global Advertising Spend Trends: Q2 2025

Q2 2025 Advertising Trends By Industry Vertical

PubMatic’s Quarterly Ad Spend report was created to provide both publishers and advertisers with insights into the changing trends of the advertising industry. Here are the key digital trends from Q2 2025’s advertising spend data.

AD SPENDING CHANGE BY ADVERTISER CATEGORY

Q2 2025, YoY

Global advertising grew 7% in Q2 2025, driven in large part by the continued rise of Connected TV (CTV). Platform expansion also reached 7% between April and June, signaling steady growth going into Q3. This is in part fueled by exceptional performance in categories like Family & Parenting, and News — both of which delivered strong year-over-year gains and outpaced their Q1 levels. However, despite their early momentum, both categories saw a marked slowdown toward the end of the quarter, suggesting a potential cooling after initial surges.

LARGEST ADVERTISER AD SPEND INCREASES DURING Q2, BY CATEGORY

Technology & Computing led all categories with a 35% gains within the quarter from April to June, reflecting continued user and advertiser interest in emerging tech. While Careers is down year-over-year, it strongly rebounded against Q1 and grew 26% within the quarter. This suggests rising engagement with job-related content, and potentially momentum in the job market. Shopping saw a strong uptick, climbing 25% in the quarter, fueled by seasonal retail patterns, with Q2 representing 23% of total ad spend for shopping advertisers.

SMALLEST ADVERTISER AD SPEND INCREASES DURING Q2, BY CATEGORY

Pets and Family & Parenting ad spend surged at the start of 2025, driven by demand for spring and summer baby care and pet food products. Despite exceptional year-over-year growth, momentum slow down toward the end of Q2. Despite a slight seasonal lift in Q2 (spring/summer collections), Style & Fashion saw only modest 6% year-on-year growth and a sustained cutback of -27% between April and June, likely due to cautious consumer spending and economic uncertainty.

MORE INSIGHTS

Explore the latest trends in video ad inventory, or check out our rolling 4 quarter lookback on select categories for seasonal trends.

PubMatic’s data analytics team analyzes over 1 trillion global advertiser bids on a daily basis, utilizing the company’s best-in-class analytics capabilities. This snapshot is based on PubMatic-sourced operational data. Advertiser category definitions are aligned to IAB’s content taxonomy categories​

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