2026 Outlook Study: A Snapshot into U.S. Ad Spend, Opportunities, and Strategies for Growth.

IAB's annual buyer survey of more than 200 US brands and agencies points to strong 2026 growth led by social, CTV and commerce media. AI, and agentic buying in particular, dominates buyers' priorities.

Key findings

• In January, buyers expected US ad spend to grow 9.5% in 2026. IAB raised that forecast to 12.3% in September.
• Planned growth by channel in January: social +14.6%, CTV +13.8%, commerce media +12.1%. Linear TV is expected to fall 1.7%, a smaller drop than in recent years thanks to the Olympics, World Cup and midterms.
• About two-thirds of buyers are focusing on agentic AI for media buying and campaign execution, and five of their six fastest-rising priorities relate to AI.
• 73% of marketers prioritise content built to appear in AI-generated answers, and 38% say understanding generative AI is a major challenge (up 14 points from 2024).
• Customer acquisition is still the top goal (54%) but fell 10 points, while driving repeat purchases rose to 25% from 13%.

Why it matters

US buyer intentions tend to set agency playbooks worldwide, and these figures put agentic buying and AI-answer optimisation firmly on the 2026 agenda.

About this report

Published by IAB, 2026-01-28. Free to download. Get the full report from IAB