Australia's advertising market hit $28.9 billion in 2025, a 5.2% increase on the prior year. The forecast for 2026 pushes that to $30.7 billion, a further 6.5% rise that will mark the first time the Australian market crosses the $30 billion threshold.
The headline number is interesting. Where the money is moving is more interesting.
Digital now accounts for 75.9% of total ad revenue and is expected to climb to 83.5% by 2030. Within digital, the fastest-growing channel is retail media, which grew 28.1% in 2025 and is forecast to grow another 24.4% this year. At that trajectory, retail media ad spend will surpass total TV ad revenue for the first time in 2027.
Australia's forecast total advertising spend for 2026, crossing the $30 billion mark for the first time
Out-of-home advertising rose 8.2% in 2025 and is set for another 6.2% lift in 2026, driven by digital screen expansion and programmatic buying. Meanwhile, print continues its structural decline: newspaper ad revenue fell 17.4% in 2025 and magazine revenue dropped 2.9%.
The platform concentration story remains unchanged. Google, Meta, Amazon and YouTube continue to capture the majority of digital ad spend. The Australian digital ad spend report forecasts continued dominance through 2029, with Amazon's advertising revenue growing fastest among the major platforms.
Consumer media spend (the subset tracked by CEASA) is forecast to grow 3.4% in 2026, a more conservative number that excludes some digital formats. The gap between the two figures reflects how much digital advertising sits outside traditional media measurement.
Why it matters
For Australian business owners and marketing leaders, the macro picture matters because it shapes where inventory is available, what it costs and where your competitors are spending. When retail media grows 24% and print falls 17%, the attention economy is physically moving.
The retail media surge is particularly significant. Coles 360, Woolworths Cartology and Amazon Australia are all building or expanding retail media networks. If your business sells through any of those channels, retail media is no longer optional. It is a cost of doing business on those platforms.
What to do about it
If you are still spending on print, quantify the declining reach. The 17.4% revenue decline in newspapers reflects an audience that has already moved.
Evaluate retail media as a channel. If you sell through Coles, Woolworths or Amazon, your competitors are already buying retail media inventory on those platforms.
Review your digital budget allocation against the 75.9% digital share benchmark. If your mix is significantly different, you may be over-indexed on declining channels.
Watch the OOH digital expansion. Programmatic DOOH is becoming accessible to smaller advertisers, and the 6.2% growth rate reflects genuine audience attention shifting to screens outside the home.
Track your share of voice within your category. A growing market means your competitors have more budget to spend against you.
Thirty billion dollars is a lot of money. The question is whether your share of it is growing or shrinking.
