Where Media Inflation Meets Marketing Ingenuity

How Smart Marketers Can Navigate Global Media Inflation

Global media inflation may have leveled off at 4%, but this “new normal” is anything but steady. The World Federation of Advertisers’ latest Outlook report reveals a fragmented media economy where stability on paper hides sharp contrasts across markets and channels. Premium video continues to command higher prices, while digital’s once-deflationary edge is fading fast. For marketers, the challenge—and opportunity— is to decode these disparities, balancing trusted environments with digital diversification to make every dollar, peso, pound, or euro work harder.

For marketers tasked with doing more with less, understanding these nuances is key to making smarter media investments.

The New Normal: Persistent, Predictable Inflation

After several turbulent years, the global media economy appears to have found its footing—if not relief. The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) predicts media prices will rise roughly 4% in both 2025 and 2026, settling into a “new normal” that mirrors broader economic trends.

For advertisers, this means inflation isn’t spiking—but it isn’t going away either. As WFA’s Global Lead, Media Services, Tom Ashby notes, “Embedded media price inflation requires advertisers to constantly find new ways to make their ad budgets work harder.”

Where Prices Are Rising Fastest

Inflation may be moderate on average, but that average hides dramatic contrasts:

• Mature markets like the U.S. (+3–4%), U.K. (+3%), and Western Europe (+4–5%) are seeing relatively steady prices thanks to more cautious advertiser spending and growing digital efficiency.
• Emerging markets tell another story: Eastern Europe (+11%) and India (+9%) are leading the world in media price growth, driven by booming economies, local advertiser demand, and rising audience value.
• APAC remains mixed: Japan’s inflation is flat, while India and Hong Kong are accelerating sharply.

Video Still Dominates—but Not All Screens Are Equal

If video remains the centerpiece of most campaigns, its pricing power depends on the platform:

• Broadcaster video-on-demand (BVOD) leads the inflation chart at +5%, as advertisers continue to value trusted, brand-safe, measurable environments.
• Connected TV (CTV), once expected to surge, is nearly flat (+1%), with programmatic oversupply and fragmentation keeping prices in check.
• Linear TV, surprisingly, still commands a +5% increase in many markets—largely because shrinking audiences make premium inventory scarcer.

The takeaway: quality, credibility, and data confidence still command a premium. Marketers must weigh the reach and measurement reliability of BVOD against the efficiency and flexibility of CTV.

Digital Is No Longer the Inflation Escape Hatch

For years, shifting budget into digital promised cost efficiency. No longer.
Paid search, social video, and retail media now inflate at roughly +4–5%, mirroring the global average. Increased competition, measurement sophistication, and the proliferation of platforms mean that “more players” no longer equals “cheaper prices.”

Regional Nuance = Opportunity

Europe remains the most divided region, with steady prices in the north but surging inflation in the east. For global advertisers, this underscores the value of sub-regional planning and localized buying strategies rather than one-size-fits-all global allocations.

The Outlook report even introduces new granularity in the Middle East, splitting the GCC into Saudi Arabia and the UAE, two of the world’s fastest-growing ad markets—another signal that marketers should treat emerging regions with tailored strategies.

How Marketers Can Respond

1. Invest in intelligence, not just inventory. Use inflation forecasts to model where each dollar delivers the highest audience value.
2. Re-evaluate media mix assumptions. “Digital” no longer automatically means cheaper or more efficient.
3. Lean into quality environments. Platforms with verified audiences and trusted measurement continue to justify their premiums.
4. Collaborate across procurement, finance, and marketing. A shared understanding of inflation dynamics helps protect both short-term performance and long-term brand health.

As the WFA report concludes, media inflation may be steady—but that doesn’t mean static.

In an era of persistent inflation, marketers shouldn’t chase cheaper media, but seek better value. Success now depends on understanding where audiences, prices, and performance intersect across regions and channels. The most resilient brands will use inflation as a catalyst to rebalance their investments, lean into proven environments, and partner more closely with media and procurement teams to turn insights into advantage.

Smart marketers who understand where and why prices are moving can still find growth, efficiency, and effectiveness.

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About the Data
WFA’s Outlook is published twice a year (April and October) and aggregates forecasts from media leaders including Dentsu, Havas, IPG’s Magna, Publicis, Omnicom, the7stars, Cortex, Ebiquity, and MediaSense. The latest edition covers 42 markets worldwide.