Global advertising investment is set to exceed $1tn for the first time in 2024, WARC Media’s latest forecast has found.

For the first time in its forecasting, WARC Media supplemented the spend measured by its international survey with a study of advertising revenue among 40 of the top media owners globally (click here for more details on the updated methodology).

This new approach reveals that the global ad market is approximately a fifth larger than previously reported, and it is growing strongly: first half results from major media owners suggest that the global ad market is on course to grow by 4.4% this year.

Buoyed by sporting and political events, and a more favourable economic climate, WARC Media expects the rate of global growth to increase to +8.2% in 2024, by when the value of advertising trade will top $1tn for the first time.

The study of media owners also reveals a large concentration of wealth among a small cluster of just five companies – Alibaba, Alphabet, Amazon, Bytedance and Meta – which between them will account for over half (50.7%) of global advertising spend for the first time this year. Projections show that this position is set to be consolidated next year, as this cohort’s share increases to 51.9%.