INFOGRAPHIC

Quarterly Global Advertising Spend Trends: Q2 2026

Q2 2026 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 2026’s advertising spend data.

AD SPENDING CHANGE BY ADVERTISER CATEGORY

Q2 2026, YoY

Programmatic ad spend grew double digits YoY in Q2, and accelerated between April and June.

Politics doubled (+106% YoY) and drove CTV’s long-cycle surge. Midterm dollars flooded in – CTV ad spend grew 4.1x between the Q2 2022 and Q2 2026 midterm election cycles (a midterm-to-midterm comparison, not YoY). But the surge landed early and held flat through the quarter; expect the real ramp into H2.

Food & Drink slipped (19% YoY) as QSR and alcohol brands funneled early budget into FIFA World Cup sponsorships, displacing digital spend – yet spend climbed +24% from April to June. The category is recovering; the headline understates its momentum.

LARGEST ADVERTISER AD SPEND INCREASES DURING Q2, BY CATEGORY

Family & Parenting: The sharpest in-quarter climb of any category, a rebound rebuilding spend after a steep YoY drop.

Home & Garden: Both powered by seasonality, surging as spring-into-summer project and pet spend peak through Q2.

SMALLEST ADVERTISER AD SPEND INCREASES DURING Q2, BY CATEGORY

Real Estate: The only category to shrink through the quarter, tracking a rise in mortgage rates and a 2.4% June drop in home sales that kept buyers on the sidelines.

Style & Fashion: Essentially flat; the spring push never built momentum into summer.

Law, Gov’t & Politics: Frozen intra-quarter; its big YoY doubling was banked early, but expect build toward the midterms.

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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