{"id":75073,"date":"2026-06-16T04:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T04:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/75073\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T04:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T04:24:09","slug":"wpp-forecasts-ai-search-to-become-fastest-growing-ad-channel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/75073\/","title":{"rendered":"WPP forecasts AI search to become fastest growing ad channel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ChatGPT has been running ads for less than six months, but it\u2019s fueling a category expected to capture almost 40% of search revenue and generate $100 billion in revenues by the end of this decade.<\/p>\n<p>WPP\u2019s latest ad spend forecasts, published today (June 16) highlight AI search as the fastest growing investment area in advertising.<\/p>\n<p>While the category will account for just 1.9% of search ad revenue this year ($301 million), that\u2019s set to rise to 39.2% by 2031, according to its regularly published forecasts, which include AI search estimates for the first time. Total search revenue will make up 21.8% of total global ad revenue this year.<\/p>\n<p>Though more conservative than <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/marketing\/in-graphic-detail-why-openais-ad-business-is-still-a-work-in-progress\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">OpenAI\u2019s prediction that it could net<\/a> $100 billion in revenue by 2030, WPP Media\u2019s global president of business intelligence Kate Scott-Dawkins said advertisers would likely transfer both \u201ctraditional\u201d search spending and e-commerce budgets into generative AI ad options.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt might capture a larger share of incremental growth than other channels, because it\u2019s new and it\u2019s exciting,\u201d she said. \u201cSome of it transitions from traditional search. Some of it potentially contributes to a deceleration within commerce. All of those together are going to help build that race to $100 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>WPP Media\u2019s estimate is subject to several variables, most related to how Google develops and evolves its search business. Currently, there\u2019s no way for brands <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media-buying\/as-industry-anticipates-ai-search-ads-buyers-scrutinize-googles-ai-max\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">to buy only ad space adjacent to AI Overviews<\/a>, for example, or for them to exclude the format. \u201cIt\u2019s an exercise in modelling an abstraction of reality. But it\u2019s a good line in the sand,\u201d said Scott-Dawkins.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. currently dominates AI search, accounting for 60% of global AI ad spend. But as more consumers adopt AI tools, and OpenAI and Google bring their ad-supported AI experiences to more markets (<a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media-buying\/expand-thoughtfully-openai-offers-chatgpt-ads-to-new-markets-including-the-u-k-brazil-and-japan\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ChatGPT ads have been available in the U.K. for a fortnight<\/a>), investment is expected to pick up further, she added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAppetite for paid advertising in the generative search space is certainly there \u2014 brands are as equally keen to stake a claim in \u2018new\u2019 digital real estate before their competitors do as they are to find sources of incremental revenue,\u201d said John Barham, managing partner at performance agency Roast.<\/p>\n<p>Another forecast, also published today by media consultancy Madison &amp; Wall, estimated that search would account for 9.3% of growth in global ad revenue this year, rising to $298 billion, making it the third-fastest growing channel behind social and commerce. The consultancy estimated that spending on television, audio, direct mail and publishing would all decline this year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor advertisers, the appeal is context. AI search can understand far more than a traditional keyword query: the conversation, the user\u2019s intent, the decision criteria and, over time, potentially broader personal-agent signals,\u201d said\u00a0Andy Arnett, head of search at Incubeta, a media agency currently running campaign tests on ChatGPT. \u201cThat should make each impression more valuable, because ads can be more relevant, more useful and closer to the point of decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In broader strokes, WPP Media forecasted that global ad revenue would climb 8.9% in 2026; Madison &amp; Wall estimated 8.3%. Neither estimate registered a significant downturn or fall in spending associated with geopolitical concerns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not totally irrational,\u201d said Luke Stillman, managing director at Madison &amp; Wall. \u201cBut it\u2019s still surprising that every marketer is just ignoring all the potential headwinds out there and spending.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite rosy predictions for ad spend growth this year, Madison &amp; Wall project a gradual slowdown in annual growth \u2014 to 5% by 2028, compared with the 10% estimated in 2025 \u2014 into the next decade as key channels mature. \u201cWe expect the whole market to slow over the next few years,\u201d said Stillman.<\/p>\n<p>Arnett cautioned that generative AI search spending was not guaranteed to grow, especially once marketers get used to ChatGPT\u2019s new car smell. \u201cA major scandal around unsafe AI answers would slow spend quickly,\u201d he said. \u201cFor OpenAI in particular, the challenge is proving that advertisers can track, optimize and scale performance without compromising brand safety or user trust.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ChatGPT has been running ads for less than six months, but it\u2019s fueling a category expected to capture&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,5091],"class_list":["post-75073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-zero-click-future"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}