Australia Digital Ad Spend Market Size & Forecast by Spend Value Across 100+ KPIs by Type of Advertising Channel, Format & Media, Platforms, Pricing Models, Industry, Digital Ecosystem, and Media Buying Method - Databook Q1 2026 Update

The digital ad spend market in Australia is expected to grow by 12.7% annually, reaching US$16.88 billion by 2026.

The digital ad spend market in the country has experienced robust growth during 2020-2025, achieving a CAGR of 10.7%. This upward trajectory is expected to continue, with the market forecast to grow at a CAGR of 14.6% from 2026 to 2029. By the end of 2029, the digital ad spend market is projected to expand from its 2025 value of US$14.98 billion to approximately US$25.38 billion.

Key Trends and Drivers in Digital Ad Spend:

Australia’s digital advertising market is undergoing a structural transition as platform dynamics shift, regulatory expectations tighten, and investment intensifies across retail media and video ecosystems. Brands are moving away from channel-led planning toward integrated, privacy-aware execution, with commerce-linked measurement, CTV, AI-driven optimisation, and sustainability reporting increasingly shaping buying decisions. The market is consolidating around strategies that balance performance with compliance, and advertisers that modernise their infrastructure, data partnerships, and accountability frameworks will be better positioned as expectations for measurable outcomes continue to rise.

Retail Media is Gaining Share Across FMCG and Electronics Sectors

Retail media has become a core part of omnichannel campaigns in Australia. Major retailers such as Woolworths Group and Coles have expanded their digital advertising platforms Cartology and Coles 360 respectively offering on-site display, audience extension, and closed-loop attribution. These platforms are now deeply embedded in national media planning, especially among CPG advertisers.

The trend is driven by the phasing out of third-party cookies and the demand for first-party data. Retailers are monetising their digital assets while giving advertisers measurable visibility into shopper behaviour. The acceleration of online grocery and ecommerce adoption has made these networks critical for lower-funnel marketing. Looking ahead, retail media's role is expected to intensify. More brands will shift budget into retailer-owned platforms as capabilities in measurement, programmatic access, and audience targeting mature.

CTV and BVOD Platforms Are Restructuring Video Investment

Connected TV (CTV) and broadcaster video-on-demand (BVOD) platforms have emerged as major video destinations for advertisers. Platforms such as 9Now (Nine), 7plus (Seven West Media), 10 Play (Paramount), and Foxtel's Kayo and Binge offer ad-supported inventory integrated with dynamic ad insertion.

It is driven by changing consumer behaviour, as audiences increasingly migrate from linear TV to digital-first viewing. Broadcasters have invested in ad tech and partnered with programmatic platforms to expand addressability and improve ROI. In the next few years, more advertisers will incorporate CTV into their cross-platform plans. CTV is positioned as a premium video environment, although advertisers will continue to navigate challenges in measurement and frequency capping.

Privacy and Consent Requirements Are Redefining Targeting Infrastructure

With Australia’s Privacy Act under review and broader digital regulation taking shape, advertisers are re-evaluating their data and targeting frameworks. Legislative updates are expected to introduce stricter definitions of personal data, enforceable consent standards, and additional transparency around profiling and targeting.

This regulatory shift is prompting greater reliance on first-party data, clean rooms, and contextual targeting models. Platforms and agencies are investing in consent management and privacy-preserving technologies. Over the forecast period, compliance will become a competitive advantage. Advertisers that build robust, privacy-ready infrastructure will be more agile in response to regulatory changes.

AI-Led Creative and Campaign Automation is Reshaping Execution

AI-powered tools are transforming campaign management and creative generation. Google’s Performance Max and Meta’s Advantage+, along with Adobe’s Firefly and other AI content platforms, are enabling brands to scale campaigns with reduced manual intervention.

Automation is being adopted to increase media efficiency and keep pace with rising demand for multichannel asset development. Agencies are re-aligning internal roles to accommodate AI-enabled workflows. This trend will deepen, with AI becoming a default layer in campaign execution. However, human oversight will remain critical to manage brand safety, contextual relevance, and ethical use of synthetic content.

Sustainability Metrics Are Entering Media Planning Conversations

Brands and agencies in Australia are beginning to factor environmental impact into media decisions. Carbon calculators, low-emission media packages, and ESG-aligned reporting tools are being introduced by publishers and tech vendors.

The push is driven by corporate sustainability goals and procurement requirements. Ad Net Zero Australia and similar industry efforts are catalysing dialogue around carbon-aware planning.
While early-stage, sustainability is expected to become a standard component of digital media plans, particularly among enterprise advertisers.

Competitive Landscape in Digital Ad Spend

Australia’s digital advertising landscape is entering a period of structural change, shaped by regulatory tightening, the rapid expansion of retail media, and continued platform innovation. Global tech players still anchor scale, yet domestic retailers, broadcasters, and martech providers are gaining competitive ground by offering data-rich, accountable environments. As expectations for measurable performance and compliant data practices rise, the market is moving beyond traditional media buying models toward diversified, omnichannel, and privacy-aligned execution. In this environment, competitive advantage will increasingly depend on partnering with platforms that can deliver integrated reach, transparent measurement, and flexible commerce-linked capabilities setting the tone for how the broader ecosystem is expected to evolve.

Global Platforms Retain Scale but Are Facing Localised Scrutiny:

Google, Meta, Amazon, and YouTube continue to anchor much of the digital spend in Australia. Their ad tools are entrenched across agency workflows and small business marketing. YouTube dominates video, particularly on connected TV screens, while Amazon Ads continues to scale via sponsored listings and display formats.

However, these platforms are adjusting to heightened regulatory pressure. Australia’s Privacy Act review and the ACCC’s ongoing Digital Platform Services Inquiry are prompting changes in consent protocols, data collection, and algorithmic transparency. This regulatory shift is compelling global platforms to adopt more transparent and privacy-aligned practices in the Australian market.

Retailers and Broadcasters Are Expanding Their Ad Ecosystems

Australian retailers are now operating as media platforms:

• Woolworths’ Cartology and Coles 360 offer integrated advertising solutions across ecommerce, stores, and off-site placements.
• These platforms provide closed-loop measurement, real-time reporting, and packaged inventory across digital and physical retail environments.

Broadcasters are also competing aggressively for digital video budgets:

• Seven West Media, Nine, and Network 10 continue to build out dynamic ad insertion, programmatic access, and unified buying platforms across CTV and BVOD inventory.
• Foxtel Media integrates video inventory across Kayo, Binge, and pay-TV, offering premium ad-supported content.

These Australian-owned platforms offer brand-safe environments and local audience data, positioning themselves as compliant, scalable alternatives to global walled gardens.

Strategic Alliances and Infrastructure Expansion Define Market Movement:

Key partnerships and platform expansions over the past year include:

• Cartology’s expansion of agency partnerships and improved retail media dashboards.
• Nine’s continued collaboration with Magnite to scale programmatic video infrastructure.
• Adobe has been working with Australian media agencies and enterprise advertisers to expand adoption of data clean rooms and privacy-safe audience collaboration tools.

These moves are consolidating competitive capabilities across commerce, video, and data compliance, setting the stage for more integrated campaign execution.

Regulation Is Shaping Platform Conduct and Advertiser Decision-Making:

The evolving regulatory framework is directly impacting the competitive environment:

• Proposed amendments to the Privacy Act introduce new consent requirements, transparency rules for profiling, and consumer rights to opt out of personalised ads.
• ACCC’s investigations are addressing potential conflicts of interest and transparency issues in programmatic auctions.
• OAIC enforcement has increased around data breaches and non-compliant targeting practices.

Regulatory momentum is creating demand for platforms and agencies that can deliver accountability, auditability, and ethical media practices.

Competition Will Focus on Integration and Compliance:

Over the next 2-4 years, competition in Australia’s digital ad market is expected to intensify along several fronts:

• Retail media platforms will expand into self-serve, full-funnel tools, pulling spend from traditional social and display.
• Broadcaster CTV platforms will increase their share of video budgets by offering audience-based buying and brand-safe inventory.
• Martech firms with privacy-first infrastructure will attract advertisers seeking compliance alignment.
• Agencies will shift toward execution models that combine automation, retail integration, and regulatory navigation.

This report provides a detailed data-centric analysis of the digital ad spend industry in Australia, offering comprehensive coverage of both ad spend and digital ad spend markets. It covers more than 100+ KPIs, including spend value by segments, and market shares.

The report offers in-depth segmentation across the ad spend market, covering spend distribution by channel (television, print, radio, outdoor, and digital) and detailed breakdowns within digital ad spend, including search, ecommerce, news and media, social platforms, gaming environments, and other digital destinations. It further categorizes digital ad spend by formats such as video, display, influencer marketing, email, and audio, alongside device platforms and pricing models. Additional analysis captures industry-level allocation patterns and the structure of the digital ad spend market across walled gardens and the open web, as well as distinctions between programmatic and direct media buying. Collectively, these datasets provide a comprehensive and quantifiable view of market size, spend behavior, and the structural dynamics shaping digital ad spend.

The research methodology is based on industry best practices. Its unbiased analysis leverages a proprietary analytics platform to offer a detailed view of emerging business and investment market opportunities.

Report Scope

This report provides a detailed data-centric analysis of the digital ad spend industry in Australia, with comprehensive coverage across both ad spend and digital ad spend markets. Below is a summary of key market segments:

Australia Ad Spend Market Size and Growth Dynamics

• Spend Value

Australia Ad Spend Market Segmentation by Advertising Channel

• Television Advertising
• Print Advertising
• Radio Advertising
• Outdoor Advertising
• Digital Advertising
• Other

Australia Ad Spend Market Segmentation by Television Advertising

• Linear TV Advertising
• Connected TV / OTT Video Advertising

Australia Ad Spend Market Segmentation by Radio Advertising

• Traditional Radio Advertising
• Digital Audio / Podcast Advertising

Australia Ad Spend Market Segmentation by Outdoor Advertising

• Traditional OOH Advertising
• Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) Advertising

Australia Ad Spend Market Segmentation by Digital Advertising

• Spend Value

Australia Digital Ad Spend Market by Segmentation

• Search Engine Sites
• Ecommerce Sites
• News & Media Sites
• Social Media
• Gaming Platforms
• Forums & Classifieds
• Others

Australia Digital Ad Spend Market Segmentation by Social Media

Australia Digital Ad Spend Market Segmentation by Gaming Platforms

• Around Games Environment Ad Spend
• In Game Environment Ad Spend
• In Game Immersive Ad Spend
• Exclusive Advertising Games Spend

Australia Digital Ad Spend Market Segmentation by Format & Media

• Video
• Display
• Email
• Influencer Marketing
• Blogging and Podcasting

Australia Digital Ad Spend Market Segmentation by Platform

• Mobile
• Desktop and Laptop

Australia Digital Ad Spend Market Segmentation by Pricing Model

• Cost Per Mile (CPM)
• Cost Per Click (CPC)
• Performance Based Advertising
• Others

Australia Digital Ad Spend Market Segmentation by Industry

• Technology
• Travel & Hospitality
• FMCG
• Automotive
• Media & Entertainment
• Telecommunications
• Retail & Consumer Goods
• Business and Financial Services
• Pharmaceutical and Healthcare
• Public Sector
• Construction and Real estate
• Education
• Home Appliances and Furniture
• Other Industries

Australia Digital Ad Spend Market by Digital Ecosystem

• Walled Gardens
• Open Web / Independent Publishers

Australia Digital Ad Spend Market by Media Buying Method

• Programmatic Advertising
• Direct Advertising

Reasons to Buy

• Comprehensive Market Intelligence: Gain an integrated view of the full advertising landscape, covering both traditional channels (television, print, radio, outdoor) and the rapidly expanding digital advertising ecosystem. Track essential spend metrics, including channel-wise allocation, digital share evolution, and growth patterns across formats and platforms.
• Granular Coverage of Digital Advertising: Explore detailed segmentation across search engines, ecommerce platforms, news and media publishers, social networks, gaming environments, forums, classifieds, and other digital destinations. Social media and gaming are further broken down by individual platforms and ad environments, enabling precise assessment of digital inventory performance.
• Segment-Wise Insights and Cross-Analysis: Evaluate advertising trends across formats (video, display, email, influencer marketing, blogging/podcasting), device platforms (mobile vs. desktop/laptop), pricing models (CPM, CPC, performance-based), industries, and digital ecosystems (walled gardens vs. open web). Cross-segmentation supports deeper understanding of how advertisers allocate budgets across channels, formats, and audiences.
• Advertiser and Audience Behaviour Analytics: Understand how brands across sectors such as retail, BFSI, FMCG, technology, automotive, media, healthcare, education, and others, distribute their digital budgets. Assess audience engagement patterns and platform choices, providing actionable insights into reach, attention, and return on spend.
• Digital Infrastructure and Ecosystem Readiness: Assess the maturity of the enabling digital ecosystem, CTV/OTT expansion, and programmatic infrastructure, all of which shape the evolution of digital advertising models and automated buying practices.
• Data-Driven Forecasts and KPI Benchmarking: Access a comprehensive dataset of 100+ KPIs with historical and forecast data through 2029, offering visibility into channel evolution, digital acceleration, format-level momentum, and emerging opportunities in programmatic buying, retail media, gaming, and CTV/OTT.
• Decision-Ready Databook Format: Delivered in a structured, data-centric format, the Databook supports seamless integration into marketing strategies, budget planning frameworks, investment cases, and competitive benchmarking. It equips agencies, advertisers, platforms, publishers, and policymakers with evidence-based insights to guide strategic decisions.