Search Ad Growth Slows As Social & Video Gain Faster via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Why It Matters

Search’s slower pace signals a reallocation of ad dollars toward social and video, reshaping where brands invest to reach audiences. Understanding this shift helps marketers optimize spend amid a creator‑centric digital landscape.

Key Takeaways

• Search ad growth slowed to 11% YoY in 2025
• Social ad revenue hit $117B, up 32%
• Digital video ads rose 25% to $78B
• Commerce media now 20% of total digital ad spend

Pulse Analysis

The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s 2025 report shows digital advertising revenue climbing to $294 billion, a 13 percent year‑over‑year increase. While search remains the largest single segment at $114 billion, its growth rate decelerated to 11 percent, the slowest pace since the series began. By contrast, social media ads surged 32 percent to $117 billion and digital video jumped 25 percent to $78 billion, reflecting advertisers’ appetite for formats that blend content, commerce and measurable engagement. This rebalancing signals a broader industry pivot toward creator‑driven and video‑centric inventory.

The slowdown in search growth is not a sign of decline—Google alone reported a 17 percent rise in Q4 2025 search revenue—but it does indicate that the category is losing relative momentum as budgets chase faster‑growing channels. Overlapping classifications in the IAB data mean a single ad can be counted in multiple buckets, yet the trend is clear: advertisers are allocating more spend to social platforms that offer integrated shopping experiences and to programmatic video that delivers higher completion rates. Programmatic spend also rose 20 percent to $162 billion, underscoring the shift toward automated buying.

For marketers, the data suggests a strategic reassessment of media mixes. Brands that have relied heavily on search may need to augment campaigns with creator partnerships, which the IAB projects will reach $44 billion in 2026, and with commerce‑media placements that now represent over one‑fifth of total digital spend. The upcoming IAB webinar on April 21 will dive deeper into measurement challenges and best practices for blending these channels. Companies that adapt early to the creator‑economy and video‑first mindset are likely to capture a larger share of the expanding ad pie.