The media landscape is changing fast. This post breaks down five trends you need to know to stay visible and successful this year.

Trend 1: Digital Ad Spend is on the Rise 💸

The Canadian digital advertising market is entering a period of significant acceleration where ad spend is projected to grow by 13.0% this year, reaching US$13.98 billion by the end of 2026, according to Globe Newswire. This follows a period of steady expansion between 2020 and 2025. Looking ahead, the momentum is expected to grow further with an estimated US$21.14 billion in digital ad spend by the end of 2029.

Global ad spend is up too. According to a recent WARC report, global advertising spend is entering a cycle of growth. The market is projected to expand by 9.1% year over year, reaching US$1.3 trillion. If this momentum carries into 2027, as it’s expected to with an additional 7.9% growth forecast, this trajectory would push the total market value to US$1.4 trillion. This effectively doubles the global advertising market’s size since the pandemic.

By the end of 2025, Google, Meta, and Amazon were expected to earn 56.1% of all ad spend globally (excluding China), totalling US$556.6 billion. Their collective share is forecasted to reach 58.0% in 2026. Canada sees these same big players taking the highest proportion of total digital ad spend.

While Google, Meta, and Amazon still capture the majority of budgets, the Canadian market is diversifying as advertisers seek alternative options. Premium local publishers such as CBC/Radio-Canada, The Globe and Mail, and Postmedia are offering brand-safe environments with bundled inventory and contextual targeting solutions. Additionally, third-party DSPs are expanding by positioning themselves as agile, transparent alternatives to black-box platforms.

The Canadian landscape is shifting toward a more nuanced balance of power. While the tech giants maintain their dominance (and we don’t see that changing anytime soon), the rise of trusted local media and third-party DPSs offers advertisers an alternative opportunity to consider as part of their marketing efforts (and budgets).

Trend 2: Zero-Click Future 🚫

Here’s the deal: the internet is changing, and it’s getting a lot harder to actually get people to visit your website. We’re moving into what experts call a “zero-click” future, and if you’re a business owner or marketer, it’s a bit of a headache.

In the old days (like, two years ago), you’d go to Google, type in a question, and click a link to get the answer. Now? AI does the homework for you, displaying the answer you’re looking for right there on the screen without even having to leave the environment or platform you’re in. You get what you need, you close the tab, and you never click a single link. It’s kind of a bummer for whoever actually made that content. Whether it’s a helpful article, a recipe, or a business page, you basically just got the info you needed without ever visiting their site. They did all the work to put that information out there, but since you didn’t have to click a link, their website analytics make it look like nobody ever saw it.

AI is one component of the zero-click state we find ourselves in, but there is one more element that hinders our ability to effectively track campaign performance. The big guys (like Google and Meta) are basically black boxes as of late, meaning while we can see what goes in and what comes out, we have no idea how it works inside.

These platforms are using our content to train their AI systems, but they don’t tell us what, how, or when it’s being used. And since nobody is clicking links anymore, our old way of measuring success organically (i.e. impressions/clicks and ranking) is much less reliable.

There are a few tactics we can employ to help mitigate these issues:

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is no longer enough on its own to ensure you are seen in a strong position on a search engine results page. AIO (Ai Optimization), consisting of AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), now play a crucial role in giving you the edge over other websites. Since LLM AI models (like Gemini and ChatGPT) summarize information, you need to make it easy for them to cite you as their source.
• Optimize for brand impressions, not just clicks. If people aren’t clicking through to your site, you need to ensure they at least see your brand name within the AI’s answer.
• Use Schema Markup (a.k.a. backend code) so AI black-boxes can instantly read and trust your data.
• Rather than relying solely on keyword rankings and clicks, consider instead tracking other metrics such as citation frequency, AI referral traffic, and share of answer.

We can’t force users to click like they used to, so we must pivot from being a “destination” website to being the “trusted source” that the AI relies on to give its answers. If we can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
Check out Jeremy’s recent blog post for a more in-depth look at this topic and how we can help to mitigate this loss of clicks and rethink how we measure campaign performance.

Trend 3: Performance TV 📺

The advertising landscape in 2026 is facing an “attention crisis,” where marketers are finding it increasingly difficult to capture and maintain high-quality customer interest. As consumers become more fragmented and distracted across various digital environments, traditional metrics are being re-evaluated.

tvScientific’s 2026 State of Performance TV report indicates that, for the first time, performance TV has emerged as a top priority for media spend among advertisers for 2026, surpassing social media and mobile apps. This transition is largely fueled by budget reallocations from major platforms like YouTube, Meta, and TikTok. Marketers are drawn to the “big screen” experience, which can offer a less skippable and more attentive environment compared to the feed-based scrolling of social media.

For brands entering the Connected TV (CTV) space this year, we recommend starting simple. One approach to consider is that, rather than overcomplicating plans with hyper-targeted controls, the focus should be on building plans around broader audiences and subsequently narrowing them down based on performance data. Key strategies include managing frequency to avoid viewer and creative fatigue, and ensuring that creative content features a clear value proposition and call to action very early in the spot.

Ultimately, success in 2026 requires a move toward omni-channel engagement as the default behaviour. Marketers are encouraged to run incrementality tests and look at extended attribution windows to truly understand how TV influences the bottom line.

Trend 4: Video is Still King 👑

As we navigate the rapidly evolving digital advertising landscape of 2026, marketers are facing platform updates, AI-driven algorithms, and shifting consumer behaviours. But even with all these shifts, one trend hasn’t changed: video and animated ads still rule the feed. It may be tempting to lean on quick, easy static images just to keep your content calendar full, but if you actually want to “stop the scroll”, your ads need to move.

The shift away from static imagery is largely driven by “The TikTok Effect” as outlined in Simranjeet’s recent blog post. The rise of short-form, immersive video has fundamentally reshaped how audiences consume media. Users are scrolling faster than ever, engaging less with advertising, and demanding immediate entertainment or value. In this fast-paced environment, polished, corporate-style static graphics simply no longer work. Consumers now expect short-form videos with a native-style (think UGC) that feels authentic to their feeds rather than a traditional, disruptive sales pitch.

It’s not just that people prefer watching videos, but the apps are actually built to reward it now. On Meta, its AI uses your ad to find the right people for you. Because videos make people stop and watch longer, the AI has an easier time figuring out exactly who your perfect customer is. It’s really no wonder Reels are getting 20% more engagement than standard static ads.

Beyond Meta, this dominance of video is a universal truth across the entire social media spectrum. According to Sprout Social’s 2026 trends report, “TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and other emerging video formats on LinkedIn and Threads have created feature parity, making video content a priority across networks.”

In a digital world characterized by content overload and highly competitive AI ad delivery, static ads are far too easily scrolled past and forgotten. To thrive in 2026, advertisers must fully embrace a mindset where video and animation take center stage. Adapting your video formats to fit the environment ensures your content resonates wherever it lives, rather than feeling forced. In doing so, brands can feed the algorithms exactly what they need while giving audiences the engaging experiences they have come to expect.

Trend 5: Digital “AI Slop” vs. Trusted Offline Media 🔥

The digital advertising ecosystem has never been faster or more automated than it is now, and it’s a trend that isn’t slowing down. For as long as I can remember in this industry, us marketers have been quantifying campaign “performance” in terms of digital KPIs. We chased the most cost-effective click, hyper-targeted the individual, and trusted the platforms’ black-box attribution models to tell us it was working.

Enter AI in 2026.

We’re now in the era of signal loss and zero clicks. Privacy rules have cut down how precisely we can target people, and AI-powered “answer engines” are keeping more users inside their own platforms. With fewer clicks, there are fewer visits, fewer data signals, and ultimately fewer chances for brands to shape demand on their own terms. We know digital works, but we increasingly don’t know the nitty-gritty details about what exactly is working.

We also find ourselves drowning in a flood of low-quality, AI-generated content (aka “AI slop”) that clutters users’ feeds and erodes consumer trust. When scrolling through feeds saturated with synthetic images, deepfakes, and dropshipping schemes, the consumer’s first question isn’t “Do I want this?” but rather “Is this even real?”

With all these new challenges related to AI – both from a campaign optimization and a creative perspective – how do you show today’s hard-to-reach, hard-to-engage, and skeptical consumer that your brand is the real deal?

A physical billboard on a highway, a TV spot during a live sports event, or a robust broadcast radio campaign requires more significant logistics, contracts, and budget. It is hard to fake and expensive to book. Offline media widens the top of the funnel, keeping your brand top of mind before the Google search even happens.

The next step for marketers is to rebalance the media mix by pairing data-driven precision with the undeniable credibility of offline touchpoints. Yes, offline media is expensive, so start small if needed. Try testing a local radio buy, a Connected TV campaign with an emphasis on premium publisher placements, or with a focused OOH buy.

Brands will see that a strong presence on offline mediums such as out of home, TV, radio, print, and even experiential, isn’t just about awareness, but it’s about supporting digital performance with something more trustworthy. This trend for 2026 isn’t a new piece of technology, but a call for a renewed focus on authenticity and trust. Authenticity isn’t something algorithms can replicate, but it’s something you build over time with consistency.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, winning in 2026 is about moving from being just another link on a screen to being a “trusted source”. And whether you are using eye-catching video to stop the scroll, trying out TV ads to reach a bigger audience, or using offline media like out of home to prove you’re the “real deal,” the goal is the same: building trust.