June 9 (Reuters) -

Global advertising revenue is expected to grow 6% this year,

WPP Media said on Monday, lowering its earlier

target of 7.7% due to uncertainty over U.S. trade policies.

Advertisers are appearing to delay making new commitments to

their marketing plans because of the shifting policies,

according to a report by the media investment arm of ad group

WPP ( WPP ).

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Digital ad spending by companies is a major driver of

revenue for Alphabet-owned search giant Google and

social media firms such as Meta Platforms ( META ), Pinterest ( PINS )

, Reddit ( RDDT ) and Snap.

Economic uncertainty is accelerating the adoption of AI

tools in ad production and targeting, the WPP Media report said.

Meta aims to allow brands to fully create and target ads

with its AI tools by the end of 2026, the Wall Street Journal

reported last week.

Research firm Emarketer recently said companies that rely on

traditional keyword-based search ads could lose revenue due to

the growing popularity of AI-driven search ads.

BY THE NUMBERS

WPP Media now expects global ad revenue to reach $1.08

trillion in 2025, with 6.1% growth projected for 2026.

Digital advertising is expected to account for 73.2% of the

global revenue this year.

In 2025, user-generated content will account for a greater

share of ad revenue than professionally produced content, the

report said.

It forecast print advertising revenue will fall 3.1% to

$45.5 billion this year, while search revenue is expected to

grow 7.3%.

CONTEXT

WPP Media said brands are expected to prioritize flexible ad

contracts, shift budgets toward media placements that reach

consumers directly and focus on secure data strategies amid

economic uncertainty.

The U.S. remains the largest ad market and is expected to

grow 5.6% to $404.7 billion, followed by China and the UK,

according to the report.