The news: Linear TV ad spending will drop more than 11% in 2026, reaching $139.1 billion, per a WARC study cited by MediaPost.

Key findings:

• Linear has dropped 28% in absolute dollars in a 12-year period. The format’s share of global media has plummeted: Spending now accounts for 12.4% overall, compared with 41.3% in 2013.
• Top ad spenders for global TV will on average spend 38% of their budgets on TV, while smaller spenders will spend about 9%.
• Electronics and technology companies are pulling back the most, with spending down 42%.
• But linear still commands the majority of TV ad spending, with 75% of global TV investment spent on the channel, despite consistent spending gains for connected TV (CTV).

CTV spend, on the other hand, will increase 3.6% in 2026 to reach $44.7 billion, and 56% of advertisers will increase their CTV budgets next year.