The digital video market has officially reached that awkward life stage where it is no longer a scrappy disruptor but also refuses to stop bragging about its growth rate at dinner parties.
According to the latest IAB report, U.S. digital video ad spend is expected to top $80 billion in 2026, which is roughly double what it was five years ago and just enough to make linear TV quietly stare into the middle distance.
Growth is still humming along at 11%, which sounds impressive until you realize it used to be much higher.
But even in its “mature era,” digital video is still expanding nearly 20% faster than the overall ad market, which is the industry equivalent of saying “I’m not as fast as I used to be, but I still smoke everyone else.”