These Are the Top Media Trends for 2026 from OUTFRONT’s New Advertising Trends Report

February 24, 2026

We’re back with another heaping spoonful of top 2026 trends. This time, we’ll be discussing the most important media trends showcased in OUTFRONT’s 2026 Advertising Trends Report. If you haven’t already, be sure to read about the top 2026 consumer trends. And come back over the next two weeks to read about the top trends in artificial intelligence and then IRL advertising.

Top Media Trend #1: Bad Ads Make Consumers Abandon Brands

Consumers have had it with ads that intrude, annoy, and overwhelm. Seventy percent say they find digital advertising unpleasant and annoying, and that has real consequences. Two thirds of consumers say that annoying or intrusive advertising experiences reduce their trust in a brand, while 71% say they’re less likely to buy from that brand as a result. It’s more important than ever for brands to find ways to reach their audiences harmoniously and non-intrusively.

SOURCE: EYE/O & The Harris Poll

Top Media Trend #2: Fewer Friends, More Fans

Keeping in touch with friends and family (-11%) or meeting new people (-25%) than it was in 2014, while usage of social media to follow influencers and celebrities has risen 51% in that same period of time. Call it stan culture, call it parasocial media – whatever you do, call the new reality an opportunity for brands.

SOURCE: GWI

Top Media Trend #3: Creators Drive Campaign Success

Ad campaigns featuring creators are driving more successful campaigns, lifting clickthrough rate by 70% and engagement rate by 159%. More than eight in ten say that they see the creators they follow as trusted sources, a bond that brands can piggyback on to power a variety of positive outcomes, ranging from growing brand awareness and building trust to driving sales and conversions, both online and in real life.

SOURCES: TikTok, Deloitte, IAB

Top Media Trend #4: Shoppable Media Is Popping Off

One way that brands are leveraging creators is through social commerce. Nearly half of all consumers say they’ve made a purchase on a social media platform in the past month. Over the weekend from Black Friday through Cyber Monday 2025, the TikTok Shop registers rang up $500 million in U.S. sales and noted a 50% increase in shoppers over the previous year. TikTok Shop sales accounted for approximately three and a half percent of the total spent nationwide.

SOURCES: Horowitz Research, TikTok

Top Media Trend #5: CTV Faces Reach Questions

OTT/CTV is a core part of the modern marketer’s toolkit, but it leaves some critical gaps in reach. A majority of CTV advertisers say both that it’s hard to tell if their buys reach real viewers, and that they’re concerned about ad fraud eating up significant portions of their spend. Even worse, the audiences it reaches may not be the right ones. Nearly three quarters of Gen Z say the ads they see on streaming seem misaligned with their personal preferences.

SOURCES: DoubleVerify, Tubi

Top Media Trend #6: Emotional Appeal, Contextual Relevance Are Why Ads Land

Six percent of ads inspire no emotion at all, which is the death zone for brands. Emotional appeal is the number one most important ingredient in the likeability of advertising, with the people and characters in the ad at number two – a higher importance than the quality of the ad or even the product. Another way to make ads land with more oomph is to make them contextually relevant. Contextual relevance improves ad performance in terms of brand trust (33%), attention (32%), and engagement (50%). Contextual relevance is also an important tool for national brands to put on a local face.

SOURCE: Zappi/VaynerMedia, GumGum


Those are the top media trends for 2026 – but we’re not done yet! Next week we’ll dig into the top artificial intelligence trends, and the top IRL trends are on tap the week after that. Be sure to grab the full 2026 Advertising Trends Report from OUTFRONT today!

Author: Jay Fenster, Marketing Manager @ OUTFRONT

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