Ad spend on YouTube, Google Search, Amazon Sponsored Products is growing: report

Meta’s push into vertical video continues to seem like it’s paying off. Reels now account for a third of all Instagram ad impressions, although the push has driven down pricing growth on the platform, according to a new report from the marketing agency Tinuiti.

Across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google Search, and Amazon’s Sponsored Products ads, ad spend growth is all mostly trending higher, with all but Facebook seeing growth in the double-digits in the first quarter of the year, Tinuiti found.

The report, released earlier this month, assessed anonymized performance information from the advertising programs the agency manages, which encompass more than $4 billion in annual digital ad spend. Only samples from programs that were active and employed a consistent strategy across the time periods Tinuiti evaluated were considered, and the report took into account same-client growth across all figures represented.

We pulled out some of the other highlights from the report below.

Neck and neck: When it comes to paid social, Meta ads growth has increased 17% year over year for two consecutive quarters in Q1 2026, the report read. As Meta ads spend growth increased from 9% in Q4 to 13% in Q1, CPMs recovered slightly, from a 7% decline in Q4 to a 3% decline in Q1. With Reels driving more impressions on Instagram, impressions overall on the platform increased by nearly a third in Q1, while investment in Instagram ads increased 28% YoY in the quarter.

Not all Meta spend is growing equally quickly. Facebook ads investment grew 4% in Q1, relatively flat with Q4, and impression growth slowed from 19% in Q4 to 8% in Q1. And while viewers are taking in Reels on Instagram, impressions growth for the format on Facebook has plateaued. Retail ad spend on Meta’s Advantage+ sales campaigns also dropped to 20% in Q1 2026 after peaking at 38% of all Meta retail spend a year ago.

Drive a bargain: Google only continues to grow its dominance in paid search, according to the report. Google search ads spend increased 14% YoY in the quarter, and the platform’s paid search click growth hit a five-year high, increasing 14% YoY in Q1. This all happened despite Amazon exiting almost all US Google Shopping auctions in July.

“Google seems no worse for wear after Amazon withdrew from its US shopping auctions,” the report read.

Speaking of shopping, Google’s shopping ad listing spend increased 18% YoY in Q1, a slight increase from 16% in Q4. Click growth on domestic Google shopping ads in Q2 2025 increased even though Shein and Temu temporarily turned off listings amid stricter tariffs.

Take my money: Amazon and Walmart continue to make gains in commerce media, the report read. Amazon DSP and Amazon Sponsored Products, cost-per-click search ads that boost product listings, are particularly popular with advertisers, Tinuiti found, And spending on the DSP is growing the quickest it has since Q3 2021. Sponsored Products clicks have increased by at least 19% for four quarters in a row, while sales attributed to Sponsored Products ads saw 18% growth in Q1.

Other Amazon offerings didn’t grow at the same clip: Spend on Sponsored Brands, which runs brand ads in places like search and product pages, only increased 3% YoY in the quarter, while clicks decreased 10% YoY. (The report noted that some advertisers are reallocating Sponsored Brands spend to Sponsored Products in search of more performance.)

Walmart’s Sponsored Products offering, which places ads in “high-traffic” areas on its site such as product carousels, is also having a moment, according to the report. Clicks on those ads increased 57% YoY in Q1, with spend increasing 62%. Display advertising also grew to make up 39% of all Walmart ad spend in Q1 among advertisers who invested in both Walmart display and search ads, a slight bump from 35% in Q4.

Fast-track: In the video and display category, YouTube ad spend increased 20% YoY in Q1, a jump from 13% growth in Q4, the report read. Other platforms are tracking faster growth: Amazon Prime Video ad spend grew 71% YoY in Q1, although that’s a drop from 127% YoY growth the previous quarter.

“The launch of Prime Video ads in early 2024 provided a shot in the arm to streaming spending growth rates over 2024 into early 2025, but growth rates have cooled off,” the report read.