Australia’s online advertising market grew 14% to A$19.8 billion in the 2026 financial year, according to a report by IAB Australia prepared by PwC Australia. This is the highest growth rate in four years and slightly above the six-year average of 13.7%. The result is interesting in more than just scale: new money is coming from small and medium-sized businesses, retailers and foreign companies, and video is increasingly moving to social platforms and connected TVs.
Key numbers of the fiscal year
- A$19.8 billion— the total volume of Internet advertising in FY26.
- +14%— growth against the previous fiscal year.
- A$8.6 billionreceived the search that retained the largest share — 43%.
- A$5.9 billionreached video after rising 18.8%.
- A$2.4 billionaccounted for social video, which added 29.5%.
Video already forms 30% of the total market. Social formats account for 41% of all video spend, up from 38% a year earlier. In editorial video, the shift in devices is even more noticeable: connected TV received 60% of spend, compared to 51% a year earlier; The share of desktop fell from 37% to 25%, and mobile video increased from 12% to 15%.
The market is growing not only thanks to big brands
IAB Australia chief Guy Le Roy points out that some of the growth is coming from outside the traditional circle of large advertisers. These are small and medium-sized companies, retail and overseas brands that work directly with the Australian audience. Their campaigns often run continuously, not just for seasonal launches.
This is a structural change for the market. Always-on budgets stabilize inventory demand, but at the same time reinforce the role of automated purchasing, product feeds, and daily optimization. It’s harder for agencies to build a business around just a few big campaigns, and media owners have to prove effectiveness in shorter cycles.
Why video became an engine
Video growth is supported by two different behaviors. Social platforms sell short vertical contact and quick scaling of creatives, while CTV offers a television screen with digital reach. A brand can reach the same audience in different contexts, but should not treat these impressions as interchangeable.
CTV’s share of publishing inventory indicates the transition of premium viewing from linear television to streaming media. Meanwhile, social video’s 29.5% growth shows where volume is growing the fastest. Differentiating between contact quality, completed views, household reach and actual sales growth is important for planning.
Other segments do not stand either
Classifieds rose 12.6% to A$3.1bn, the first double-digit annual growth since FY22. Non-video display added 6.9% to A$2.2 billion, with in-feed/native being the strongest format within it with 10.9% growth. Audio advertising grew 6.6% to A$353 million.
Podcasts increased their volume by 10.1% and now account for 40% of digital audio. In the June quarter, they set a new high of A$40 million. These amounts are smaller than video and search, but audio is gradually moving from an experimental position to a regular part of the media mix.
What the quarterly dynamics show
In the quarter to June 2026, the market reached A$5.4 billion, up 16.3% year-on-year. Video grew 22.6% to A$1.677 billion, search 13.4% to A$2.335 billion, classifieds 16.8% to A$789 million. The acceleration at the end of the year means the year’s performance was not the result of one strong early period.
The top five categories — retail, automotive, entertainment and media, financials and FMCG — accounted for 56% of content publishers’ display spend. Retail increased its share to 17.8%, the automotive category to 14.2%, and FMCG slightly retreated to 6.1%.
What conclusions are useful for other markets
- compare not only overall growth, but also sources of new money;
- separate social video, CTV and publishing video in measurement;
- build products for small businesses that need a simple, continuous launch;
- do not ignore podcasts and native formats due to the smaller absolute volume;
- check whether inventory growth is accompanied by attention and business results.
Previously, we analyzedwhy market performance needs to be separated from individual campaign performance, and consideredhow transparent rules strengthen the credibility of the advertising offer. The Australian report adds another lesson: the market record consists of channels with very different contact qualities.
Conclusion UA Banner
Australia shows a mature digital market that can still grow at double-digit rates. Search maintains scale, but video, CTV, social formats and new always-on advertisers are driving the momentum. For brands and agencies, this is a signal not to simply shift more budget to digital, but rather to differentiate the role of each medium and build measurement around incremental rather than the most accessible impression report.
Sources:official materialIAB Australiaand review of the results inMediaweek. The IARR report is compiled by PwC Australia based on data from media owners, publishers and advertising platforms.
