U.S. social media ad revenue was $117.7B in 2025, and search was $114.2B (IAB/PwC)
Verified Confidence: high
Primary source found; it says the same thing, the scope matches, and it is reasonably current.
- Commonly cited as
- "How much is spent on social media advertising in the US?" / "Social ads overtook search"
- True origin
- IAB / PwC — Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full Year 2025 (April 2026)
- Type
- Reference fact: A frequently needed number or rule taken directly from a primary source (e.g. Pew, Census, IAB/PwC, FTC), with its as-of date.
- Year
- 2026 (2025 data)
- Data as of
- Full-year 2025; published April 16, 2026
- Last checked
- What the source says
Social media advertising revenues reached $117.7 billion in 2025, increasing $29.0 billion year over year (32.6%) ... Search revenues grew by $11.4 billion to $114.2 billion in 2025
- Method & sample
- Compiled by PwC from revenue data reported directly by companies selling internet advertising plus public corporate data; PwC does not audit the figures. U.S. only.
- Drift between quote and source
- Comparison: 'social' is a platform category and 'search' an ad format in the report, so they can overlap; treat 'social overtook search' as approximate
- Interest
- IAB is the trade body of companies that sell digital advertising.
Safe rephrasing
IAB/PwC reported U.S. social media ad revenue of $117.7 billion (+32.6%) and search ad revenue of $114.2 billion (+11.0%) in 2025.
Sources we opened
- IAB/PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report FY2025 (PDF) (primary)
- IAB — report page (primary)
Machine-readable: /api/claims/iab-social-ad-revenue-117-7-billion-search-114-2-2025.json · Last checked 2026-10-16