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In Good Company

The companies, channels and economics shaping AI advertising.

The advertising market.

A growing market. A changing balance of power.

U.S. digital advertising reached $294.6 billion in 2025, up 13.9% from 2024.

U.S. digital advertising revenue · 2025 reported. IAB / PwC (opens in a new tab)

Meta is forecast to edge past Google.

Worldwide net advertising revenue · 2026 forecast · USD billions. EMARKETER (opens in a new tab)

  • Meta$243.46B
  • Google$239.54B
  • Amazon$82.07B

Meta includes Facebook and Instagram. Google includes YouTube. Net forecasts use a different basis from company-reported revenue.

Reported 2025 company revenue

Worldwide advertising revenue · 2025 reported · USD billions. Separate from the 2026 net forecast.

TikTok has room to matter.

Its U.S. ad revenue is forecast to reach $17.17 billion in 2026, up 22.3%.

TikTok U.S. advertising revenue · 2026 forecast. EMARKETER (opens in a new tab)

TikTok can introduce a product; Meta and Google can convert later interest. Test the sequence against backend revenue and lift, rather than assigning each channel a fixed role. About lift testing (opens in a new tab)

Who uses each platform?

U.S. adults · January–June 2026 · surveyed use. Pew Research Center (opens in a new tab)

  • YouTube84%
  • Facebook70%
  • Instagram51%
  • TikTok37%
  • LinkedIn31%
  • X18%

5,511 adults. Audiences overlap; surveyed use is not advertising reach.

The companies building it.

Creative tools, growth teams and measurement platforms solve different parts of the job.

17 companies

AdAnt (opens in a new tab)

Social-video agents

Creative tools

Product or reference-video research, scripts, avatars and editable social ad variants.

A team working through a conversational creative workspace.

AdCreative.ai (opens in a new tab)

Ad assets and variations

Creative tools

Static and video creative, product imagery, copy and creative analysis.

Advertisers making many formats and asset variations.

Arcads (opens in a new tab)

AI actor ads

Creative tools

Talking actors, product showcases, video editing, translation and creative variants.

Teams producing synthetic spokesperson and UGC-style ads.

Creatify (opens in a new tab)

URL-to-ad production

Creative tools

URL-to-video and image ads, avatars, competitor tracking and ad launch tools.

Performance teams making and testing ad variants.

Foreplay (opens in a new tab)

Creative research

Intelligence and measurement

Ad saving, competitor monitoring, creative briefs and performance reporting.

Teams organizing inspiration and competitor creative.

HeyGen (opens in a new tab)

Avatar video and localization

Creative tools

Personal avatars, script-based video and multilingual translation.

Teams needing a repeatable presenter or localized videos.

Higgsfield (opens in a new tab)

Image and video production

Creative tools

Creative studios, generative video and image tools, ads workflows and APIs.

Teams directing and finishing visual production.

Icon (opens in a new tab)

Human creator production

Managed growth

Creator sourcing, scripts, filming and editing for human UGC ads.

Brands commissioning real-person creator ads.

Marketer.com (opens in a new tab)

Marketing operations and teams

Managed growth

Connected marketing data, agents and guardrails, with creative and growth teams.

Businesses combining software workflows with human delivery.

Motion (opens in a new tab)

Creative analytics

Intelligence and measurement

Creative performance analysis and recommendations for what to make next.

Teams learning from their own ad results.

NoGood (opens in a new tab)

Growth marketing squad

Managed growth

Paid social and search, creative, conversion work and marketing analytics.

Businesses buying an integrated growth engagement.

Northbeam (opens in a new tab)

Marketing measurement

Intelligence and measurement

Multi-touch attribution, media mix modeling and incrementality.

Brands comparing channel effects and budget choices.

Pencil (opens in a new tab)

Enterprise creative workflows

Creative tools

Multiple generation models, brand governance and collaborative production.

Marketing teams with brand controls and many markets.

Superside (opens in a new tab)

Creative subscription

Managed growth

A dedicated creative team across design and campaigns, using AI workflows.

In-house teams extending creative production capacity.

Topview (opens in a new tab)

Agent-led video creation

Creative tools

Product URLs, scripts and reference videos become editable scenes and assets.

Teams creating product ads and short-form video.

Triple Whale (opens in a new tab)

Ecommerce measurement

Intelligence and measurement

Attribution, media mix modeling, incrementality and commerce analytics.

Ecommerce operators joining spend and revenue data.

Valid (opens in a new tab)

Creative and media buying

Managed growth

Performance creative, AI influencers and media buying with account teams.

Consumer businesses buying managed creative and acquisition.

The platforms are building tools, too.

Meta Advantage+ creative (opens in a new tab)
Creative variations and format adaptation inside Ads Manager.
Google Asset Studio (opens in a new tab)
Generate and refine campaign assets inside Google Ads.
TikTok Symphony (opens in a new tab)
Video, avatar, translation and creative automation tools.
Amazon Creative Agent (opens in a new tab)
Conversational creation of display, video and audio ads.

What returns look like.

Reported ecommerce medians give a reference point. Your margins and customer mix decide what works.

ROAS = revenue attributed to ads ÷ ad spend

Ecommerce ROAS medians · Aug 1, 2025–Jul 31, 2026 · Triple Whale customers.

Different platform cohorts; geography and attribution settings are not fully disclosed. These medians are not incremental returns or a forecast for your business.

See all four categories
Segment ROAS medians · same period and provider; different platform samples
CategoryGoogleMetaTikTok
Apparel & accessories3.99×2.24×2.70×
Beauty2.81×1.54×0.46×
Home & garden3.48×2.25×2.02×
Food & beverage3.18×1.61×0.33×

Know your economics.

Campaign return is one view. Whole-business efficiency and customer contribution are two more.

ROAS

Revenue attributed to ads ÷ ad spend

Definition (opens in a new tab)

MER

Total net business revenue ÷ total marketing spend

Definition (opens in a new tab)

Contribution LTV:CAC

Cohort contribution per customer over a stated horizon ÷ fully loaded CAC

Work through your numbers.

Illustrative inputs, not industry benchmarks. Replace them with your own.

Your working picture.

Marketing efficiency ratio
3.33×

Period net revenue ÷ marketing spend

Marketing-covered MER
2.5×

1 ÷ contribution margin. Covers marketing, before fixed costs.

Contribution:CAC over 12 months
1.6×

$80 contribution over 12 months ÷ acquisition cost

30% of period revenue goes to marketing.

Subtract refunds, fulfillment and variable costs. Compare first-order cash with the retained cohort.

A period MER does not replace cohort payback. MER cost scope (opens in a new tab)

B2B has a longer clock.

Judge B2B acquisition on closed-won customers and cash payback over the buying cycle. Ecommerce purchase ROAS is a different comparison. Dreamdata B2B report (opens in a new tab)

What to test next.

Compare the work you are buying.

Creative software, a managed growth team and a measurement platform solve different parts of the job. Choose for the gap in your team.

Keep the product and claims intact.

Approve the offer, assets and evidence before production. Review text, product details and brand consistency before an ad goes live.

Agree what counts.

Choose a business outcome, source of truth and measurement window before spending. Use lift tests where possible to check incremental impact.

Conversion lift (opens in a new tab)

Sources

35 references · checked October 21, 2026
  1. IAB/PwC: 2025 U.S. internet advertising revenue (opens in a new tab)

    2026-04-16

  2. EMARKETER: 2026 digital ad revenue forecast (opens in a new tab)

    2026-04-13

  3. Alphabet 2025 Form 10-K (opens in a new tab)

    2026

  4. Meta 2025 Form 10-K (opens in a new tab)

    2026

  5. Amazon Q4 and full-year 2025 results (opens in a new tab)

    2026-02-05

  6. EMARKETER: TikTok U.S. ad revenue forecast (opens in a new tab)

    2026-01-23

  7. Pew Research Center: Americans’ Use of Social Media in 2026 (opens in a new tab)

    2026-10-19

  8. Triple Whale: Google Ads benchmarks (opens in a new tab)

    2026-08-20

  9. Triple Whale: Meta Ads benchmarks (opens in a new tab)

    2026-08-17

  10. Triple Whale: TikTok Ads benchmarks (opens in a new tab)

    2026-08-20

  11. Shopify: Marketing efficiency ratio (opens in a new tab)

    2026

  12. Stripe: CAC in SaaS (opens in a new tab)

    2025

  13. Google Ads Help: Conversion Lift measurement (opens in a new tab)

    current

  14. Meta: Advantage+ creative for Reels (opens in a new tab)

    current

  15. Google: Asset Studio updates (opens in a new tab)

    2026-05-20

  16. TikTok: Symphony creative suite (opens in a new tab)

    2026-06-22

  17. Amazon Ads: Creative Agent (opens in a new tab)

    2025-11-11

  18. AdAnt: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  19. Creatify: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  20. Arcads: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  21. HeyGen: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  22. Pencil: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  23. Topview: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  24. AdCreative.ai: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  25. Higgsfield: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  26. Valid: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  27. Marketer.com: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  28. Icon: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  29. Superside: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  30. NoGood: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  31. Foreplay: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  32. Motion: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  33. Triple Whale: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  34. Northbeam: official product site (opens in a new tab)

    checked 2026-10-21

  35. Dreamdata: 2026 LinkedIn Ads B2B benchmarks (opens in a new tab)

    2026-03-10

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