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Key Q1 2026 digital marketing trends

Here are some of the key digital marketing trends from Q1 2026 advertising data.


Retail media opened 2026 with spend up 27% year over year, clicks surging 38%, and CPCs falling 8%. For the first time in our data, CPCs declined across every single retail media category. DSP crossed a historic threshold: it's now cheaper per click than Sponsored Products on Amazon, with clicks growing 156%.
Paid search grew 5% year over year as advertisers pruned low-value queries and redirected budgets toward searches that convert. CPCs climbed 11%, reaching all-time highs as competition for high-intent queries intensified. March accelerated to 8% growth, signaling momentum heading into Q2.
Paid social delivered the strongest efficiency numbers of any channel with spend up 11%, clicks jumping 42%, and CPCs falling 22%. CTR climbed 27% year over year. TikTok spend share reached its highest level in five quarters as the gap between adoption and investment continued to close.
AI-powered shopping accelerated into 2026. 45% of consumers are already using AI in their shopping journey, and Google launched its Universal Commerce Protocol at NRF in January with Shopify, Walmart, Target, and 20+ partners, creating infrastructure for AI agents to browse, compare, and complete purchases across retailers.
Retail media ROAS held rock steady for a fifth straight quarter of rising investment. Spend keeps climbing and returns haven't budged. The channel continues to defy the diminishing returns curve that eventually catches every other digital channel.

The Q1 2026 Quarterly Trends Report

Discover comprehensive quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year digital advertising performance insights from Q1 2026, featuring:

  • Performance metrics: Detailed analysis of retail media's 27% growth with falling CPCs across every category, paid search's pruning dynamics amid record-high costs, and paid social's rare efficiency trifecta with cost breakdowns and channel-level insights.
  • Retail media deep dive: Platform-by-platform breakdown of Amazon and Walmart performance, DSP's historic pricing inversion below Sponsored Products, 156% click growth on Amazon DSP, and how each retailer tier is earning budget for a different reason.
  • AI and the shopping landscape: How AI agents are reshaping product discovery, what Google's Universal Commerce Protocol means for advertisers, and why retail media's proximity to the point of purchase positions it for the agentic era.
  • Forward-looking insights: Q2 planning strategies, format rebalancing frameworks for the DSP pricing shift, and how to use the broad-based CPC efficiency window before it closes.

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