Monday 31st August 2026: The Australian internet advertising market grew 14.0% year on year to reach $19.8 billion for the 2026 financial year, according to the IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report (IARR) released today. The result is a faster rate of growth than the market’s six-year average of 13.7% and its strongest financial-year growth since FY22.
Search remained the largest category at 43% of spend, reaching $8.6 billion and a new financial-year record, up 13.2% year on year. Video advertising continued to be the market’s growth engine, increasing 18.8% year on year to $5.9 billion and now representing 30% of total spend, approaching one-third of the market for the first time. Social video was the standout video format, up 29.5% year on year to $2.4 billion and now accounting for 41% of all video spend, up from 38% a year ago.
Within video, content media owners’ inventory continued its shift toward premium, trusted environments. Connected TV represented 60% of publisher video expenditure in FY26, up from 51% in FY25, as desktop’s share fell to 25% (from 37%) and mobile rose slightly to 15% (up from 12%).
Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia, said “Search, video and social all continued to grow strongly in FY26. A lot of the new spend is coming from outside the usual base. While many established advertisers are working with budgets that aren’t growing, we’re seeing new and increased investment from small and medium businesses, from retailers, and from overseas advertisers targeting Australian audiences. Much of that activity is always-on rather than tied to traditional campaign cycles, which shows digital becoming a more consistent, everyday part of how brands reach Australians, not just something switched on for key retail or seasonal moments.”
Growth also broadened into other parts of the market. Classifieds recorded double-digit financial-year growth for the first time since FY22, up 12.6% to $3.1 billion. Audio advertising grew 6.6% to $353 million, driven by podcasting, which was up 10.1% and now represents 40% of total audio spend, while streaming audio grew 4.3%. Non-video general display advertising increased 6.9% to $2.2 billion, with infeed/native the strongest contributor, up 10.9%.
The top five industry categories, Retail, Automotive, Entertainment & Media, Finance and FMCG, accounted for 56% of content publishers reported general display expenditure in FY26. Retail (17.8%, up from 17.2%) and Automotive (14.2%, up from 13.7%) grew share, while FMCG eased to 6.1% (from 6.4%).
June quarter 2026 result highlights:
- The market reached $5.4 billion for the June 2026 quarter, up 16.3% on the June 2025 quarter.
- Search advertising increased 13.4% to $2,335 million; video increased 22.6% to $1,677 million; display (excluding video) was up 10.7% to $580 million; classifieds increased 16.8% to $789 million; and audio was up 9.3% to $94 million.
- Social video grew 28.3% year on year in the quarter, now representing 41% of total video spend, closing in on parity with other video (52%).
- Podcast advertising hit a new quarterly peak of $40.0 million in June 2026, up 13.1% on June 2025 and 22.6% on the prior (March) quarter.
- Government entered the top five industry categories for the June quarter for the first time, with 6.3% share (up from 5.3% a year ago), displacing FMCG/Health & Beauty from the prior year’s top five.
The IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report is compiled by PwC Australia and includes data from media owners, publishers and advertising platforms operating in the Australian market.