On June 26th, we attended the conference “The New Balance of Advertising: Between Innovation, Measurement, and Sustainability,” owned by the Politecnico di Milano¹ (PoliMI). It was a valuable opportunity to reflect alongside other industry professionals on the ongoing transformation of the digital advertising market, with a particular focus on formats and their strategic roles.
It has become clear that, in a landscape marked by growth yet underscored by economic uncertainty, planning must be increasingly data-driven, balancing innovation with measurable effectiveness.
The Italian advertising market closed 2024 at €11.1 billion, with a moderate increase projected to €11.7 billion in 2025.
This is an encouraging sign, but it should be interpreted with caution, especially given the current geopolitical climate. In uncertain times, advertising is often one of the first budget items to be cut. That’s why flexibility has become a key feature in today’s brand strategies.
Within this context, digital advertising remains the main driver of media investment growth, thanks to its ability to deliver increasingly targeted solutions.
Brands are redefining how they connect with audiences. They're shifting toward strategies that are more agile, personalized, and full-funnel². This is not just a strategic move, it’s clearly reflected in the numbers. By 2025, digital is expected to make up 51% of total ad spend in Italy, while traditional channels continue to decline (Figure 1)³.
Digital’s central role is clear. But it raises a new question: which tools and languages should brands adopt to effectively reach their core audience?
As shown in Figure 2, digital advertising in Italy is projected to reach €5.99 billion by 2025, according to estimates from the Internet Media Observatory.
Among the various formats, video leads the way. It’s expected to account for 41% of total spend, growing by 13% year over year. Display and search also maintain strong positions, with positive trends of 7% and 6% respectively. Meanwhile, audio is starting to carve out its own space, fueled by evolving consumption habits.
In today’s complex media landscape, the key question is: how can we engage audiences effectively?
These data confirm a shifting market, increasingly oriented toward high-attention content and full-funnel approaches, where format choices reflect the need to cover diverse touchpoints and consumption moments.
The Rise of Video as a Strategic Lever
Among the most impactful digital formats, video advertising continues to strengthen its role as a cornerstone of digital strategies. As shown in Figure 2, its share has grown steadily, from 30% in 2018 to a projected 41% in 2025, with a notable 13% increase in the past year alone⁵.
One key driver of this growth is video’s effectiveness in mobile-first, user-centric environments, where content interaction is fast, fluid, and often immersive.
This shift underscores the growing role of audiovisual content in communication strategies. Video stands out for its ability to drive engagement, tell emotionally resonant stories, and adapt across devices and platforms. A recent ANSA⁶ study reinforces this trend, showing steady growth in online video consumption, driven by social media and streaming platforms, which continues to attract advertising investment.
Video aligns naturally with user behavior. It complements scrolling, adopts contemporary visual and audio languages, enables personalization, and boosts interaction.
Social platforms have played a key role in amplifying this trend. TikTok, in particular, has accelerated the rise of short, vertical, feed-native videos. In response, platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube have followed suit. In this new digital ecosystem, video is no longer optional, it has become the dominant language of online communication.
Beyond Video: The Growing Role of Digital Audio
Another format that drew attention at the conference is digital audio, which is gaining traction in the advertising ecosystem.
Audio is emerging as a powerful communication channel thanks to its ability to capture attention during unique moments — commuting, working out, shopping, cleaning, and other everyday routines — creating strong brand connections without the need for a screen.
Sponsored podcasts, audio ads on platforms like Spotify, SoundCloud, Deezer, and Apple Music, and native in-app audio formats are just a few of the ways audio is entering the media mix.
That’s why both video and audio are proving to be strategic assets — not only for their engagement power, but also for their versatility. They support a range of objectives, from brand awareness to, in some cases, direct conversion.
From our own experience, we’ve seen their effectiveness firsthand. They deliver strong performance and build genuine audience connections.
In this context, we’ve also had the opportunity to directly test the effectiveness of these formats in our own work, observing significant results both in terms of performance and in the ability to build an authentic connection with the audience. Specifically in the beauty industry, we’ve seen how video can be particularly effective even in traffic-oriented campaigns. For example, we tested the format in drive-to-channel activities and found it successfully communicated the brand’s identity in a consistent way, reinforcing the reasons why users might choose to follow the channel and stay engaged with its content.
SUNTIMES: What We’re Taking Away
As we’ve seen, in a context where the budget allocated to communication is often reduced or reassigned, brands are increasingly required to make strategic and selective choices that are closely aligned with the environment in which they operate.
Today, media planning demands flexibility and the ability to quickly adapt to external shifts and market dynamics, while maintaining a consistent connection with target audiences and a sharp understanding of their behaviors.
This means developing strategies that go beyond platforms, focusing on content that can tell a brand’s story across any touchpoint. In this context, video stands out as a powerful bridge between brands and people.
Credits
SUNTIMES
Eleonora Cisini - Junior Media Planner
Gabriele Coviello - Junior Media Planner
Guglielmo Vanasia - Senior Media Planner
SOURCES
¹Osservatori.net (2025). The New Balance of Advertising: Between Innovation, Measurement, and Sustainability
² McKinsey & Company (2025), The evolution of commerce media: Navigating a new era in advertising.
³IAB Europe (2025), AdEx Benchmark Report 2024.
⁴ eMarketer (2024), Digital Video Forecast and Trends Q4 2024.
⁵Statista (2025), Digital advertising in Italy - statistics & facts.
⁶ ANSA (2025). Italians use 6 online platforms per month, TikTok is growing..
