Digital has long been a growth vehicle for local advertising. New data from Borrell Associates shows just how important the sector is.
What We Know: $151.6 billion was spent by local advertising companies in 2025. While the local newspaper, TV, radio, and cable sectors saw overall revenue declines in 2025, only local cable saw a digital advertising drop during the year. Those same categories are expected to see strong rises in 2026, with local TV, radio, and cable digital advertising expected to grow between 9.1% and 16.7% this year.
What The Number Show: In a study of 513 U.S. local advertising markets and 9,000 local media operations, digital advertising growth is expected to fall below 3% by 2029. That’s the slowest sustained pace since the Great Recession. Currently, 72% of local advertising is spent on digital.
However, no single category dominates. Display, social media, and video are overtaking search advertising, though. Digital advertising sold by local media companies eclipsed $17.8 billion in 2025.
What They Said: “This isn’t decline — it’s normalization. Digital has matured. The easy growth is over. From here on, success won’t be defined by participation, but by who can steal share from competitors … Some companies mistake being involved in digital for being successful at digital. The next phase will separate those who are able to measure success against their specific market opportunity and systematically capture share from those who are merely measuring year-over-year growth.” –Borrell Associates founder Gordon Borrell
“We’re not big on doom and gloom around here, but after a few months of digging through the data, we started connecting some dots, and they don’t point in a great direction.” –Borrell Associates EVP of Local Market Research Corey Elliott
What’s Still Unclear: The role AI will play in the space. Currently, there isn’t enough available information to forecast how advertising on AI platforms will alter the projections.
What It Means: Political advertising is still a strong revenue generator. You can see the declines from 2024 to 2025, and the upticks in 2026. It isn’t hard to deduce that it’s directly tied to political advertising. Those interested in learning more about the findings from Borrell Associates can register for the company’s free webinar on May 19th by clicking here.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
