In the first three months of 2022, the media and tech sector carried its growth momentum from the previous 12 months and achieved promising ad revenue numbers. In stark contrast, as the world saw a wider macroeconomic uncertainty and inflation across the media ecosystem, as detailed in the recent WARC Media Global Ad Trend report, those same tech and media companies reported a significant slowdown in growth in Q2.
Alphabet’s revenue increased 11.6% overall compared to the year before, a drop from its 22.3% growth in Q1. YouTube’s ad revenue growth was a mere 4.8%, the slowest it...