Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

The online ad market is in decline and it's dragging down tech giants with it

The online ad market is in decline and it's dragging down tech giants with it

Much of contemporary Silicon Valley was built on advertising dollars. That dependence made even the most powerful companies look at least somewhat vulnerable this week after reporting their latest earnings results.
"We seem to have entered an economic downturn that will have a broad impact on the digital advertising business," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told analysts at the start of the company's earnings call on Wednesday. "It's always hard to predict how deep or how long these cycles will be, but I'd say that the situation seems worse than it did a quarter ago."

Meta (FB), Twitter (TWTR), Snap (SNAP), Google (GOOGL), Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) all reported that shrinking advertising budgets — a result of the recent market downturn and economic uncertainty — took some toll on their previous quarter earnings and would likely continue to be a challenge in the coming quarters. Spotify (SPOT) also said it saw "softening" in its ad business starting in the last two weeks of June.

Even those with dominant market positions weren't immune. Google's core advertising business grew just 11.6% year-over-year, compared to the nearly 69% increase it posted during the same period last year. Meta, Facebook and Instagram's parent company, posted its first year-over-year quarterly revenue decline in its history as a public company. (Advertising accounts for the vast majority of Meta's revenue.)

Those much less dependent on advertising felt the pinch as well. Microsoft said it took a revenue hit of $100 million during the second quarter from a reduction in advertising spend. Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts Thursday that "digital advertising was clearly impacted by the macroeconomic environment during the June quarter," weighing on its services revenue.

Shares of Meta were down around 7% from the start of this week as of Friday morning. Snap shares fell more than 25% after it reported earnings last week.

"Today's results are very much reflecting the impact of a challenging economic environment which is hurting almost every mega tech company," Haris Anwar, a senior analyst at Investing.com, said in a statement.

It's a stark reversal for the online advertising industry. After a brief dip at the start of the pandemic, advertisers began funneling money into online ads to reach consumers who were spending more time plugged into screens. This time last year, Meta and Snap both reported that quarterly sales had doubled from the prior year, and Google's grew by 62%.

But the world is a very different place now. Russia's monthslong war in Ukraine caused some uncertainty among advertisers, and many tech companies responded to the attack by cutting off the ability for Russian-based companies to advertise on their platforms.

More recently, a surge inflation, a market downturn and fears of a recession have prompted companies to pull back on their ad budgets, tech giants said during their earnings reports this week. Many companies, including in the tech industry, have recently slowed hiring and investments amid the economic uncertainty.

The very nature of how some online ad campaigns are run has made the pain immediate. Snap CFO Derek Anderson noted in the company's earnings call last week that "advertising spending — in particular auction-driven direct response advertising — is among the very few line items in a company's cost structure that they can reduce immediately in response to pressure" on other parts of their business.

Those macroeconomic challenges are expected to drag into the rest of this year. Meta said Wednesday it expects revenue for the current quarter to be between $26 billion and $28.5 billion, which would mark a second year-over-year quarterly revenue decline. Although Snap declined to provide financial guidance because of the uncertain environment, it said third quarter revenue was so far flat compared to the previous year.

The downturn also comes after Apple's app tracking changes, which went into effect in the second half of last year, had already been taking a toll on some tech giant's businesses. Apple introduced a feature that lets users opt out of some tracking by apps, taking away some crucial data that social media platforms use to target ads. The change hurt ad businesses at Meta, Twitter and Snap, as well as smaller players such as Pinterest. Meta's ad revenue alone took a $10 billion hit from the privacy update last year, and Snap's Anderson said last week that the changes "upended a decade of advertising industry standards."

And while Google has the benefit of its own third-party data, YouTube's ad business hasn't been entirely spared.

"Right now is essentially a perfect storm for digital advertising," D.A. Davidson analyst Tom Forte said. For companies reliant on advertising, "there's a high risk to your revenue."
Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Germany Seeks Taliban Deal to Deport Afghan Migrants
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
×