Digiday+ Research roundup: Gen Z news consumption and diversification in the DSP space were 2025’s top trends

By Julia Tabisz • December 26, 2025 •

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This research is based on unique data collected from our proprietary audience of publisher, agency, brand and tech insiders. It’s available to Digiday+ members. More from the series →

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It’s been another year of ups and downs in the marketing and media businesses — and Digiday+ Research tracked them throughout the year, surveying publisher, agency, brand and retailer professionals at regular intervals throughout 2025.

As 2025 winds down, we rounded up the biggest trends of the year, based on the data that resonated the most with Digiday’s readers.

Publishers’ top data this year: Gen Z reader trends

This year we learned that Gen Zers make up a very small percentage of publishers’ readership — nearly three-quarters of publisher pros (71%) told Digiday in Q2 that Gen Z readers account for between 0% and 25% of their audience.

For those publishers looking to draw in more Gen Z readers, Digiday’s survey found that the top trends among that age set are consuming news anytime, anywhere, and discovering breaking news on social media. Sixty-one percent of publishers said anytime-anywhere news consumption is the top trend among Gen Zers, and 55% said social media-based discovery is the top trend among these young readers.

The charts:

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Publishers identify the top trends among Gen Z readers

Marketers’ top data: Diversification in the DSP space

A Q3 survey by Digiday found that advertisers have significantly diversified their use of demand-side platforms over the last year and a half — to Amazon’s benefit.

In Q1 2024, marketing pros told Digiday that Google DV360 and The Trade Desk were their most-used DSPs, with 58% and 55% saying they’d used the platforms in the previous year, respectively. In Q3 2025, Google and TTD came in first and third place, with Amazon taking the second-place spot: 54% of marketers said in Q3 they use Google DV360, 50% said they use Amazon DSP and 39% said they use TTD.

The charts:

Read the full story:

Advertisers diversify their use of DSPs, to Amazon’s benefit

Ad spend and ad revenue in 2025

Marketers were set for ad spend to increase this past year — nearly half of marketer pros (48%) told Digiday that they agreed advertisers would spend more in 2025 than they did in 2024. And they expected that increase to happen in the digital ad ecosystem — nearly three-quarters of marketers (74%) said they agreed that online ad spend would grow in 2025.

At the same time, publishers told Digiday they were finding more of a balance between digital and traditional channels when it came to ad revenue in 2025. Fifty-one percent of publisher pros told Digiday in Q2 that their companies generated revenue mostly or entirely from digital channels, down from 64% in 2024. And 23% said this year that they generate revenue mostly or entirely from traditional channels, up from just 13% last year.

Key stats:

41% of marketer pros told Digiday that they agreed only somewhat that advertisers would spend more in 2025, while just 7% said they agreed strongly.
55% of marketers said they expected their companies’ ad spend on behalf of clients to increase somewhat this year, while just 8% said they expected it to increase significantly.
In 2025, 19% of publishers said they get revenue mostly from traditional channels. And 23% said they get revenue mostly from digital channels.
This year, 26% of publishers said their revenue is equally distributed between traditional and digital channels.

Read the stories:

Half of marketers say ad spend will grow this year

Publishers pull back their dependence on digital revenue

Social media drove a lot of data this year. Nearly half of publishers told Digiday in Q2 that they’d seen an increase in referral traffic from social media platforms — 47%, to be exact. And Meta was responsible for the biggest part of that — one-quarter of publisher pros said they’d seen increases in referral traffic come from Facebook and Instagram.

Meta was also a big part of the 2025 conversation about brand marketing. In a Q1 survey, 96% of brand and retailer pros told Digiday that their companies use Instagram, and 86% said the same of Facebook. Instagram, specifically, is brands’ preferred platform to drive conversions and branding: 42% said this year that Instagram is the best social platform for driving conversions, and 64% said it’s the best social platform for branding.

Digiday’s data told a different story for YouTube this year, though. Less than two-thirds of brand and retailer pros (63%) told Digiday in Q1 they were using YouTube, down from just shy of three-quarters (71%) six months prior. Meanwhile, just 4% of brands said this year that they spend a large or very large portion of their budgets on YouTube, compared with the 59% who said they only spend a small or very small portion of their marketing budgets on the platform.

And we can’t close out the year out without talking about how marketers are measuring their success on these platforms — bringing the conversation about how they’re using social media and spending there full-circle. Digiday’s Q1 2025 survey found that engagement is the name of the game on Meta’s platforms: 26% of marketers said that’s their main measurement of success on Facebook and 37% said the same of Instagram. For YouTube, it’s impressions: 34% of marketers identified this as their main measurement of success on the platform.

Key stats:

14% of publishers said Facebook drove most of the increase in social referral traffic over the previous year, and 11% said the same of Instagram.
11% of publishers said TikTok drove most of the increase in social referral traffic they’d seen since January 2024.
79% of brands and retailers said social media is one of the two marketing channels where they spend the highest portion of their companies’ marketing budget. And 75% said social media is one of the two channels that their companies are most confident drive marketing success.
42% of marketers said engagement is their main measurement of success on TikTok.

Read the stories:

Nearly half of publishers report an increase in referral traffic from social

How are marketers measuring success on the top social platforms?

Facebook and Instagram volley for dominance in brand marketing on Meta

YouTube usage drops as fewer brands put a large amount of marketing spend toward the platform

2025’s honorable mentions: Branded content and TV

Data about publishers’ branded content revenue and marketers’ investments in TV and streaming rounded out the year’s top Digiday+ Research stories this year. Here’s a quick look at the stats:

After trending downward since 2021, 94% of publisher pros told Digiday in Q1 of this year that they get at least a very small portion of their revenue from branded content, up from 72% a year earlier.
35% of publishers said they get a large or very large portion of their revenue from branded content, up from 31% in 2024 and 25% in 2023.
87% of publishers said in Q1 that they would put at least a very small focus on building their branded content business, with 50% saying that they planned to put a large or very large focus on branded content.
And now onto TV: 55% of marketers told Digiday in Q2 that they were spending on TV ads (including streaming).
80% of marketers investing in TV and streaming said they’re investing in impression and branding ads, making that the top streaming TV ad type in 2025.
46% of marketers said they had plans to purchase video ads on an Amazon streaming platform this year, while 30% said they were unsure about whether they would invest in streaming ads with Amazon in 2025.