• YouTube delivered the most significant underperformance versus WARC’s Q4 2025 benchmark, missing forecasts by 9.3 percentage points.
• Though still just behind forecast (-1.4pp), Meta delivered a more robust quarter, supported by an accelerating use of AI across ad targeting and measurement.
• Amazon was the standout performer during the quarter, surpassing expectations by 5.5pp.

WARC releases Earnings Debrief – a new quarterly summary comparing Big Tech’s ad revenue performance against WARC Media’s global ad spend forecast data

10 February 2026 – The final quarter of the year revealed a divergence in performance across Big Tech platforms, with Amazon emerging as the clear outperformer against expectations while YouTube fell notably short. This is according to new analysis by WARC Media.

WARC Media’s Earnings Debrief, is a new quarterly series that reviews the financial releases of Big Tech and compares their ad revenue performance against WARC Media’s quarterly global ad spend forecast data, to provide a current round-up of their ad spend.

James McDonald, Director of Data, Intelligence & Forecasts, WARC, said: “WARC Media’s Earnings Debrief cuts through the headline numbers to show what’s really driving performance across the major ad platforms.

“By refreshing forecasts quarterly, WARC’s benchmarks give clients a timely read on where growth is accelerating, where it’s stalling, and why — from Amazon’s retail media momentum and full-funnel scaling, to YouTube’s Shorts monetisation gap and Google’s AI pivot. In a fast-moving market, this recency and context is essential for understanding trajectory and informing confident investment decisions.”

YouTube misses forecast by 9.3pp

YouTube delivered the most significant underperformance versus WARC’s Q4 2025 benchmark, missing forecasts by 9.3 percentage points (pp). While the result appears disappointing on the surface, there were several compounding factors at play.

Political advertising spend during the US Presidential Election had driven CPMs higher than average, though the degree to which the cooling off occurred in Q4 2025 was notably more marked.

Engagement with YouTube remains strong overall, but conventional in-stream advertising may not provide the future growth engine.

Shorts – a format developed to counter consumption on TikTok and Instagram – now average more than 200 billion daily views, and in several major markets, including the US, revenue per watch hour has overtaken that of traditional in-stream formats. However, despite rising consumption, Shorts contribute a relatively small share of overall ad revenue due to evolving monetisation frameworks.

Further, new data show that approximately a third of YouTube’s total revenue – some $20bn – now comes from subscriptions to its ad-free YouTube Premium service, which may act as a headwind for future ad revenue growth.

Mixed fortunes for Google as AI disrupts discovery

Google’s advertising performance was more mixed. The Google Display Network declined by 1.6% in Q425 and 1.9% during 2025 as a whole, in both cases roughly one point behind forecast. This reflected softer pricing and a shift in advertiser budgets towards higher-value formats, including YouTube and Google-owned inventory accessed via Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns.

As spend migrates away from the open web, display’s relative contribution to Alphabet’s bottom line continues to stagnate. The company noted that income from AdSense fell, while AdMob (i.e. in-app ads) receipts grew but not enough to stymie overall decline.

Meanwhile, Google Search remains structurally resilient, coming in ahead of forecast during the quarter but roughly par (+0.8pp) for the full year. Despite intensifying competition from generative AI alternatives, Google’s integration of AI into search experiences appears to be sustaining engagement and query volumes, reinforcing its monetisation advantage. That said, the price is a near doubling of capital expenditure.

Meta falls just short of forecast

Though still just behind forecast (-1.4pp), Meta delivered a more robust fourth quarter, supported by an accelerating use of AI across its ad targeting and measurement suite, which has driven both higher ad impression volumes (+18%) and increased pricing (+6%). The scale of Meta’s AI infrastructure investment could place pressure on margins if returns take longer to materialise.

Strong growth in video engagement – particularly across Reels on Instagram and Facebook – has reinforced advertiser appetite for video placements, which typically command higher CPMs.

Meta reported that Reels watch time in the US – its largest market – rose by more than 30% in Q4. The format is a core part of Meta’s strategy to retain share of wallet against competitors, however, the monetisation rate for Reels remains lower than that for traditional in-feed ads.

Amazon flexes growing full-funnel muscle

Amazon was the standout performer during the quarter, surpassing expectations by 5.5pp. Although advertising still represents less than 10% of Amazon’s total revenues, it now ranks as the world’s third-largest digital advertising platform globally. Further, Madison & Wall estimates that advertising contributed essentially all of the operating income generated by the company’s retail sector last year.

Retail media’s ability to link ads directly to purchases, supports premium pricing across Sponsored Products, Brands and Display. New WARC Media ad spend data – derived from monitoring by Walrus Intelligence – shows that some 81.5% of Amazon’s ad income (almost four fifths of growth) is derived onsite, though this is down slightly from the previous year.

The rollout of advertising across Prime Video has further strengthened Amazon’s full funnel proposition, adding high value, scaled and targeted inventory. Prime Video now reaches an estimated 315 million monthly ad-supported viewers globally (compared to Netflix’s 190 million), significantly expanding

Amazon’s video CPM opportunity.

Amazon’s rapid deployment of AI-driven campaign tools and predictive targeting further strengthens its ability to tie ad spend to measurable conversion across its ecosystem.

Overall, Q4 2025 highlighted a market increasingly rewarding platforms that combine scale, data and demonstrable outcomes – a dynamic that continues to favour Amazon, even as others recalibrate their growth stories.

BEIJING, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 5 February 2026 – In 2025, China achieved unprecedented milestones in technological innovation, from breakthroughs in artificial intelligence to advances in deep-space exploration. CGTN presents a feature article examining how these advances reflect not only industrial growth but also China’s evolving role in global innovation governance, highlighting the country’s commitment to shape international standards, foster collaboration, and address shared challenges like climate change and public health.

The World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index 2025 places China 10th globally for the first time, first among upper‑middle‑income economies and fifth in innovation output.
China leads the world in multiple intellectual property measures, hosts the most top‑100 innovation clusters – including the Shenzhen‑Hong Kong‑Guangzhou cluster now ranked first – and has the world’s second‑largest brand value at $1.81 trillion. Building on this momentum, China is advancing industrial leadership under its 15th Five‑Year Plan period (2026-2030).

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) companies have developed more than 200 domestic large models and expanded AI deployment across industries. China’s “AI+” initiative integrates digital technologies with manufacturing and smart systems, and in 2025 China’s core AI industry exceeded 1 trillion yuan (about $142 billion) in scale, underscoring rapid expansion.

Alongside AI developments, China is also expanding its commercial space capabilities: Long March series rockets have launched clusters of satellites from south China’s Hainan Province, and the country has applied for frequency and orbital rights for 203,000 satellites to the International Telecommunication Union, planning a mega‑constellation by 2030 that could support a 1.2 trillion yuan industrial chain.

Complementing these industry advances, in 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Artificial Intelligence Governance Initiative, which outlines China’s constructive approach to global AI development and governance and has since informed subsequent international cooperation discussions and frameworks. In July 2025, China released the Global AI Governance Action Plan, a concrete follow‑up to the 2023 initiative that provides guidance for multilateral cooperation on secure, inclusive and human‑centered AI governance among participating countries and organizations.

China Media Group also outlined the top 10 AI trends for 2026, including globalization of AI governance, scaling computing power, widespread AI agents and multi‑modal interaction technologies.

Supporting these innovations, China strengthens R&D and institutional investment. In 2025, central state‑owned enterprises invested 1.1 trillion yuan in research and development for the fourth consecutive year and 2.5 trillion yuan in strategic emerging industries, while tax and fee reforms totaling about 10.5 trillion yuan during the 14th Five‑Year Plan period (2021-2025) boosted enterprise innovation.

Major fundamental science missions, such as Tianwen‑2 asteroid sampling and the Chang’e‑7 lunar water exploration mission, demonstrate growing long‑term research capabilities.

Looking ahead, China’s next five years of scientific and technological innovation will not be an isolated process. From satellite constellations to AI chips, each breakthrough contributes to addressing global challenges like climate change and disease control.

An innovative China, moving with openness and efficiency, is becoming a key engine for shared global progress.

For more information, please click:
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-02-04/Vision-2030-China-s-tech-blueprint-reshaping-global-innovation-1KujBKYBQHK/p.html