The estimated net value of the advertising market in Poland in the first quarter of 2026 exceeded PLN 3.2 billion, an increase of 6.7% year-on-year, according to the latest Report on the Advertising Market in Poland, created by Publicis Groupe Poland.
- Investments increased in internet, video, radio, OOH, cinema and magazines, while they decreased in newspapers
- Radio is growing the fastest, by 12.1% year-on-year; online video grew by 14.4%
- Video accounts for 51.7% of the advertising market, while the internet accounts for 31.6%
- Together, internet and video account for 83.3% of the entire advertising market
- The sector with the highest volume growth in advertising investment is commerce
ADVERTISING SECTORS
According to analysts at Publicis Groupe Poland, in the first quarter of 2026 the advertising market in Poland grew by 6.7% year-on-year. Eleven sectors increased their advertising investments, while five reduced their budgets.
The largest increase in advertising investment volume was generated by commerce – companies from this sector spent PLN 80.9 million more on advertising, representing 11.7% year-on-year growth. The leaders in this sector are Media Expert, Lidl and Kaufland.
The largest decrease in advertising investment volume occurred in the beverages and alcohol sector – companies from this sector spent PLN 21.6 million less on advertising (growth rate: -31.9%). Their advertising budget decreased significantly in video and internet.
COMMUNICATION CHANNELS
According to estimates by Publicis Groupe Poland, in the first quarter of 2026 advertising investments increased across all media except newspapers. The highest growth rate was recorded in radio advertising, up 12.1%. Cinema was the second-fastest-growing medium, with investments increasing by 9.7%. The internet was the third medium growing faster than the market, with dynamics of 8.1%. Over the same period, the video market grew by 5.6%, with revenue dynamics for television alone at 2.0%, and online video at 14.4%. Out-of-home advertising revenues increased by 4.3%. Magazine advertising revenues grew by 2.7%, while investments in newspapers fell by 6.6%.
A volume analysis shows that video budgets increased by PLN 88.3 million, including PLN 66.3 million more allocated to online video. The internet ranked second in terms of volume growth, up by PLN 76.5 million. Radio advertising investments increased by nearly PLN 24.7 million. Out-of-home advertising investments rose by PLN 8.8 million, and cinema by PLN 4.4 million. In the press segment, investments in magazines increased by PLN 0.8 million, while advertising budgets in newspapers fell by over PLN 1.1 million.
According to Publicis Groupe Poland analysis, in the first quarter of 2026, video had the largest share of the advertising market at 51.7%, compared with 52.2% a year earlier. The value of advertising investment allocated to video amounted to nearly PLN 1.7 billion, representing 5.6% year-on-year growth. Within video, linear television continues to account for the largest share of revenues (68.3%). At the same time, its share continues to decline – in the first quarter of 2025, television accounted for 70.7% of video revenues. Advertising investments in this medium increased by 2.0% year-on-year in the analyzed period.
The second-largest share of advertising revenues in the video segment (29.2%) is held by other in-stream video, which comprises two components: video on social platforms such as YouTube, Meta and TikTok, and short video formats on online portals. Advertising investment in social media video increased by 16.2%, while the segment of short video ads on websites grew by 9.5%. In total, the entire area of other in-stream video formats generated advertising revenue growth of 15.0%.
The total streaming segment (video-on-demand services: BVOD, HVOD and other VOD) maintained its share of the overall video ecosystem at 2.5% in the first quarters of both 2025 and 2026. In terms of revenue, VOD streaming grew by 8.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026.
Publicis Groupe Poland analysis shows that in the first quarter of 2026, the value of advertising investment in the internet (digital search and non-search, excluding classified ads) amounted to PLN 1,015.5 million, an increase of 8.1% year-on-year. The internet’s share of the advertising market in this period was 31.6% (up by 0.4 p.p. year-on-year).
According to Publicis Groupe analysts’ estimates, in the first quarter of 2026 revenues in the digital search segment increased by 15.7% year-on-year and continue to make the largest contribution to revenue growth across the internet. In addition to traditional search engine advertising, Publicis Groupe monitoring also includes retail search. In the Polish market, this category accounts for around 8% of revenues in the digital search segment, while the main part of advertising investment is placed with Google. Retail search dynamics reached 24.1% in the first quarter of 2026.
In the first quarter of 2026, digital non-search advertising decreased by 0.1% year-on-year. Display advertising accounts for around 91% of this online segment, and Publicis Groupe analysts estimated its advertising revenue dynamics at -0.5%.
According to Publicis Groupe Poland analysts, in the first quarter of 2026 investments in radio advertising increased by 12.1%, or by nearly PLN 24.7 million in volume terms. This confirms radio’s strong and stable position in the advertising market. As many as thirteen sectors increased their advertising investments in radio. Commerce remains the budget leader, increasing its budget by PLN 4.8 million (growth rate: 5.1%), although the highest volume growth came from pharmaceutical products and medicines, up by PLN 10.3 million (growth rate: 34.7%). The largest volume decline in budgets was recorded in the telecommunications sector, down by PLN 0.7 million (growth rate: -18.1%). In the first quarter of 2026, listening figures declined for Grupa RMF, Grupa Eurozet and Radio ZET, while increases were recorded for Grupa TIME, Polish Radio, Audytorium 17 and other smaller broadcasters. Grupa RMF remains the undisputed leader of the radio market, although its share of listening time fell by 2.44 p.p. year-on-year to 33.92%.
In the first quarter of 2026, investments in out-of-home advertising were 4.3% higher than a year earlier, up by PLN 8.8 million. As last year, this growth was driven primarily by digital media. Analysis by the OOHlife Chamber of Commerce and Publicis Groupe Poland shows that the share of digital media in advertising revenues increased from 24.4% to 28.5% year-on-year. Revenues from traditional media decreased by 0.8% year-on-year, while the digital outdoor segment grew by 21.8%. The largest volume increase in advertising investment was recorded in the other sector, up by PLN 3.4 million (growth rate: 30.7%), driven largely by spending on social advertising and in the real estate category. Food ranked second, with growth of PLN 3.0 million (growth rate: 48.7%), while commerce completed the podium with PLN 2.9 million more (growth rate: 20.1%). The largest volume decline in spending concerned telecommunications, down by PLN 3.5 million (-33.8%).
Publicis Groupe Poland analysts estimated net advertising revenues in cinemas at nearly PLN 49.4 million in the first quarter of 2026, representing 9.7% year-on-year growth. The TOP 5 sectors with the largest share of investment in cinema advertising were media, food, automotive, leisure and finance. In terms of volume growth, media stood out, increasing investments by almost PLN 3.8 million (growth rate: 42.2%), as did leisure, up by PLN 2.4 million (132.1% more). The largest volume decline in cinema advertising budgets was recorded in automotive, where advertisers reduced spending by nearly PLN 1.9 million.
In the first quarter of 2026, investments in advertising in magazines increased by 2.7% year-on-year, or by PLN 0.8 million. The total number of advertising pages in colour press shrank by 9.9%. In terms of volume growth, the largest increase in advertising investments occurred in the hygiene and personal care sector, up by PLN 0.44 million (growth rate: 57.4%). The largest volume decline was recorded in the automotive sector, down by PLN 0.3 million (growth rate: -22.4%).
Investments in advertising in daily newspapers in the first quarter of 2026 fell by 6.6% year-on-year, or by PLN 1.1 million, and amounted to PLN 16.1 million. Publicis Groupe Poland analysts recorded the largest volume increase in advertising budgets in the pharmaceutical sector, up by PLN 0.3 million (growth rate: 26.5%). The largest decline was in finance, which reduced its advertising investments in daily newspapers by PLN 0.75 million (growth rate: -58.9%).
MEDIA SHARE OF ADVERTISING REVENUES
As a result of the varying rates of change across different media categories, their market share is also shifting. The share of video (TV, VOD streaming and other in-stream video) fell from 52.2% to 51.7%, whilst the share of the internet (digital search and non-search) in the media mix rose by 0.4 percentage points from 31.2% to 31.6%. Together, video and the internet account for 83.3% of the total advertising market. The share of radio advertising rose significantly from 6.8% to 7.1%. Out-of-home advertising, on the other hand, fell by 0.2 percentage points to a 6.6% share. Cinema advertising remained at last year’s level of 1.5%. Meanwhile, the share of magazines and daily newspapers in the media mix fell by 0.1 percentage points to 0.9% and 0.5% respectively.
Comment from Iwona Jaśkiewicz-Kundera, Chief Investment Officer at Publicis Groupe Poland:
“The Polish advertising market continued its solid growth trend in the first quarter of 2026 and remained in good cyclical condition. The value of the advertising market exceeded PLN 3.2 billion, representing growth of 6.7% compared with the same period of the previous year. The growth rate in the quarter under review was close to the pace observed throughout 2025. The largest increase in advertising investment was recorded in January, and the weakest in February. After this slowdown, advertising expenditure accelerated again in March, which was linked to Easter falling at the beginning of April. Despite ongoing investment uncertainty, we forecast stable advertising market growth of 5.8% in 2026.
From a media perspective, radio recorded the fastest growth (+12.1%). Cinema was the second-fastest-growing medium (+9.7%), while the internet was the third medium growing faster than the market (+8.1%), increasing its market share to 31.6%. Video grew by 5.6%, with clear internal differentiation. Linear television recorded growth of 2.0%, while online video grew by 14.4%, confirming the continued shift of budgets towards digital and social platforms. Out-of-home advertising increased by 4.3%, mainly thanks to the further digitization of media. Magazines recorded growth of 2.7%, while daily newspapers remained the only medium with negative dynamics (-6.6%). Together, internet and video accounted for 83.3% of the entire advertising market.
Eleven sectors increased their advertising budgets, while five reduced them. The largest increase in investment volume was generated by commerce – companies from this sector spent PLN 80.9 million more on advertising, representing 11.7% year-on-year growth. The leaders in this sector are Media Expert, Lidl and Kaufland. The largest decrease in advertising investment volume occurred in the beverages and alcohol sector – beverage producers spent PLN 21.6 million less on advertising (growth rate: -31.9%). Their advertising budget decreased significantly in video and internet.
The share of the largest sector in the advertising market, commerce, increased by 1.1 p.p. to 24.8%. The pharmaceutical products and medicines sector maintained second place. However, the share of pharmaceuticals is steadily declining and in the first quarter of 2026 fell by 0.3 p.p. to 13.2%. The share of the third-largest sector by investment volume, food, also decreased by 1.0 p.p. to 8.3%.”