Details
A few days ago, at IAB Spain's headquarters, during the annual meeting where IAB Spain presents its preview of the industry's advertising investment for the first half of the year, someone asked me in front of the whole auditorium why native advertising was the only category in decline.
It was a fair question.
Shortly after, someone asked the President of IAB Spain for a detailed breakdown of what branded content actually encompasses. Despite having a background in branded content, he declined to answer, noting that PwC, the authors of the annual report, should be the ones to address it.
The second wave of IAB Spain and PwC’s 2026 Digital Advertising Investment Study forecasts that digital advertising investment in Spain will reach another all-time high this year: between €6.6 and €6.8 billion.
While digital advertising is predicted to be growing by up to 9.5%, native advertising is expected to decline between by between 7.4% and 12.7%.
The country's two biggest native players are feeling the impact of this. Accordingly to Dircomfidencial, Taboola's revenue in Spain fell by 31% in 2025, while Teads' fell by 5%. Both companies moved into loss-making territory.
In Spain, we have a proverb: "Cuando las barbas de tu vecino veas pelar, pon las tuyas a remojar" ("When you see your neighbour's beard being shaved, soak yours", meaning when you see trouble hitting others, take it as a warning to prepare).
I am the neighbour. And I am writing this to my friends in branded content. According to the same study, branded content will grow by between 4.2% and 7.3% this year. That is good news.I am not worried that branded content is shrinking. It is not. I am worried that a growing category can still become a less appealing profession.
In Spain, as in many other markets, part of our branded content ecosystem sits comfortably within institutional relationships between brands and media groups. There is nothing inherently wrong with that - it funds teams, content and journalism.m But it also carries a professional risk: talented people can end up feeling more like executors of an agreement than owners of a discipline. In the current landscape, branded content has new distribution options and possibilities, while it also creates new commercial opportunities for native advertising.
Here in Spain, the branded content professionals I know are good. Many are exceptionally good. They coordinate the client, keep everyone happy, produce the piece, get it published, and move on. Comfortable? Sometimes. Professionally exciting? I am not so sure. And comfort is not enough to protect us. There is a need to accelerate product reinvention, consider the positioning of smaller players, and work together as a whole sub-section in order to return the industry to growth.
