广告需求走弱有具体迹象：WPP 在 2025 年 10 月下调展望；ITV 于 2025 年 11 月表示英国预算相关的普遍谨慎重创广告需求，并提出节省 3,500 万英镑（约 4,700 万美元）以缓冲营收冲击。彭博情报估算，2025 年广播商广告销售平均可能下滑「中个位数」百分比，且何时反转能见度偏低。
AI 风险同时被视为机会与替代性威胁：它可提升工具效率、创造营收机会，也可能取代核心产品、使部分业务冗余。分析师对冲击程度看法分歧，有人认为忧虑被夸大、2026 年市场反应将更细致；但也有人认为影响仍「流动」，可能需要数年才会尘埃落定。能主动把 AI 当作机会与风险同时管理者，较可能成为赢家（例如 Scout24 以 AI 工具推动加值销售与资料合作想像）。
Europe’s biggest publishers and broadcasters head into 2026 with two pressures: AI disruption and weak ad demand driven by fragile confidence. Bloomberg Intelligence expects 6.9% earnings growth for the Stoxx Europe 600 media & entertainment subindex in 2026, versus 10% for the broader index, after “significant underperformance” in 2025 (data as of Dec. 19).
Ad softness is visible in recent actions and cuts. WPP lowered guidance in October 2025 as clients pulled back. ITV said in November 2025 that budget-related caution in the UK hurt advertising demand, prompting £35 million ($47 million) of savings to offset revenue pressure. BI estimates broadcasters’ 2025 ad sales fell by mid-single-digit percentages on average, with low visibility on a rebound.
AI adds a contested, longer-horizon risk: it can boost efficiency and create new products, but can also substitute existing offerings and make parts of businesses redundant (notably in some digital education and research-publishing models). Analysts disagree on magnitude—some call fears overblown and expect a more nuanced 2026 response—yet others warn impacts may take years to settle, favoring firms that proactively manage AI as both opportunity and threat.
