UMA / UBA Benchmark Media Investments 2025 : 79% of Advertising Spend goes to local Media

This new edition of the benchmark regarding net media investments in Belgium for the full year 2025 is marked by a fundamental change in our study’s perimeter: the Media Investments Benchmark now includes the direct sales of local media. By consolidating data from multiple sources, this benchmark provides a much more complete picture for the years 2024 and 2025 than in the past.

Key Takeaways for 2025:

• Belgian Media Stays Strong: The primary conclusion from the total spending analysis is that 79% of media advertising investments went to Belgian media. This confirms that Belgian media continue to perform well against international platforms. Furthermore, the digital versions of local media saw their total share increase significantly.
• Television Leads the Market: Out of the net investments, the largest share of advertising spending in Belgium still went to television in 2025. This medium represents over 27% of the media total.
• Radio and Digital Follow: Radio holds the number two position with over 15%. This is followed by ‘paid social’, which is closely trailed by publishing and Search Engine Advertising (SEA).
• Digital Share Stability: The overall share of digital media remained stable at nearly 37% of the grand total. We can conclude that the portion allocated to the digital versions of Belgian media gained half a percentage point between 2024 and 2025.

The table below compares the distribution of investment across medium types among two consecutive and comparable benchmarks, namely those for the years 2024 and 2025.

Breakdown per Mediumtype by net Advertising Value on the Belgian Market (UMA / UBA + Audio-Visual & Publishers’ Sales Houses)

Our yearly report reveals also the shares of the big international platforms such as Meta, Amazon, Youtube, Microsoft, X, TikTok, … in the Belgian advertising market.

The “Competitive” Digital Landscape

In the digital landscape, not all channels are characterized by competition between Belgian and international players. Because there is no local Belgian search engine or national social network, direct competition is limited to online video, display advertising, and ‘other digital channels’.

Breakdown on the “competitive” digital channels by net Advertising Value (UMA / UBA + Audio-Visual & Publishers’ Sales Houses)

Within this “competitive digital” segment, the local market share is nearly 80%.

• This represents an increase of two percentage points, which is driven by higher investments in online video and display advertising.
• The expansion of digital advertising has proportionately benefited Belgian publishers a bit more. This explains the relative stability of the global split (offline and online) between local and international players.
• The share of local players remained approximately stable at 79% (with a very slight increase) in 2025 compared to the previous year.

An Expanded and Exhaustive Perimeter

For several years, UMA (United Media Agencies) and UBA (United Brands of Belgium) have joined forces to create a benchmark of net digital spending in Belgium. This year, the participant panel was significantly expanded:

• Publishing and Audiovisual: The respective associations BPX (along with Trustmedia) and VIA provided data regarding direct investments from advertisers or clients outside the UMA or participating benchmark agencies.
• Advertiser Declarations: The information includes a survey of UBA members regarding the value of their digital spending executed outside of agencies, whether internally or via foreign intermediaries.
• Out-of-Home and Cinema: An estimate was made in consultation with AEA and VIA to reach a net figure that includes direct sales, based on the ratio between agency investments and ‘direct’ value in Nielsen’s Ad Intel data.

All respondent data was compiled into the final report by an independent, external third party to ensure strict confidentiality.

The Benckmark Data regarding the digital channels broken down by the 44 product sectors is available through the participating UMA agencies.