Evercore Survey: Meta and Alphabet Lead Digital Ad Spending Signals

A survey conducted by Evercore Research of seven advertising agency executives managing budgets ranging from over $10 million to over $3 billion showed that the strongest near-term revenue signals are leaning toward Meta and Google's parent company Alphabet, positioning both platforms as the primary beneficiaries of any improvement in advertising demand.

According to the survey results, Amazon, Netflix, and Reddit received relatively more positive readings, while AppLovin and Pinterest appeared more cautious in their outlooks. Meanwhile, Snap and "The Trade Desk" were viewed negatively by the surveyed executives, highlighting a clear divergence in agency confidence across different advertising platforms.

Evercore described the digital advertising market as "flexible and resilient" in the face of spending fluctuations, with funds shifting toward top-performing platforms rather than a broad-based increase in budgets. This trend is likely to benefit stronger players in measuring results and delivering return on every advertising dollar.

The firm noted that Meta's "Business Agents" feature showed "encouraging but early" signals, meaning its impact on ad revenue is not yet fully clear to agencies, and a final judgment on its viability will require more data over the coming months.

What do these terms mean?

**Revenue signals:** Preliminary indicators analysts use to gauge the direction of a company's income growth before official results are released, used to determine who might lead the market. **Top-performing platforms:** Platforms that deliver the best return for advertisers on campaign spending, receiving budget allocations first and above others. **Advertising agency budget:** The amount an agency manages on behalf of its clients, distributing it across various channels based on its assessment of each channel's viability.