Direct sponsorship is back. Here's what the data says.
Publishers want direct sponsors, buyers want proof, and tracking is getting harder. Four trends, with the numbers and their limits.
Facts checked 29 Sep 2026 · by the AdSworn team
In Digiday's Q1 2025 survey, every publisher respondent earned at least some revenue from direct-sold ads, and 62% called it a large or very large share, up from 53% a year earlier. IAB projects creator-economy ad spend of $37 billion in 2025, growing about 4x faster than media overall. IAB published standard terms for direct buys, including sponsorships, in 2026. And 95% of ad decision-makers in IAB's 2024 data study expect continued signal loss or privacy legislation. Together they point to direct, contextual sponsorships with proof attached.
1. Publishers are leaning on direct-sold ads
Digiday's Q1 2025 publisher survey found that every respondent earned at least a small share of revenue from direct-sold ads, and 62% said it was a large or very large share, up from 53% a year earlier. Branded content grew too: 94% earned at least some revenue from it, up from 88%.
In a Q3 2025 survey of nearly 40 publisher professionals, 72% said they'd put a large or very large focus on growing direct-sold advertising over the following six months.
Digiday's surveys are small (around 40 publisher professionals) and drawn from its own audience. They show direction, not the whole web.
2. Sponsorship-style spending is outgrowing media
IAB projected creator-economy ad spend at $37 billion in 2025, up 26% year on year and about 4x faster than the media industry overall (5.7%). That's brands paying a specific voice to reach a specific audience, rather than buying impressions in bulk.
Websites are the same idea with one advantage: the audience is defined by what they searched for. A page reached by "unlimited video editing service" is read by people choosing a video service.
The 12 Best Online Video Editors of 2026 (Free and Paid)
- Banner ad$25 / 4 weeks
- Featured post$2,000 / year
3. The industry is standardising direct deals
In February 2026, IAB released a draft Direct Buy Addendum for public comment, covering "direct buys, including sponsorships", to reduce negotiation friction. The final v1.0 followed on 20 May 2026, alongside terms covering sponsorships and custom content.
Standard terms make direct deals cheaper to do. Marketplaces go further: the price, the terms and the payment are settled before anyone negotiates.
4. Privacy is making context valuable again
In IAB's State of Data 2024 study of 500+ ad and data decision-makers, 95% expected continued signal loss and/or privacy legislation, and 71% were expanding or planning to grow their first-party data, nearly double the 41% of two years earlier.
When you can't track who someone is, what they're reading becomes the signal. A sponsorship on a page about the best video editors needs no cookie to know its reader is interested in video editors.
What it means if you're buying
| How you buy | How you know who you reach |
|---|---|
| Search ads | Google decides where the ad appears |
| Programmatic | An algorithm decides, from modelled audiences |
| Ad networks | A category, like "developers" |
| Newsletters and creators | Subscriber or follower counts |
| AdSworn | The exact searches that bring each page's readers, verified by Google |
The trends all point the same way: direct relationships, context over tracking, and proof over promises. That's what AdSworn is built on. Every page shows its real Google traffic and searches before you pay, and your payment is held until the ad is verified live.
Straight answers
What share of publishers earn from direct-sold ads?
In Digiday's Q1 2025 survey, every respondent earned at least some revenue from direct-sold ads, and 62% said it was a large or very large share. The sample was small, so treat it as direction.
How fast is creator and sponsorship ad spend growing?
IAB projected creator-economy ad spend at $37 billion in 2025, up 26% year on year, about 4x faster than media overall.
What is the IAB Direct Buy Addendum?
Standard terms for direct digital ad buys, including sponsorships, released as a draft in February 2026 and finalised as v1.0 on 20 May 2026.