IAB Polska this week published its Strategic Report Internet 2025/2026, a nearly 150-page document confirming that Poland's digital advertising market reached close to 11 billion PLN (approximately 2.6 billion EUR) in 2025, a 15% year-on-year increase, while programmatic buying, AI adoption, and shifting video consumption patterns reshaped how advertisers, publishers, and technology providers operate across the country.

The report, published on 18 June 2026, is the organization's most comprehensive annual assessment of the Polish interactive market. It covers internet access, user behavior, online ad spending across every major channel, e-commerce dynamics, artificial intelligence deployment, and the evolving regulatory environment, including the EU AI Act and the European Commission's Digital Omnibus initiative. According to IAB Polska, the report is prepared by industry experts and working group representatives to present current data, analysis, and predictions for internet, digital advertising, AI, e-commerce, and online media.

The market in numbers

The headline figure is substantial. According to the report, total digital advertising investment in Poland in 2025 reached close to 11 billion PLN (approximately 2.6 billion EUR at the exchange rate prevailing around the publication date of 18 June 2026), reflecting 14.6% growth year on year in value terms and an increase of nearly 1.4 billion PLN (around 330 million EUR) compared to the previous year. The broader advertising market, using publisher revenue estimates from Publicis, stood at approximately 14 billion PLN (around 3.3 billion EUR) for 2025 as a whole, with digital formats accounting for more than half - 53.7% - of that total.

Digital channels were responsible for roughly 90% of the total growth generated across the entire Polish advertising market. Internet now represents more than 60% of the entire Polish advertising spend. That concentration is a striking structural fact. When one medium accounts for three-fifths of total commercial communication investment in a country with a population of 38 million, it is no longer a complementary channel but the dominant infrastructure for how brands reach consumers.

All EUR conversions in this article use the approximate mid-market rate of 4.25 PLN per EUR, reflecting the exchange rate around 18 June 2026, the date of publication.

Quarterly growth during 2025 followed a decelerating pattern. The four quarters recorded growth rates of 18%, 16%, 15%, and 11% respectively. That deceleration is a feature the report explicitly draws attention to and frames as relevant context for 2026 forecasting.

SEM leads, programmatic grows, mobile accelerates

SEM - search engine marketing - remained the single largest digital advertising format in Poland in 2025. According to IAB Polska, it held a 30% share of total online advertising budgets, with a value of 3.25 billion PLN (approximately 765 million EUR) and 17.1% year-on-year growth. The format's dominance reflects both the sustained strength of intent-based advertising and the scale of Google's operations in the Polish market.

Programmatic buying was the second-largest segment by volume. IAB Polska reports that automated ad purchasing reached 5.07 billion PLN (approximately 1.19 billion EUR) in 2025, representing approximately 47% of total online advertising investment, with growth of 12.1% year on year. That share is notable: nearly half of all Polish digital advertising is now transacted through automated systems. The scale of programmatic expansion in smaller European markets has been well documented - Poland achieved 19.6% growth in constant currency terms in IAB Europe's 2024 AdEx Benchmark Report, placing it among the fastest-growing European markets.

Mobile advertising was the fastest-growing major segment. Its value reached 3.89 billion PLN (approximately 915 million EUR), a 19.4% year-on-year increase, and its share of total online advertising rose to 36%. According to the report, 92.8% of Polish internet users access the internet via mobile devices, primarily smartphones. Mobile applications generated nearly 70% of all time spent online by Polish users. On the mobile platform specifically, data from Mediapanel for Q4 2025 shows Google reaching 27.4 million users with 91.9% reach, while Meta Platforms reached 24.9 million users at 83.5% reach, generating the highest average time spent - over 26.5 hours per month. That level of engagement concentration in two platforms has direct implications for where advertising budgets go.

Online video exceeded 2.14 billion PLN (approximately 503 million EUR) in value, representing 20% of total internet advertising spend and growing 16.9% year on year. The figure is 310 million PLN (around 73 million EUR) higher than 2024. Within the video segment, in-stream formats (including social and portal video) accounted for approximately 93% of the total digital video value, growing 15.6%, while streaming VOD grew 44.8%. That latter figure reflects the rapid expansion of subscription platforms that combine lower-tier subscriptions with advertising. European digital advertising hit 118.9 billion EUR with 16% growth in 2024, with video among the key drivers - a continental trend clearly visible at the Polish level.

Internet access and user base

The scale of digital adoption underpinning these advertising numbers is striking. According to GUS (the Polish Central Statistical Office) data cited in the report, 96.2% of Polish households had internet access in 2025. This figure is 1.5 percentage points above the EU average of 94.7%, placing Poland among the most digitally connected countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Virtually all households with internet access also have broadband - the exception being just 1.3%.

Mobile internet continued displacing fixed-line access. For the first time, the penetration of fixed-line household internet connections declined, while mobile broadband reached over 78% of Polish households. The shift has infrastructure implications that extend across advertising, commerce, and content consumption.

Among internet users, the most common activity was communication via messaging apps (74.9%), followed by email (69.2%). The report notes that while internet penetration is high, Polish users are markedly less likely than their EU counterparts to complete administrative tasks online: only 61.1% used public administration services via the internet in 2025, compared to an EU average of 71.9%.

Connected TV and the convergence of television and internet

The television and digital video boundary continued to shift in 2025. According to the report, the linear television share of total video advertising fell from 70% in 2024 to 67.5% in 2025, while online video grew at a rate "several times faster." That said, linear television remains the largest single component of video advertising. The shift is gradual rather than precipitous.

More than half of all televisions in Poland are now connected to the internet. Streaming platforms invested in premium content and sports rights during 2025, simultaneously competing for viewer attention and advertising budgets. CTV - Connected TV - is described in the report as a medium that combines the qualities of a large screen with the measurability and CPM purchasing model typical of digital channels. IAB Polska's Video Working Group published a dedicated guide on the topic.

Interest in CTV, audio, and DOOH as advertising formats grew from 36% to 42% year on year, confirming that advertisers are increasingly seeking reach beyond purely digital channels. That 6-percentage-point shift in one year indicates meaningful momentum. Programmatic buyers internationally have been rapidly integrating CTV into their media mixes, with 45% of those increasing programmatic CTV budgets redirecting money from linear television.

AI moves from experiment to accountability

The 2025/2026 report describes 2025 as the year artificial intelligence stopped being a novelty and became a standard working tool for the Polish marketing industry. According to IAB Polska, 88% of marketers use AI solutions, and more than 90% use them to support business and marketing decisions.

The shift in emphasis is from deployment to measurement. According to the report, the central question is no longer "should we implement AI?" but "how do we measure its real impact on business efficiency, process quality, and return on investment?" That framing - pragmatic rather than exploratory - marks a maturation in how the industry engages with the technology.

The adoption gap between the demand and supply sides of the market is pronounced. Two out of three publishers report they are not yet using AI solutions in their operations. This asymmetry - with marketers and agencies ahead of publishers in AI adoption - creates tension in a market where both sides of programmatic transactions need compatible technical capabilities to function efficiently. One in four online businesses, however, already applies algorithms to revenue optimization.

Nearly 60% of employees in the sector report concerns about AI replacing parts of their roles. The report treats this as a real labor market signal rather than abstract speculation. According to IAB Polska Board Member Robert Wielgo, "the recipients of communication are becoming not only people, but also algorithms and recommendation models that influence consumer choices. This will mean the need to adapt not only marketing communication, but also data architecture, the quality of product information, and technological integrations." That observation has direct implications for technical infrastructure decisions across the industry.

IAB Polska's 300-page AI guide released in January 2026 provided detailed technical coverage of large language models, AI agents, and implementation frameworks - an indication of how seriously the organization had already been positioning AI competency development among Polish practitioners well before this report's publication.

Retail media and the merging of commerce, media, and advertising

The e-commerce sector entered a stabilization phase in 2025. But stabilization does not mean stagnation: the report describes how commerce, media, and advertising are converging into a single ecosystem. Social platforms, marketplaces, and physical retail now function as parts of a single user decision journey - from product discovery in social media, through mobile comparison, to purchase in an app or online store.

Retail media emerged as the trend generating the most attention from marketers in 2025, according to the report. The proportion of companies treating point-of-purchase contact as a priority rose from 74% in 2024 to 79% in 2025. Retail media is expanding beyond e-commerce into traditional retail chains and in-store digital displays. In Poland, Żabka with its Żabka Ads platform is identified as a pioneer of the convenience retail media model.

Barriers remain substantial. According to the 2025 data cited, 58% of respondents identified lack of standardization as a barrier to retail media investment. A further 53% cited lack of integration with other technologies, and 49% pointed to insufficient measurability and reporting. First-party data access from the retailer was cited by 87% of respondents as a key advantage of the format, driving interest despite the operational friction.

DOOH and digital display are described as working increasingly in tandem with retail media and mobile channels, with campaigns planned as unified actions across multiple consumer contact points. European retail media spending reached 13.7 billion EUR with 21.1% growth in 2024, substantially outpacing the broader market - a trajectory that frames the Polish retail media opportunity in a wider continental context.

Attention and authenticity as competitive factors

One of the more qualitative shifts described in the report concerns how brands measure marketing effectiveness. In 2025, according to IAB Polska, the emphasis moved from quantitative metrics toward the quality of audience contact. Attention metrics - dwell time, active engagement, interaction levels - gained particular significance in the mobile environment.

Algorithm-generated content is described as increasingly correct technically and linguistically but often lacking cultural and emotional context. According to the report, audiences are increasingly able to identify this difference, which directly affects how they perceive brand communications. The paradox articulated in the document is that as AI-produced content grows in volume, the value of content grounded in authentic human context increases. Authenticity is described as becoming a key pillar of effective marketing communication.

This is a structural argument with commercial consequences. If the cost of producing content falls toward zero due to automation, the scarcity and therefore the premium shifts to credibility, human perspective, and verified authority. For publishers and for media owners generally, that framing creates both an opportunity and a pressure.

The report's regulatory chapter covers the provisions on general-purpose AI (GPAI) models that entered force in 2025, as well as ongoing work on Polish national legislation to create oversight frameworks for AI systems in Poland and to enable effective enforcement of the EU AI Act. According to IAB Polska, work on a Polish AI Act compliance law is ongoing.

The European Commission's Digital Omnibus package - introduced formally on 19 November 2025 - proposed simplification and partial consolidation of rules covering data, privacy, and AI, including selected provisions of GDPR, the NIS2 directive, and cookie regulations. As PPC Land has tracked since the package was launched, the proposal generated significant controversy among privacy regulators, member states, and industry groups. The Digital Omnibus aims to cut administrative burden by at least 25% for all companies and 35% for SMEs.

IAB Polska's report describes industry reaction to the Digital Omnibus as insufficient, particularly regarding deregulation expectations and reduction of administrative burden. Specific controversies identified include audience measurement methods, consent management, and data processing rules. The organization states it is actively participating in consultations and activities related to the Digital Omnibus legislative process.

That regulatory context matters practically. The EDPB and EDPS adopted a joint opinion in February 2026 warning that proposed GDPR amendments would "significantly narrow the concept of personal data" in ways that authorities characterized as going beyond technical adjustment. Meanwhile, Brussels negotiations on Digital Omnibus AI provisions collapsed in late April 2026, leaving the August 2, 2026 AI Act high-risk system compliance deadline unchanged. For advertisers, agencies, and ad tech providers operating in Poland, this regulatory uncertainty is a live planning variable.

Poland's position in Central and Eastern Europe

According to the report, internet is present in more than 96% of Polish households and forms the basic infrastructure for communication, commerce, and digital services. This level places Poland above the EU average and among the most digitally developed countries in Central and Eastern Europe. AudienceProject described Poland as the largest advertising market in Europe after the big five when launching cross-media measurement in the country in March 2026.

Poland's digital advertising growth rate of 15% in 2025 compares favorably with broader European trends. IAB Europe's AdEx Benchmark Report for 2024 showed Poland achieving 19.6% constant currency growth, positioning it among the fastest-growing European markets. The base effects from that year make the 2025 performance - at 15% - still strong in absolute terms, even as the quarterly growth rate decelerated through the year.

For the broader marketing community, this report matters because it anchors strategy in verified data rather than projections. The combination of near-universal internet access, majority programmatic transactional infrastructure, and accelerating mobile consumption creates a specific operational context. Knowing that AI is now standard for 88% of marketers but still absent from two-thirds of publishers, or that retail media purchase-moment priority grew 5 percentage points in a single year, gives practitioners concrete reference points for resource allocation, technology investment, and hiring decisions.

According to IAB Polska Board President Włodzimierz Schmidt, "last year's edition said Poland was entering a digital future. This year's report shows that future has already become our everyday reality. Today the fundamental task of every participant in this ecosystem is not the decision of whether to participate in this transformation, but how best to find a place and develop in the new reality."

Timeline

Summary

Who: IAB Polska (Internet Industry Employers Union), with the Strategic Report's editorial council comprising Robert Wielgo (Board Member, IAB Polska), Teresa Wierzbowska (Advisory Council Member, Cyfrowy Polsat), Piotr Kowalczyk (Director, Polska Press Grupa), and Elżbieta Kondzioła (Sales Director, LOVEMEDIA and Head of the Programmatic Working Group, IAB Polska).

What: The annual Strategic Report Internet 2025/2026, a nearly 150-page publication documenting the Polish digital advertising market, identifying six megatrends across AI, video, retail media, mobile, regulatory change, and market integration, and providing data on all major advertising formats including programmatic (5.07 billion PLN / approx. 1.19 billion EUR), SEM (3.25 billion PLN / approx. 765 million EUR), mobile (3.89 billion PLN / approx. 915 million EUR), and online video (2.14 billion PLN / approx. 503 million EUR).

When: Published on 18 June 2026, covering full-year 2025 market data and trends with outlook for 2026.

Where: The report covers the Polish digital advertising and internet market, produced by IAB Polska from Warsaw, available free of charge as a PDF and online.

Why: The document serves as the primary reference for strategic decisions in Poland's digital advertising industry, providing verified spending data, user behavior analysis, AI adoption rates, regulatory updates, and channel-level trend analysis for marketers, publishers, agencies, and technology providers operating in or entering the Polish market.