Forrester’s 2027 Media & Advertising Predictions point to a sharper growth squeeze for Big Media. The research firm says streaming subscriber growth is slowing, linear television audiences keep shrinking, and AI is reshaping how consumers find products. Its 2027 theme, in its words, is “Big Media growth engines hit the limit and pivot.”
For marketing teams, the implication is clear: the next media cycle will be shaped less by audience scale and more by where consumer intent is captured. Media value itself is being redefined.
Free, ad-supported streaming becomes a serious lever
Forrester expects at least three major subscription video-on-demand platforms to introduce free, advertising-supported tiers. Paying subscriber acquisition and retention are getting harder, so advertising is set to carry more of the streaming business.
The momentum behind free ad-supported television is visible in the numbers. Forrester notes that Tubi accounted for 22% of monthly users in 2026, compared with 21% for Apple TV. Disney+ is among the platforms identified as a possible candidate for a free tier, helped by its existing advertising infrastructure. Netflix has previously indicated that free offerings could have a role in selected markets, while the identity of a third major entrant is less clear.
AI moves advertising into the conversation
Forrester predicts conversational advertising will become a multibillion-dollar channel as consumers switch from keyword-based search to AI services. ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Google’s AI-powered search are changing how users research products. Brands may soon appear within or alongside AI-generated responses, letting discovery, consideration and purchase intent happen in one journey.
Google, Meta, Amazon, TikTok and Microsoft, along with OpenAI, are among the companies expected to explore these formats. For marketers, this moves advertising from conventional placements toward recommendations and conversations.
The KPI shift: from impressions to recommendation share
Forrester expects “recommendation share” to emerge as a leading media KPI. The question shifts from whether an ad generated an impression to whether an AI system recommends a particular brand when a consumer is seeking information.
That has direct planning consequences. Reach and impressions will still matter, but they are becoming incomplete. Brand recommendation, consumer discovery and ability to move audiences closer to action will sit alongside traditional metrics.
New surfaces: AI glasses and women’s sports
Meta is predicted to launch the first scaled advertising platform for AI glasses. The company is already expanding beyond its Ray-Ban partnership to Oakley and Meta-branded devices, and Forrester points to more than seven million AI glasses sold as a sign of the category’s scale. As these devices become part of local discovery and commerce, they could create another channel for recommendations and advertising.
Forrester also expects five Fortune 500 companies to redirect sponsorship investment from men’s sports to women’s sports, supported by rising audiences and the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
What marketing teams can do now
A practical planning shift is to separate reach metrics from intent metrics. Here are three areas to audit:
- Map ad-supported streaming inventory into your 2027 media mix, not just subscription environments.
- Strengthen product data and structured answers so your brand can be found and recommended in AI discovery journeys.
- Add recommendation and conversion signals to brand measurement instead of relying on impressions alone.
The unifying thread in Forrester’s forecasts is that media growth will increasingly follow consumer intent rather than raw audience size. Brands that plan for recommendation-led media may have an advantage as these shifts unfold.
Source: MediaNews4U
