At the end of July, Skai published its Q2 2026 advertising data.
Three numbers stood out:
Retail media spend: +26% YoY
Paid social spend: +26% YoY
Paid search spend: +17% YoY
Search is not dying. Seventeen percent growth is a strange way to die. But Social and Retail Media are scaling faster.
So the useful question isn't:
“Which channel is winning?
It is:
Where should my next advertising dollar go?
IN THIS BRIEFING
Search captures demand.
Social tries to find it earlier.
Retail Media gets closer to the purchase.
SEARCH: CAPTURE THE DEMAND
Someone searches:
“Best accounting software for small businesses.”
Beautiful.
The customer has already told you what they want.
That is Search's superpower.
But explicit demand is not infinite.
In Q2, paid-search spend rose 17%, while clicks grew just 2% and CPC increased 14%.
Advertisers spent more.
They did not receive proportionally more clicks.
That doesn't mean:
“Cut Search.”
It means:
At some point, the next $1 may work harder somewhere else.
SOCIAL: SEARCH 'THE DEMAND' BEFORE
'THE SEARCH’
“best accounting software.”
Meta, TikTok and other platforms can use signals to predict that someone may be interested before they explicitly search.
And Q2 gave advertisers an interesting signal.
Paid-social spend rose 26%.
Clicks rose 53%.
CPC fell 18%.
That does not mean Social suddenly became twice as profitable.
Clicks are still clicks.
Your CFO has not started accepting them as legal tender.
But it does suggest Social currently has more room to generate additional engagement as advertisers scale.
RETAIL MEDIA: GET CLOSE TO THE PURCHASE
Retail Media has another advantage.
It can sit frighteningly close to the wallet.
Someone searches for a product on a retailer.
Sees a sponsored listing.
Clicks.
Buys.
The retailer can potentially connect advertising activity with shopping and transaction behaviour much more directly.
In Q2, retail-media spend increased 26%, while clicks rose 27%.
For brands that actually sell through these environments, that matters.
Because the closer a platform gets to the purchase, the more useful its commercial signals can become.
THE SIGNAL
THREE CHANNELS. THREE JOBS.
SEARCH
Capture demand that already exists.
SOCIAL
Find or stimulate demand before the search.
RETAIL MEDIA
Influence demand closer to the transaction.
Same advertising budget.
Different jobs.
Advertiser is the Boss -
WANT TO GO DEEPER?
KYC — KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER
How machines predict customer intent — and where advertisers can still create an advantage.
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Social does not need to wait for: