By Felipe Morales, CEO of ESBUENISIMO LINKS
Digital media advertising in Latin America: 2026 figures, formats and pricing
Digital media advertising: how much is spent in Chile, Colombia and Peru, which formats exist, how each is priced and which one leaves an asset for SEO and AI visibility.
More than half of what companies spend on advertising in Chile already goes to digital channels, and in Colombia the share is even higher. But "digital" lumps together very different things: a Google ad, an Instagram video, a banner on a newspaper site and a sponsored article in a news outlet. This guide sorts out digital media advertising with the latest figures from Chile, Colombia and Peru, explains how each format is priced and what each one leaves behind beyond clicks, especially for SEO and for showing up in AI answers.
What digital media advertising is
It is any paid communication a brand distributes online. It includes two big families that are worth keeping apart:
- Platforms: search engines (Google Ads), social networks (Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn), video (YouTube) and marketplaces that sell ad space (retail media).
- Digital media outlets: newspapers, magazines, radio stations and portals with an editorial team that sell banners, video, newsletters and sponsored content.
The first family takes most of the budget. The second has something platforms don't offer: a page published on a site with readers and authority, which stays there months after the campaign ends.
How much is spent on digital advertising in Chile
The most complete Chilean data is the monthly report of the Asociación de Agencias de Medios (AAM), which projects digital spend together with Admetricks and IAB Chile. Between January and September 2025, total ad spend reached CLP 710,485 million, 3.1% more than in the same period of 2024, and digital took 53.9%.
| Medium | Share 2024 (full year) | Share Jan-Sep 2025 | Change Jan-Sep 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital | 52.8% | 53.9% | +4.6% |
| Broadcast TV | 23.5% | 23.4% | +1.5% |
| Outdoor | 10.8% | 11.7% | +15.8% |
| Radio | 6.6% | 6.4% | -1.8% |
| Pay TV | 3.3% | 2.3% | -26.3% |
| Print press | 2.7% | 2.2% | -12.5% |
| Magazines and cinema | 0.3% | 0.2% | -21.5% and -27.7% |
Source: AAM, December 2024 and September 2025 reports. Nominal net figures, excluding agency commission and VAT.
The trend is steady: digital went from 48.3% of the total in 2022 to 51.1% in 2023, 52.8% in 2024 and 53.9% so far in 2025. Print press, meanwhile, is already below 3%.
View the data as a table
| Digital | Broadcast TV | |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 48.3% | 26.3% |
| 2023 | 51.1% | 24.6% |
| 2024 | 52.8% | 23.5% |
| 2025 | 53.9% | 23.4% |
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In Colombia, the IAB Colombia study reported by Forbes Colombia (March 30, 2026) put 2025 digital spend at COP 3.04 trillion, up 7.6% on 2024 and 59% of total media investment. The breakdown shows where the money goes:
Social media and digital video add up to more than search and display combined. The same report records COP 197 billion in direct sales by publishers, ad networks and digital media, up 36.7%: the part of the market that goes straight to content sites, and the one that grew most.
In Peru, the IAB Perú and PwC report covered by RPP estimated USD 327 million in 2025, 12% more than the year before, with 82% of spend on mobile and 17% programmatic.
View the data as a table
| of Chile's ad spend is digital | 53.9% |
| of Colombia's media spend is digital | 59% |
| million dollars in digital ads in Peru | USD 327 |
| growth of direct media sales in Colombia | 36.7% |
The three figures are not directly comparable, since each association uses its own methodology and currency. What they show is the same direction: budget is moving to digital and, within digital, to video and content formats.
Digital media advertising formats and how they are priced
For a marketing manager, the useful question is not just what each format costs but what remains when the campaign is switched off.
| Format | Pricing | What it delivers | What remains afterwards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search (Google Ads) | Per click (CPC) | Traffic with purchase intent | Nothing: the ad disappears |
| Social media | Per thousand impressions (CPM) or per result | Reach and fine targeting | Some audience on the account |
| Display and video on outlets | CPM or flat fee | Brand recall | Nothing |
| Outlet newsletter | Fee per send | Loyal subscribers | Nothing |
| Sponsored article or branded content | Flat fee per publication | Readers, brand mention and link | An indexed page featuring the brand |
Google Ads cost per click varies a lot by industry. In our November 2026 measurement, the median in Chile was USD 1.27 per click, ranging from USD 0.22 in retail to USD 6.43 in B2B software; details are in our study of Google Ads CPC by industry and country. It is immediate traffic, but every visit is paid for.
Digital media advertising that also works for SEO
The sponsored article is the only format in the table that leaves an asset. A piece in an authoritative digital newspaper gets indexed by Google, keeps bringing readers and adds a brand mention on a site search engines, and also ChatGPT or Gemini, consider reliable. In Argentina it is called a publinota; we explain how it works in our guide on what a publinota is.
Three conditions make it work. First, the outlet needs a real audience in the country and topic: the ranking of the most popular news sites in Latin America is a good starting point. Second, the content must be useful in itself, not a long ad. Third, the paid link must be marked as sponsored, as Google requires: the value is in visibility and in associating the brand with the topic, not in manipulating rankings.
That is how ESBUENISIMO LINKS works: we choose outlets by audience and topic and measure what each publication generates. If your goal is to publish in Chilean digital media with a results report, the starting point is defining which searches and which AI questions you want to win.
How to choose a digital outlet to advertise on
The price per publication says little unless it is compared with what the outlet delivers. Before buying, ask for or check four things:
- Real audience in the country: monthly visits and where they come from. An outlet with mostly foreign traffic does little for a local brand.
- Topic: the outlet regularly covers your industry. An insurance article on a sports portal tells Google and AI nothing.
- Authority: DR or an equivalent metric showing how many sites link to it.
- Publication terms: whether the article stays up permanently, how it is labeled and whether the traffic it sends can be measured.
How to split the digital budget
There is no single formula, but there is a logic many marketing teams use:
- Existing demand: Google Ads and retail media capture people already searching. They perform fast and stop fast.
- Demand to be created: social and video take the brand to people who don't know it yet.
- Compounding authority: media articles, branded content and press relations build the presence Google and AI later rely on, and lower the cost of the other two.
Reviewing every quarter how much budget goes to each block, and what each left behind, is more useful than debating the format of the moment. The investment that compounds is the hardest to justify in month one and the one that pays most over a year.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is digital media advertising?+
Any paid communication a brand distributes online. It includes platforms (Google Ads, social networks, YouTube, retail media) and digital outlets with an editorial team that sell banners, video, newsletters and sponsored content.
How much is spent on digital advertising in Chile?+
According to the Asociación de Agencias de Medios (AAM), from January to September 2025 digital took 53.9% of ad spend, which totaled CLP 710,485 million in the period. In 2024 digital's share was 52.8%.
What are the types of digital advertising?+
The main ones are search ads, social media, display and video, newsletters, retail media and sponsored content or branded content in news outlets. They differ in pricing (per click, per thousand impressions or flat fee) and in what remains after the campaign.
Which digital advertising format helps SEO?+
A sponsored article or branded content on an authoritative outlet, because it gets indexed by Google and adds a brand mention. The link must be marked as sponsored; its value lies in visibility, traffic and topic association.
How much did digital advertising grow in Colombia?+
IAB Colombia estimated COP 3.04 trillion in 2025, up 7.6% on 2024 and 59% of total media spend. Social media was the leading format, at about COP 911.7 billion.
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