10 Advertising & Media Stocks That Could Tank If Recession Hits

Jabran Kundi

Tue, May 13, 2025, 11:05 AM 11 min read

When recession strikes, the advertizing and media sectors are the archetypal ones to spot a noticeable impact. Companies thin to trim their advertizing budgets erstwhile the going gets tough. As a result, media companies that trust heavy connected advertizing spending neglect to deed their gross targets. So, if investors privation to look astatine reddish flags for recession, advertizing and media stocks connection bully insights.

While media companies crossed the committee consciousness the vigor of reduced advertizing budgets, immoderate companies thin to fare better. These are mostly the ones that person diversified their income streams to trim reliance connected advertising.

In this post, we look astatine stocks that are apt to conflict if advertisement spending goes down. To travel up with our database of apical 10 advertizing and media stocks that could vessel if recession hits, we lone looked astatine stocks that had a marketplace headdress of astatine slightest $5 billion.

A ample movie theatre filled with radical enjoying a movie streaming connected a astute TV.

10. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)

Netflix, Inc. operates arsenic an amusement work provider. It provides TV series, games, documentaries, and diagnostic films crossed antithetic languages and genres successful implicit 190 countries. Owing to its beardown subscription-based concern model, the banal is the slightest apt to beryllium affected if advertisement spending goes down.

The streaming elephantine was upgraded past period by Moffett Nathanson with an accrued terms people of $1,100. The upgrade was based connected Netflix's imaginable to boost profits done amended monetization and advertisement expansion. Moffett predicts continued advertizing enlargement and subscription maturation to boost nett margins to 40% by 2030.

Moffett Nathanson highlighted the company’s maturation imaginable by saying:

We present forecast Netflix volition make implicit $6 cardinal successful advertizing gross successful 2027 and astir $10 cardinal by 2030

Similar sentiment was shown by Morgan Stanley arsenic it maintained its Overweight standing for the amusement steadfast past week. MS named the banal arsenic its apical prime successful amusement and media stocks. Analysts foretell the institution to amusement flexibility successful a challenging planetary macroeconomic situation, replacing stocks similar Disney.

After reporting Q1 results 3 weeks ago, the absorption reaffirmed its 2025 guidance. The streaming steadfast plans to put successful maturation strategies and instrumentality excess currency to shareholders successful the signifier of stock buybacks. It aims to make escaped currency travel amounting to $8 cardinal successful 2025. Despite the clouds hanging implicit advertisement spending, Co-CEO Greg Peters highlighted plans to treble advertizing gross by utilizing their proprietary ad-tech level to amended targeting capabilities and advertiser flexibility.