The artificial intelligence revolution could transform a wide variety of aspects of the media campaign lifecycle – yet most industry players are still in the foothills of implementation.
Despite the transformative potential of both generative AI and emerging agentic AI technologies across media planning, buying, optimization and analysis, only about a third of companies have fully integrated these tools into all their workflows, according to the IAB’s new State of Data report, which provides the industry’s first benchmarks on AI usage and adoption rates.
“AI adoption is growing. Approximately 30% of agencies, brands, and publishers have utilized AI in every aspect of the campaign lifecycle,” said Angelina Eng, VP of measurement, addressability and data center at IAB, in this video interview with Beet.TV.
2026 adoption target
For advertising professionals watching the rapid evolution of AI capabilities, the timeline for industry-wide implementation appears to be taking shape.
The remaining 70% of industry players anticipate fully adopting AI throughout their campaign operations by 2026, according to IAB’s research. This adoption spans applications from media mix modeling and audience segmentation to deeper campaign analysis and insights generation.
This timeline aligns with broader industry forecasts. According to research from GroupM, over 90% of advertising will be AI-enabled by 2029, reflecting an accelerated adoption curve compared to earlier projections.
Trust and transparency concerns
The path to widespread AI adoption isn’t without hurdles, with transparency emerging as a primary concern across the ecosystem.
Eng noted that 51% of brands express concern about how their agencies and publishers are leveraging AI technologies.
Meanwhile, agencies harbor their own anxieties about the technology’s impact on their business models. “About 52% of agencies are concerned that brands are going to take AI in-house and leverage it and develop capabilities for media planning, buying, and analysis,” Eng said.
Operational efficiencies lead benefits
Despite implementation challenges, organizations that have embraced AI are finding clear value in specific applications.
Current AI implementations are proving most successful in driving operational efficiencies, identifying anomalies in campaign performance, and normalizing fragmented data sets across platforms, according to the report.
However, several significant obstacles remain before the industry can realize AI’s full potential. “The top challenges with AI right now is data fragmentation, siloed walls amongst different platforms and solutions, as well as a lack of knowledge around AI, the ability to train their teams, and understand what use cases to use them for,” Eng explained.
Strategic roadmap needed
As companies navigate the AI opportunity, the IAB recommends developing a comprehensive strategy rather than pursuing ad hoc implementations.
Organizations are currently assessing which aspects of the planning lifecycle can benefit most from AI integration, from scoring RFPs and developing media plans to optimizing campaigns and normalizing fragmented data.
“I would recommend developing a road map, bringing experts together within their organization, assessing partners on their capabilities of meeting some of those needs,” Eng advised.
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