LAS VEGAS — Media planning for 2026 must acknowledge advertising’s evolution from broadcast-focused 30-second spots and “eyeballs” by instead relying on precision targeting to meet the demands of the “agentic and algorithmic era.”
“We’re in a new era of advertising — the third era,” Will Swayne, global practice president for Media and Integrated Solutions at dentsu, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at CES. “We started off with the broadcast era, very much focused around the 30-second ad. We then moved into the second era, which was the precision era, which was really focused around search and feed, and now we’re in the algorithmic era.”
This agentic era demands addressable, accountable, and shoppable media marketplaces that enable outcome-focused planning.
Consumer behavior remains constant
While AI integrates into workflows everywhere, successful media planning requires focus on unchanging consumer behaviors rather than technology trends that shift over time.
“What consumers need to see is it not being an additional application or thing that they have to do where it’s actually making their lives simpler and easier to use,” Swayne said. “We as media planners need to be thinking about the AI world and making sure that we’re actually thinking about consumer behavior more because it is those consumer behaviors that don’t change.”
Brand and business fundamentals persist despite technological and media evolution.
Sports dominance continues
The 2026 FIFA World Cup in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, plus Winter Olympics create significant sports investment opportunities following strong 2025 performance including sold-out Super Bowl advertising and 10% NFL advertising growth.
“Sports and entertainment are going to be really big things for media planners to think about this year,” Swayne said. “The FIFA World Cup, really bullish about here in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. That is going to be a big event for brands to be able to build off and a global platform.”
Gaming expands into entertainment
Gaming presents adjacent opportunities as it broadens beyond traditional boundaries, with Angry Birds launching a third movie this year demonstrating gaming’s expansion into film and entertainment.
“We see gaming broadening out. The way that gaming is expanding into film and entertainment is a really interesting trend to be looking at,” Swayne said.
Micro dramas gain traction
Short-form social content called micro dramas are creating enormous interest across Asia, with dentsu launching a program with Procter & Gamble featuring micro drama content for a P&G brand later in 2026.
“Being an Asia-listed agency group, we look to the east for things that can inspire us,” Swayne said. “Short snippets that run through social are creating an enormous amount of interest within Asia right now. We’re bringing that and actually running a program with P&G later this year, which shows the traction that’s creating and how we need to be thinking about this sports and entertainment space differently and algorithmically.”
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