Entrepreneurs plan to extend promoting spend on AI platforms like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews at greater charges than conventional search promoting, but paradoxically wrestle to implement generative AI instruments inside their very own organizations. These contradictory findings emerged from Mediaocean’s 2026 H1 Advertising Outlook Report, which surveyed 320 advertising and marketing professionals in November 2025 about their deliberate media investments and expertise adoption for the primary half of 2026.
In keeping with the report, 54% of entrepreneurs plan to extend funding in AI media in comparison with 47% planning to spice up search promoting spend. This marks the primary time within the survey sequence {that a} nascent promoting channel has surpassed search in deliberate funding development. The shift displays rising marketer curiosity in promoting on conversational AI platforms, although most of those platforms haven’t but formally launched promoting merchandise.
Mediaocean carried out this analysis by way of SurveyMonkey, gathering responses from entrepreneurs, companies, media firms, measurement companies, and tech platforms. The corporate has revealed comparable studies twice yearly since late 2021, compiling information from greater than 6,100 respondents throughout 9 survey waves. This explicit survey displays the ninth installment within the sequence, with information assortment occurring throughout November 2025.
Price range development spreads throughout digital channels
Digital video codecs dominate marketer funding plans for the primary half of 2026. Linked TV and digital show/video tied at 63% of respondents planning to extend spending in every channel. Social platforms adopted intently at 61%, reinforcing the continued energy of video-driven ecosystems and creator-led content material throughout the promoting panorama.
The price range momentum towards digital channels continues a multi-year sample tracked in earlier Mediaocean surveys. Connected TV advertising spend has grown substantially, with projections displaying CTV’s share of media budgets doubling from 14% in 2023 to twenty-eight% in 2025. The present survey information suggests this trajectory will proceed by way of not less than the primary half of 2026.
Influencer and creator advertising and marketing claimed 53% of entrepreneurs planning elevated funding, inserting it forward of search promoting and demonstrating the maturation of creator-led content material as a core advertising and marketing channel slightly than an experimental price range line. The expansion in influencer spending aligns with broader shifts towards genuine, personality-driven content material that resonates notably strongly with youthful demographics.
Retail media confirmed extra modest development expectations, with 40% planning to extend spend. Nonetheless, the bulk intend to take care of present ranges slightly than lower funding, reflecting retail media’s sturdiness in bottom-funnel efficiency and commerce-driven campaigns. Retail media networks have expanded quickly throughout verticals, with recent industry projections showing the sector capturing approximately 20% of total global advertising revenue by 2030.
Conventional media faces continued strain. Native TV, nationwide TV, and print confirmed the sharpest deliberate decreases at 36%, 34%, and 49% respectively. Radio and out-of-home promoting additionally demonstrated elevated lower charges in comparison with digital-only classes. These declines mirror ongoing price range migration towards channels providing larger precision, flexibility, and dynamic optimization capabilities.
Orchestration emerges as important functionality
The survey launched cross-platform orchestration as a tracked functionality for the primary time, revealing it as a high precedence alongside AI adoption. Each AI and cross-platform orchestration captured 39% of respondents figuring out them as most important promoting capabilities given present macroeconomic situations.
This represents a major shift in how entrepreneurs conceptualize their expertise necessities. Somewhat than optimizing particular person channels in isolation, advertising and marketing groups more and more acknowledge the necessity for unified techniques that join insights, workflows, and activation throughout a number of environments. The rise of orchestration displays what Mediaocean characterised as a motion past siloed level options towards techniques that persistently apply choices throughout CTV, social, show, retail media, and different channels.
Efficiency-driven paid media maintained the highest place at 51%, adopted by model promoting and measurement and attribution capabilities, every at 48%. The persistence of those established priorities demonstrates that at the same time as new capabilities emerge, basic promoting features stay important to advertising and marketing operations.
Privateness issues confirmed vital motion, rising 33% since Might 2025 to succeed in 24% of respondents. This bounce displays mounting concern over sign loss, tightening regulation, and inconsistent information entry throughout platforms. The operational penalties of id deprecation have grow to be extra seen to entrepreneurs, driving demand for higher compliance frameworks and governance buildings.
Automation captured 30% of respondents, positioning it as an important companion to AI adoption. As AI capabilities accelerate across advertising platforms, automation helps groups scale outputs, streamline workflows, and function extra effectively with constrained assets.
First-party information mastery dropped considerably from earlier waves, falling to only 19%. This decline suggests entrepreneurs have shifted focus from long-term infrastructure constructing to near-term efficiency wants. Inventive testing and experimental budgets additionally noticed significant pullbacks, indicating that experimentation is giving option to pragmatism as financial pressures mount.
Generative AI dominates shopper tendencies
For the third consecutive survey, generative AI remained a very powerful shopper development that entrepreneurs are monitoring. The expertise captured 70% of respondents, although this represented a slight decline from the earlier report. Regardless of the minor dip, generative AI continues to dominate marketer consideration, reflecting the expertise’s increasing function in on a regular basis shopper habits from search and discovery to content material creation and problem-solving.
Video-driven environments surged in perceived significance. Linked TV and streaming jumped sharply to 63%, representing a 24% enhance from Might 2025. This development stems from ongoing shifts in viewing habits and the proliferation of premium, on-demand content material choices throughout streaming platforms.
TikTok and social video additionally noticed vital positive factors, rising to 43% and marking one of many steepest will increase throughout all tracked classes. Collectively, the positive factors in CTV and social video spotlight a market the place short-form video, discovery algorithms, and streaming ecosystems more and more form tradition and consumption patterns. Industry experts have noted persistent challenges in adapting creative assets across these platforms, with 72% of entrepreneurs reusing or barely modifying belongings slightly than creating tailor-made inventive for various environments.
Client privateness captured 28% of entrepreneurs monitoring this development, whereas political and advocacy tendencies registered at 18%. Gaming maintained 13% consideration, and the metaverse held at 12%, although none of those tendencies approached the dominance of AI or video ecosystems.
The report launched sustainability and carbon influence of media and expertise as a newly tracked development, with 17% of entrepreneurs now monitoring the environmental footprint of digital promoting. The emergence of this class displays rising expectations for transparency, duty, and environmentally aware decision-making in media planning.
E-commerce all over the place declined to 27% after years of heightened pandemic-era relevance. As purchasing habits stabilizes, entrepreneurs seem like reallocating consideration towards rising forces reshaping discovery, engagement, and conversion, particularly AI and video-first platforms.
AI adoption expands however implementation challenges persist
Entrepreneurs are gravitating towards AI functions that instantly help perception technology and marketing campaign efficiency. Knowledge evaluation and market analysis every captured 43% of respondents at present utilizing generative AI for these functions, reflecting AI’s skill to simplify decision-making and course of complicated datasets.
Adoption is increasing into inventive and activation-focused areas. Inventive improvement reached 33% adoption, marketing campaign optimization 31%, inventive personalization 23%, and marketing campaign orchestration 19%. This development indicators that AI has moved past back-end intelligence features and more and more shapes how ideas are constructed, iterated, and delivered throughout platforms.
Extra mature inventive workflows confirmed broad however softening adoption. Copywriting maintained 29% utilization whereas picture technology held at 23%, suggesting groups are refining the place AI supplies the clearest efficiency enhancements. Technical functions noticed the steepest declines, with web site improvement at simply 6% and software program coding at 8%. These drops point out entrepreneurs are shifting away from engineering-heavy AI makes use of and gravitating towards features nearer to inventive acceleration and marketing campaign efficiency.
SEO represented one of many weakest AI adoption areas at simply 10%, regardless of search engine optimization being a pure match for AI-powered content material optimization. The low adoption fee could mirror uncertainty about how AI-generated content material impacts search rankings or issues about high quality and authenticity in search engine optimization functions.
Nonetheless, the limitations stopping broader AI adoption reveal vital systemic challenges. Knowledge high quality or entry points topped the constraint checklist at 42%, adopted intently by issue connecting AI insights throughout a number of techniques at 41%. Model security or compliance issues captured 40%, whereas integration challenges with present tech stacks reached 39%.
These 4 high limitations all map on to areas the place AI may ship the best worth if correctly carried out. The discovering creates a paradox the place the obstacles slowing AI adoption are exactly the issues AI techniques may doubtlessly remedy with correct infrastructure and information governance.
Moral or governance issues affected 36% of respondents, lack of inside experience 31%, and price or ROI uncertainty 27%. These constraints level to the necessity for clearer frameworks and organizational alignment as AI deployments scale throughout advertising and marketing features.
Industry analysis examining AI implementation across advertising platforms has documented comparable challenges, noting that whereas platforms have launched agentic AI capabilities for autonomous marketing campaign administration, the promise of full automation stays largely theoretical. Most implementations keep approval workflows for brand-sensitive choices slightly than enabling wholesale automation throughout consumer portfolios.
Orchestration hole widens between expectations and actuality
Entrepreneurs recognized fragmentation throughout platforms and publishers as their largest space of concern at 56%. This fragmentation makes it more and more troublesome to handle audiences, efficiency, and artistic throughout an increasing omnichannel setting. The discovering underscores how the proliferation of digital channels has created coordination challenges that handbook processes can’t effectively resolve.
The complexity of cross-channel measurement and optimization captured 49% of entrepreneurs as a significant concern. As budgets shift towards CTV and AI-driven environments, the problem extends past merely shopping for throughout channels to understanding how these channels work together. Constant metrics, unified frequency administration, and clear optimization loops stay elusive regardless of years of trade effort to standardize measurement approaches.
AI integration launched substantial operational stress alongside its innovation potential. Three of the highest 5 issues associated particularly to AI deployment: balancing AI adoption with model security, accuracy, and artistic management at 43%; managing AI-driven automation with out shedding oversight at 42%; and uncertainty round AI governance and compliance at 38%.
These AI-related issues sit on the intersection of knowledge high quality, platform management, interoperability, and organizational readiness. The findings strengthen the case for orchestration frameworks that may present clearer governance and oversight as AI techniques achieve extra autonomy in marketing campaign administration. Recent industry developments around agentic AI infrastructure mirror makes an attempt to deal with these issues by way of standardized protocols and unified administration interfaces.
Regardless of the urgency round orchestration, most promoting expertise stacks stay removed from unified. Solely 10% of entrepreneurs described their techniques as absolutely unified throughout all channels. Almost half (48%) characterised their environments as solely partially unified with vital silos that restrict information motion and perception sharing.
These infrastructure gaps contribute to quite a few downstream challenges together with inconsistent measurement, inventive redundancy, and inefficiency in marketing campaign pacing and optimization. The fragmentation impacts primary operations like price range allocation, frequency capping, and attribution modeling throughout completely different platforms.
But conviction round orchestration’s significance stays unmistakable. A mixed 86% of entrepreneurs said that cross-channel orchestration is necessary, with greater than half (53%) calling it extraordinarily necessary. The disconnect between aspiration and present infrastructure actuality highlights what Mediaocean termed a important turning level for the promoting trade.
The measurement infrastructure supporting orchestration has advanced considerably over the previous yr, with multiple platforms introducing unified measurement capabilities that allow media combine modeling and incrementality evaluation instantly inside safe information environments. Nonetheless, adoption of those superior measurement approaches stays restricted by the identical information high quality and integration challenges that constrain AI implementations.
The survey outcomes arrive amid vital platform developments round AI promoting codecs. Google expanded ads in AI Overviews to 11 additional countries in December 2025, whereas OpenAI moved closer to monetizing ChatGPT through advertising, with inside discussions centering on sponsored content material showing inside AI responses.
The marketer curiosity in AI media captured by the Mediaocean survey predates formal promoting product launches from most conversational AI platforms. This implies advertisers are positioning themselves early for a class they imagine will grow to be vital, though the particular promoting codecs and concentrating on capabilities stay largely undefined.
Search promoting’s comparatively decrease deliberate development at 47% doesn’t point out declining significance however slightly displays its maturity as a channel. Search maintains resilience as a efficiency advertising and marketing staple, although its momentum trails newer digital codecs that provide novel viewers entry and engagement fashions.
The emergence of AI media as a spending precedence displays what trade analysts have characterised as fundamental shifts in how consumers discover information and interact with digital content. Nonetheless, vital questions stay about measurement requirements, attribution methodologies, and effectiveness metrics for conversational AI promoting environments.
Implications for advertising and marketing organizations
The survey findings reveal advertising and marketing organizations getting into 2026 with heightened confidence about digital channel effectiveness however dealing with substantial operational challenges in expertise implementation. The hole between AI media spending plans and generative AI adoption charges inside advertising and marketing features suggests entrepreneurs imagine in AI’s consumer-facing potential extra strongly than they belief their organizations’ skill to deploy AI instruments internally.
Debra Aho Williamson, founder and chief analyst at Sonata Insights and writer of the report’s foreword, characterised 2026 as a yr outlined by stress between maturity and disruption. Advertisers exhibit maturity of their strategy to digital channel funding and decision-making self-discipline, recognizing that each model promoting and efficiency advertising and marketing stay crucial. But AI integration creates vital disruption, with entrepreneurs desirous to put money into AI platforms whereas struggling to implement generative AI inside their very own operations.
The orchestration problem represents what Mediaocean termed an organizational and operational mindset shift past technical options. Attaining unified marketing campaign administration requires higher information flows, clearer system design, stronger controls, and shared operational requirements that deliver intelligence and activation into alignment.
Success in 2026 will probably favor advertising and marketing organizations that may tackle foundational infrastructure challenges round information high quality, system integration, and governance frameworks. These capabilities allow each efficient AI deployment internally and clever participation in rising AI media channels externally. Organizations that deal with orchestration as a strategic precedence slightly than a technical challenge could achieve aggressive benefits as media environments grow to be extra fragmented and autonomous techniques achieve extra operational management.
The survey methodology concerned 320 advertising and marketing professionals surveyed by way of SurveyMonkey in November 2025. Respondents included entrepreneurs and companies as major cohorts, with further illustration from media firms, measurement companies, tech platforms, and different trade members. This marks the ninth survey in Mediaocean’s sequence, with the primary revealed on the finish of 2021 and greater than 6,100 complete respondents contributing information throughout all waves.
Timeline
5 Ws Abstract
Who: Mediaocean surveyed 320 advertising and marketing professionals together with entrepreneurs, companies, media firms, measurement companies, and expertise platforms by way of SurveyMonkey in November 2025.
What: The 2026 H1 Promoting Outlook Report reveals entrepreneurs plan to extend AI media spending (54%) at greater charges than search promoting (47%), whereas 63% plan to spice up CTV and digital show funding. Nonetheless, 42% cite information high quality points stopping broader AI implementation, and solely 10% report absolutely unified promoting expertise techniques regardless of 86% figuring out orchestration as necessary.
When: Survey information was collected in November 2025, with the report revealed in January 2026 protecting marketer plans and priorities for the primary half of 2026. This represents the ninth survey in Mediaocean’s sequence begun on the finish of 2021.
The place: The analysis covers world advertising and marketing professionals managing promoting investments throughout digital channels together with related TV, social platforms, search, show, AI media platforms, retail media, and conventional media codecs. Findings mirror funding priorities throughout each home and worldwide markets.
Why: The analysis issues as a result of it paperwork a basic shift the place entrepreneurs exhibit larger confidence in AI as a consumer-facing promoting channel than of their organizations’ skill to implement AI instruments internally. The findings expose important infrastructure gaps round information high quality, system integration, and cross-platform orchestration that forestall entrepreneurs from absolutely capitalizing on AI capabilities, regardless of widespread recognition of those applied sciences’ significance for future aggressive benefit.
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