At A Glance
-Experian’s 2026 State of advertising report shows that advertising trends in 2026 will be defined by how well organizations connect data, identity, and measurable outcomes. Leaders across the ecosystem point to five themes: AI that reshapes workflows, measurement that guides decisions earlier, identity and privacy as strategic inputs, channels aligning around outcomes, and identity connecting planning, activation, and measurement.What advertising trends does Experian’s 2026 State of advertising report highlight?

2026 State of advertising report
Experian’s 2026 State of advertising report shows that advertising trends in 2026 will be defined by how well organizations connect data, identity, and measurable outcomes. Our 2026 State of advertising report brings together perspectives from 14 leaders operating across key parts of the advertising ecosystem to show how these shifts are taking shape in practice.
Who’s featured in Experian’s 2026 State of advertising report?
Our 2026 State of advertising report includes perspectives from 14 leaders across the ecosystem covering a variety of topics including:

These perspectives reflect directional signals from leaders across the ecosystem. They are not exhaustive views of any one vertical. They are operational insights from teams navigating change in real time.
In addition to the written analysis, you can watch the full one-on-one Q&A conversations with each partner here.
What signals are shaping advertising trends in 2026?
Five signals are shaping advertising trends in 2026. Together, they explain why advertising trends in 2026 center on clarity, connection, and measurable outcomes. Across every conversation with our partners, five themes stand out:
Below, we spotlight three perspectives from our report.
Scott Bender’s perspective on AI-driven workflows
Scott Bender, Head of Publisher & Platform Partnerships at Newton Research, is a media and AdTech veteran who has led go to market and revenue teams across traditional media, retail media, consulting, andearly stagestartups, helping organizations translate data and product strategy into scalable commercial growth.
How is AI moving upstream into planning and measurement?
AI is changing how teams work before campaigns run. Teams apply AI to planning and measurement first, then scale into activation with clear rules and human oversight.
AI’s first impact is operational
Teams are applying AI to planning and measurement before activation. The early gains are showing up in analytics, forecasting, and workflow compression, especially in areas constrained by time and data science resources.
Automation works when humans define the rules
Repeatable, rules-based processes are where AI performs best today. Strategy, guardrails, and judgment remain human-led. AI scales execution without removing accountability.
The biggest barrier in AI is rethinking workflows
AI adoption slows when teams try to layer automation onto legacy playbooks. Progress happens when workflows are redesigned for agentic execution, rather than human-only processes.

“The workflows we’ve built for humans don’t always make sense for AI. Progress comes when teams redesign how work gets done, not when they simply add automation.”
Newton ResearchScott Bender, Head of Publisher & Platform Partnerships
If advertisers fix one thing in 2026
Focus on data context. Not perfect data, but a clear semantic layer that defines what data means and how it should be interpreted and used.
Watch our agentic media panel at CES 2026
Greg “Arch” Archibald’s perspective on commerce media’s expansion
Greg “Arch” Archibald is VP, Global Ad Sales at PayPal. A sales leader for nearly 25 years, Arch has worked at some of the largest AdTech companies in the world. Now with PayPal Ads, he is helping build the foundation upon which advertisers can use true intent-based signals to inform advertising campaigns.
How is commerce media expanding beyond retail?
Commerce media is extending into more ecosystems and more purchase moments. Commerce media is defined through transactions that show what people buy, not intent signals that imply what people might buy.
Commerce media is defined by transactions, not intent
Commerce media is fundamentally powered by transactional data. Unlike retail media, which is often intent-led and vertically confined, commerce media spans horizontally across merchants, payment platforms, and ecosystems, providing a clearer view of the full consumer purchase journey.
Transactional data is the true differentiator
As basic targeting and inventory become commoditized, the ability to activate transactional signals at scale is what separates effective commerce media strategies. These signals help brands connect upper-funnel investment to conversion and prove measurable outcomes.
On-site validates performance, off-site drives reach
Effective commerce strategies balance both on-site and off-site, focusing less on where ads run and more on who is being reached based on real purchase behavior.

“Transactional data is a powerful signal that helps brands reach consumers more effectively and connect upper-funnel investment to measurable outcomes.”
PayPalGreg “Arch” Archibald, VP, Global Ad Sales
If advertisers fix one thing in 2026
Prioritize transactional signals over intent proxies to connect spend to outcomes.
Cristin Liberatore’s perspective on healthcare marketing
Cristin Liberatore,Sr. Director, Commercial Strategy for Pharma, IQVIA Digital, has over a decade of experience leading commercial and product strategy for data‑driven healthcare solutions, developing frameworks at IQVIA Digital that connect data, analytics, and omnichannel execution to drive meaningful business results.
How do identity and privacy work together in regulated markets like healthcare?
Healthcare marketing uses a dual approach that reflects distinct audiences and data environments. Teams succeed when they connect identity and privacy through governance that supports personalization and outcome measurement.
Healthcare requires two playbooks: HCP and consumer
On the healthcare professional (HCP) side, personalization benefits from deterministic identity and high-fidelity signals that enable “read, respond, act” marketing. On the consumer side, data is more disparate, making identity resolution and privacy-safe connection across data sets essential for relevant personalization.
Timeliness is the difference between insight and impact
Healthcare data varies widely in latency. The most effective marketing is powered by timely signals. Fresh signals influence whether brands respond in meaningful moments along diagnostic and treatment pathways.
Sustainable identity depends on governance
An identity spine paired with de-identification methodology and strong compliance frameworks allows exposure to connect to outcomes such as script lift, without compromising privacy.

“Across data, activation, and measurement, healthcare marketing works best when privacy and personalization are balanced, as that push pull is ubiquitous with consumer marketing in healthcare.”
IQVIA DigitalCristin Liberatore, Sr. Director, Commercial Strategy for Pharma
If advertisers fix one thing in 2026
Invest in a connected identity spine that balances timeliness, personalization, and privacy across the full care journey.
Watch our healthcare marketing panel at CES 2026
What do 2026 advertising trends mean for advertisers?
In 2026, success will be shaped by how well advertisers connect data, decisioning, and outcomes across an increasingly complex ecosystem. The leaders featured in this report consistently point to connection as the defining factor for progress.
The shifts advertisers must act on
- Audiences, not channels, define strategy. Planning anchored in identity and behavior scales more effectively across screens, platforms, and formats.
- Measurement moves upstream.Outcomes now inform optimization in real time,rather than serving a post-campaign validation.
- First-party data becomes infrastructure. Activation, data governance, and interoperability matter more than ownership alone.
- AI accelerates decisions, not accountability. Automation works best when paired with clear rules, transparency, and human oversight.
- Privacy is a growthlever.Consent-driven, privacy-first design enables durable performance at scale.
Advertisers that lead in 2026 will:
- Connect planning, activation, and measurement into a single operatingframework
- Invest in data and identity foundations before expanding into new channels
- Work withpartners that reduce fragmentation, not add to it
To see how these signals play out across AI, commerce media, healthcare, and more, download our 2026 State of advertising report and watch the Q&A videos with our partners.
FAQs
A CMO should treat advertising trends in 2026 as a shift in how teams plan, activate, and measure, not a channel shift. Teams get stronger performance when they connect data, identity, and measurement into one decision loop that guides planning, activation, and optimization.
Measurement moves closer to the moment of decision when teams use outcomes to steer optimization in real time. That approach turns measurement into a planning input that shapes budget allocation, audience strategy, and creative decisions across the lifecycle of a campaign.
Experian helps marketers connect identity, data, and measurement so teams plan and activate with consistency across platforms. Experian’s data and identity foundation supports audience connection and privacy-forward activation, and Experian’s measurement approach links media exposure to outcomes for clearer decisioning.
Latest posts
Tapad, part of Experian, and Reveal Mobile partner to launch new audience and attribution capabilities for ad buyers
Featured stories from Experian MarketingCross-device matching and pixel-based foot traffic attribution reporting empower digital marketers with greater control of location-based campaigns.RALEIGH, N.C. (PRWEB) AUGUST 04, 2020 Tapad, part of Experian a global leader in digital identity resolution, and Reveal Mobile, a leader in location-based marketing, today announced a collaboration that combines Tapad’s digital cross-device matching technology and pixel-based attribution features with Reveal Mobile’s VISIT Local, the software that hundreds of digital agencies and brands use for location-based analytics. The partnership is designed to drive improved performance by optimizing ad targeting and messaging for location-based campaigns. Powered by Tapad’s privacy-safe cross device matching, marketers using VISIT Local to power location-based campaigns can enhance how they reach shoppers. When one member of a household shops for groceries, clothes, household goods or any other consumer item, a conversation between multiple members of the household typically takes place beforehand. With cross device matching, marketers can reach everyone who has influence over what to buy and where to buy it. VISIT Local users can expand location-based services with a single click to include devices that share the same household, including targeting across multiple devices owned by the same user, allowing advertisers to maximize messaging and increase their share of wallet among consumers. “VISIT Local has always given our customers access to high-intent location-based audiences. With the addition of cross device matching from Tapad, advertisers can boost audience sizes up to 300 percent while maintaining full confidence in quality and relevance,” says Brian Handly, CEO of Reveal Mobile. “VISIT Local users can now apply multiple criteria and attributes to a single location-based audience, giving them the advanced control and transparency they need.” As reliable attribution becomes increasingly complex for marketers and ad buyers who need to prove value, the addition of Tapad’s pixel-based foot traffic attribution to VISIT Local enables the measurement of actual campaign effectiveness by tying ad views to in-store foot traffic. This new feature, which will be available in VISIT Local this fall, lets Reveal Mobile customers understand who visited a retail location as a result of being served an ad, providing a more accurate view into return on ad spend during and after advertising campaigns. “Tapad’s goal is to empower marketers with digital advertising efficiencies at scale across devices,” says Mark Connon, COO of Tapad. “With cross device matching and pixel-based foot traffic attribution, marketers using VISIT Local can better address the consumer’s preferences and habits, and deliver them consistently actionable information on user behavior. These capabilities advance location-based advertising in ways marketers need and want.” In addition to these new features, VISIT Local’s location-based audience builder now enables marketers to create custom audiences made up of people who have visited different places on different dates. This gives VISIT Local users the ability to segment and create the most highly targeted audiences possible. For example, a marketer who wants to advertise for a chain of restaurants can easily target visitors of different competitors in different cities. Or a marketer who wants to advertise vacation destinations can target people who have been to various resorts at different times of year. Or a marketer who wants to advertise the release of new music can target people who have been to concert venues in different cities on different dates. “Many of our customers need to create highly custom audiences so they can run experiments, test messaging, and run increasingly competitive campaigns,” says Handly. “Everyone who uses VISIT Local can now apply multiple criteria and attributes to a single location-based audience, giving them the advanced control and transparency they need.”To learn more about Tapad’s digital identity resolution products, visit our identity solution page. To learn more about Reveal Mobile’s location-based marketing offerings, visit http://www.revealmobile.com. About TapadTapad, Inc. is a global leader in digital identity resolution. The Tapad Graph, and its related solutions, provide a transparent, privacy-safe approach connecting brands to consumers through their devices globally. Our one-of-a-kind Graph Select offering enables marketers the flexibility and freedom of choice to correlate devices to varied objectives, driving campaign effectiveness and business results. Tapad is recognized across the industry for its product innovation, workplace culture and talent, and has earned numerous awards including One World Identity’s 2019 Top 100 Influencers in Identity Award. Headquartered in New York, Tapad also has offices in Chicago, London, Oslo, Singapore and Tokyo. About Reveal MobileReveal Mobile is a leader in location-based marketing, analytics, audiences, and attribution. Creator of VISIT Local, VISIT Match and VISIT Data, the company’s products help digital agencies, brands and retailers of any size leverage location data to understand and reach the right audiences. Reveal Mobile is CCPA compliant and a member of the Network Advertising Initiative, which conducts an annual privacy certification. The company is based in Raleigh, NC. For more information, visit https://revealmobile.com. Contact us today
Overview Chartable leverages The Tapad Graph to improve cross-device attribution rates and remove non-addressable IPs for clients. Challenge Chartable needs to differentiate between consumer and potential business IP addresses to provide accurate household modeling and reduce excess data for their customers. Podcasting generally only has access to IP addresses as a form of digital ID which limits its ability to connect activity to individuals and extend it across all devices. The Tapad + Experian solution Using Tapad, now a part of Experian, Chartable is able to cut through the noise of IP data and discard any addresses deemed a shared IP or business. Then, Tapad + Experian connects individual users to their other digital IDs and users in their household; creating a richer attribution model for Chartable customers. Increase in podcast attribution rates Contact us today
5 Reasons Why Direct Mail is Making an Impact with Millennials
Featured stories from Experian MarketingWith the growth of digital marketing and the targeting capabilities associated with online outreach, many predicted that this would mark the end of direct mail advertising. But if Millennials have anything to say about it, that’s not going to happen anytime soon. Yes, believe it or not, Millennials are driving the resurgence of direct mail advertising, and many leading brands are now pivoting their omnichannel marketing plans to include direct mail. And with the USPS reporting more than 75.7 billion in marketing mail volume in 2019, this trend shows no sign of slowing down. Including direct mail in your plans may give your brand a better chance of reaching your audience. Why? 1. Millennials actually like getting mail.While most of us have decried “junk mail” as being environmentally unfriendly or just a pain to deal with, Millennials actually enjoy physical mail. Valassis recently cited research from USPS Customer & Market Insights stating that Millennials spend the most time sorting mail (about six minutes compared to the average, which is four minutes), plus they’re opening mail and reading it (at eight minutes versus the average of seven minutes). Valassis also conducted a study that showed that 68% of Millennials read print ads or inserts from retailers, and 64% prefer getting them through the mail. So, while digital outreach may be convenient, it hasn’t completely decimated the desire for that old-school, hands-on experience of opening and reading something that’s addressed to you. 2. Millennials respond to a multi-channel approach.Oftentimes, marketers think of omnichannel as being a combination of digital and TV, but when you add print into the mix, it can make an even bigger impact on Millennial audiences. Valassis found that 60% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase after seeing an ad when it’s presented across both offline and online channels, while 72% of Millennial parents say print ads encourage them to go online and make a purchase from that retailer. 3. Millennials think physical mail makes for a more personal approach.You’d think that e-mail would feel more personal, but with the influx of spam most people get, that’s just not the case. In fact, 67% of people see physical mail as being more personal than an e-mail, with seven out of 10 saying they prefer receiving actual mail over digital mail. And for marketers looking to make a one-to-one connection, this is music to their ears. With changing marketing plans, the mailbox has less competition than the inbox. Getting a catalog at their door with the perfect offer at the perfect time helps the marketer make the direct connection. 4. Direct mail lasts longer than digital mail.That may seem like an obvious statement, but there’s more to it than you think. When an e-mail arrives in someone’s inbox, it’s easy to ignore it, read the subject line and forget about it, or even just randomly delete it, if spam filters don’t take care of that on their own. But the average lifespan of a piece of direct mail is 17 days, which may account for how direct mail generates purchases five times larger than e-mail campaigns. It’s harder to ignore when it’s in your house and you have to physically handle it as opposed to just clicking a mouse to get rid of it. 5. Millennials trust direct mail.It’s true—research shows that 90% of Millennials think direct mail advertising is reliable. Plus, Millennials are 24% more likely to show mail to others, compared to 19% of non-Millennials… which means if they find a deal they like in the mail, they’re probably going to spread the word. Contact us today