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
OpenAudience™ will provide marketers the ability to easily plan and buy advertising for every digitally addressable consumer across the open web LOS ANGELES, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — For the past decade, the most effective way to advertise in digital media has been on Facebook and Google. Marketers in the U.S. now spend two-thirds of all digital ad spend on the “walled gardens”, despite the fact that they receive less than 36 percent of total consumer time spent online. According to eMarketer, addressing this massive asymmetry in advertising – where tens of billions of dollars are over allocated to the walled gardens – is the top concern of marketers in 2019. While programmatic technology has become the primary monetization system for the open web, it has lacked the simplicity and efficacy of walled gardens. Today, OpenX is changing that paradigm by bringing true people-based marketing to the open web for the first time with the introduction of OpenAudience. OpenAudience will provide marketers and publishers with an unprecedented, unified level of knowledge about consumer audiences – through a platform built on privacy by design principles that brings the efficiency and efficacy of walled garden advertising to the open web. OpenAudience is powered by a comprehensive proprietary data asset and supplemented by integrated partnerships with recognized leaders in data and identity like LiveRamp, Tapad, a part of Experian, and more. For marketers, OpenAudience will provide the ability to plan and buy people-based marketing campaigns that combine the impact and ease of use of Facebook advertising with the scale of the open web. OpenAudience is currently in active partner testing with multiple marketers in the U.S., including Fortune 500 financial service and consumer personal care companies, along with one of America’s largest online entertainment outlets, and will be generally available to the broader market in Q3 of 2019. For publishers, OpenAudience will deliver user-based knowledge that empowers them to value and sell advertising with unparalleled precision. With the ability to automatically place consumers into high-value audience segments drawn from the more than 240M U.S. Monthly Active Users OpenX reaches across the open web, OpenAudience allows publishers to maximize revenue like never before. “OpenAudience is a natural evolution of programmatic advertising, combining the unified knowledge of people-based audiences with the transactional power of programmatic to create a planning, buying and advertising experience that is unlike anything else in the market today,” said Todd Parsons, chief product officer at OpenX. “No exchange in the market today has enabled a unified view of publisher audiences,” said Travis Clinger, vice president of strategic initiatives, LiveRamp. “Now, OpenX is democratizing identity across all publishers on the open web, helping marketers to plan and buy audiences the way they do inside walled gardens. We are thrilled to be a key component of OpenAudience.” For more information, or to request a place in the private testing phase of OpenAudience, visit: http://www.openx.com, or contact your OpenX account representative today. About OpenX Nobody understands the open web better than OpenX. As the world’s largest independent advertising exchange, OpenX makes the efficient people-based marketing buying experience of the walled gardens available to all marketers across the open web. OpenX works with more than 30,000 advertisers across every screen and device, reaching nearly one billion consumers – including a quarter billion unique consumers in the US – and processing more than one trillion transactions globally each day. To date, OpenX has helped deliver more than $3 billion in total monetization to publishers. That’s the Power of Open™. Contact us today
Tom Rolph, VP EMEA at Tapad, part of Experian, says that ad-sponsored streaming services can be successful if they can deliver a higher quality viewer experience than other streaming services. Last week, Hulu, the streaming service acquired by Fox and now owned 60 per cent by Disney, announced it will be regularising its ad loads. The streaming service will be bringing ad breaks down to 90 seconds in an effort to deliver a better viewer experience. This is a positive move from Hulu and one which other ad-supported streaming services should follow in order to be successful in a competitive market. Previously ad breaks on Hulu could vary wildly, from 180 seconds to 240 seconds, due to existing deals with its three owners: Disney, Comcast and AT&T. Over in the UK, we haven’t suffered from quite as inconsistent an approach as in the US, but there is still viewer frustration with the ad experience on ITV Hub and All4, where the problem tends to be over exposure of the same ad. Therefore, this move to standardise ad break lengths for streaming platforms is one that should be embraced on both sides of the pond. An important shift in this space will be to limit the number of ads during each show, but have better ad targeting to minimise repetitive advertising and increase the ROI of ad spend. All of which can be accomplished by investing in identity resolution products that can support CTV devices. Last year Ofcom found that in the UK subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon and NOW TV have risen above those to traditional pay TV services. With Netflix and Amazon both ad-free and NOW TV only a limited ad funded model, it’s clear that there is a growing appetite for ad-free viewing models. A fact that is only further supported when you consider the role of the BBC and BBC iPlayer. But the picture isn’t entirely negative for ad-funded models. There is demand for great content on ad-funded services in the UK, with ITV Hub boasting over 1bn requests and 540m hours of TV watched. The ITV Hub mobile app has also been downloaded on over 27m devices across the country – with over 22m people now registered to ITV Hub database, including more than half of Britain’s 16-24 year olds. However, to continue to attract and retain younger viewers, the experience will have to improve. There are several areas where ad-supported streaming providers need to improve in order to remain top players in this space: Ad experienceAs explored above, both volume and repetition of ads can be a turn off for viewers, but with Brits already spending a total of £303.16m every month on TV streaming services, according to Finder.com, there is potential for free, ad-funded models to flourish as people hit a limit on what they are willing to spend. There are already signs of improvement with the ad experience, with ITV just signing a deal with Amobee to allow for addressable ads on ITV Hub, while Sky’s AdSmart technology remains best in class and has now crossed over the pond to be used by Comcast stablemate NBC. Server reliabilityA cursory search finds little evidence of ongoing reliability problems with Netflix, but much evidence of problems with ITV Hub and All4, which are both prone to crashing. To compete with bigger players with massive server farms, server capacity needs to be tackled. This is especially true when it comes to live events, where many people will recall ITV Hub’s famous fails during the World Cup. While even some of the larger players have had similar streaming issues (for example, Amazon’s move into live sports streaming when they had to pull UK streaming of the US Open Tennis due to user complaints), viewing experience should be prioritised as the space gets increasingly competitive. Getting the content rightAmazon and Netflix have huge content budgets, but UK broadcasters remain strong in this regard, Channel 4 has enjoyed viewing figures of 7.5m for the Great British Bake Off, while ITV pulled in 13.7m for I’m A Celebrity. By building on UK-specific content that speaks to UK audiences, ad-supported streaming services can continue to pull in more viewers. Mobile accessMore and more Brits are choosing to watch TV content on their smartphone or tablet, according to UKOM-approved comScore data. In fact, 6.5m adults visited the BBC iPlayer app to watch video on either a smartphone or tablet, edging out Netflix which attracted 5.8m Getting the experience right on mobile, with the option to download content so it can be viewed in areas of low or no signal, is key.If UK ad-supported TV stations can crack these key areas for their Connected TV offering then they will be set up to succeed and offer a true home-grown alternative to the US streaming giants. Full article here. Contact us today
Tapad’s, part of Experian, SVP of Identity shows us how marketers might communicate seamlessly through emerging channels like voice, the smart home, and, yes, podcasts.In his relatively new role as senior vice president of identity at Tapad, a part of Experian, Ajit Thupil keeps a close eye on the evolution of marketing as it becomes more intent on using data and identity technology to track ROI. Here he sits with Chris Wood at Tapad’s New York offices to discuss the future of identity. (To capture the inventive atmosphere at this location, the room they chatted in was named after Leonardo da Vinci.) For Thupil, it all comes back to the customer, whether it’s a brand client or a consumer. Brands want measurability and customers demand a seamless experience across the many devices they use in a day. While consumers are understandably reticent about giving up personally identifiable information (PII), current identity solutions use anonymous data profiles to connect the dots at the individual or household level. Given the frequency that users switch devices, along with their tendency to share bigger screens like TVs, there’s no dearth of challenges for this “head of problem solving” to solve. Contact us today