While 97 per cent of marketers plan to use AI across some aspects of media planning, buying and optimisation in 2026, adoption across individual advertising workflows remains uneven, according to the latest research from adtech firm DoubleVerify.
The integration of AI across advertising workflows remains inconsistent, with marketers yet to fully hand over media planning, buying and campaign optimisation to the technology, despite growing intentions to do so.
The 2026 Global Insights Report, Beyond The Hype: The Real State Of AI In Digital Advertising, which surveyed 2,020 global marketing decision-makers to understand how AI is being used across the media process.
The research found that while 97 per cent of marketers plan to use AI across some aspects of media planning, buying and optimisation in 2026, that broad intention has yet to translate into equally widespread adoption across individual workflows.
“AI is becoming a part of how nearly every marketer plans and buys media, but when you look at adoption across individual workflows, the picture is more nuanced,” said DV CEO Mark Zagorski.
“Marketers are increasingly embracing AI, but there’s still considerable opportunity to integrate it more deeply into each step of how campaigns are planned, bought and optimised.”
One area seeing increased uptake is media briefing, with the proportion of marketers using AI to summarise media briefs rising from 28 per cent in 2024 to 37 per cent in 2025. That figure is expected to reach 40 per cent in 2026.
AI is also making inroads into campaign activation and bidding, although adoption remains relatively modest. Some 35 per cent of marketers used AI to activate campaigns in 2025, up from 31 per cent the previous year, while 29 per cent used it to optimise bidding, compared with 24 per cent in 2024.
Both are expected to increase in 2026, reaching 40 per cent and 34 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, AI adoption for mid-flight campaign optimisation – adjusting campaigns while they are live – increased by 10 percentage points between 2024 and 2025, rising from 21 per cent to 31 per cent. DV expects that figure to reach 36 per cent this year.
Despite the uneven adoption across workflows, the research found that marketers already using AI-powered bidding are seeing positive results, with 98 per cent reporting performance improvements.
However, as AI takes on a greater role in advertising operations, marketers remain focused on the reliability and effectiveness of the technology.
When evaluating AI optimisation solutions, accuracy and effectiveness of recommendations ranked as the biggest consideration, cited by 35 per cent of respondents.
Data privacy and security compliance, alongside cost and return on investment, followed, with both cited by 29 per cent of marketers.
Zagorski said the next stage of AI adoption could see agents take on a greater role in managing campaign optimisation on behalf of advertisers.
“As these capabilities advance, we expect AI agents to take on a greater role in managing campaign optimisation on behalf of advertisers,” he said.
“That creates significant opportunity, but it also raises the stakes for accuracy, transparency and measurable performance. Marketers need to trust not only the recommendations AI makes, but also the actions it takes.”
