Marketers have at least some good news as the year 2026 kicks off.
Brands that invest in emerging programmatic formats and consolidate their technology
stacks are more likely to see strong performance than those that don’t, according to StackAdapt’s State of Programmatic Advertising 2026, a study conducted in partnership with
Ascend2.
For instance, marketers with the strongest YoY gains are more likely to spend on programmatic direct mail (40%) vs. 28%), in-game advertising
(33% vs. 17%), and DOOH (28% vs. 19%).
These top performers also invested in connected intelligence last year — data, personalization, creativity and orchestration.
With good reason: while 53% of the most successful marketers say consolidated platforms deliver the most substantial ROI, only 31% of all others say so.
But there are
challenges in getting there — like silos. Here is where they hurt the most:
- Expanding reach across multiple platforms — 51%
- Personalized, cross-channel experience — 49%
- Efficient media spend and optimization — 47%
- Unified reporting and measurement —
44%
- Consistent creative and messaging — 44%
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In addition, 44% of U.S. marketers say cross-funnel measurement is their single biggest
barrier.
But they are upbeat — of the marketers polled, 75% expect budgets to increase, and 84% report stronger YoY marketing results.
Meanwhile, marketers expect AI to have an impact in these areas first:
- Creative and content production — 27%
- Data Management (CDPs,
warehouse, DMPs) — 21%
- Personalization and audience engagement—20%
- Campaign orchestration (programmatic, automation email) —
15%
- Measurement and attribution — 15%:
- Other — 2%
The study also notes that “US marketers are the
most aggressive adopters of connected TV, digital out-of-home (DOOH) and in-game, aligning with broader performance ambitions and higher budgets.
The study is based on a survey of 484 senior marketers in the US, Canada and the U.K., and StackAdapt’s platform data from a global sample of 6,000+ advertisers.