Mediaocean Releases 2026 H2 Market Report, Revealing Marketers’ Shift from AI Hype to Hands-On Implementation

Research Finds AI Remains the Industry’s Top Trend, While Marketers Increasingly Focus on Practical Deployment, Creative Workflows, and Emerging AI Agents

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mediaocean, the foundational software and AI partner for omnichannel advertising, today released its 2026 H2 Market Report, revealing a significant shift in how marketers are approaching AI. While it remains the most important trend marketers are watching, the industry is increasingly moving beyond AI experimentation and toward practical implementation across media, creative, measurement, and operational workflows

According to the report, 75% of marketers identified AI as the most important consumer trend to watch, making it the top-ranked trend for the fourth consecutive reporting period. At the same time, marketers are increasingly applying AI to real-world business challenges. Adoption for data analysis reached 50%, while usage for creative development and personalization increased more than 50% year over year.

The findings suggest that AI has entered a new phase of maturity. Rather than viewing AI as a transformational force on its own, marketers are focusing on specific use cases that improve efficiency, enhance performance, and support decision-making. In fact, the share of marketers who believe AI is causing a major transformation in workflows declined from 28% to 19%, reflecting a more pragmatic view of how AI delivers value inside organizations.

Additional findings in Mediaocean’s 2026 H2 Market Report include:

• AI Media emerged as the fastest-growing investment category, with 60% of marketers planning to increase spend in the second half of the year.
• 89% of marketers plan to maintain or increase investment in CTV, reinforcing its position as a core pillar of the modern media mix.
• 35% of respondents are moving away from manual spreadsheet-based workflows in favor of API-driven automation and direct-to-publisher transactions.

“Over the last few years, the industry conversation has focused on whether marketers should adopt AI. But that debate is over,” said Aaron Goldman, CMO, Mediaocean. “The question now is how AI gets operationalized across planning, activation, measurement, and optimization. What this research shows is that marketers are moving beyond experimentation and looking for practical ways to connect intelligence with execution. This is an opportunity to create more connected systems that help teams move faster, make better decisions, and drive stronger outcomes.”

The 2026 H2 Market Report is the tenth installment in Mediaocean’s bi-annual research series, reflecting insights from more than 6,400 total respondents since its inception. The latest findings are based on surveys conducted in May 2026 among 312 marketing professionals spanning brands, agencies, media companies, and technology providers. The full report is available for download at: https://www.mediaocean.com/2026-advertising-outlook-report

For a deeper dive into the report, register for Mediaocean’s webinar on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, from 12-1 p.m. ET, featuring Goldman, Sixteenth Note Analytics’ Chris “Coz” Costello, and Innovid’s Megan Gall.

About Mediaocean
Mediaocean is the foundational software and AI partner for omnichannel advertising. With over $200 billion in annualized ad spend running through its platforms and more than 100,000 users worldwide. Mediaocean deploys AI and automation to optimize investments and outcomes. Through innovations such as NIVO AI, Mediaocean is helping marketers turn intelligence into action across the campaign lifecycle, Mediaocean owns and operates Prisma, the industry’s trusted system of record for media management and finance, Innovid, the leading independent ad tech platform for creative, delivery, measurement, and optimization, and Protected, an integrated solution for ad verification and brand safety. Visit www.mediaocean.com for more information.