92% of marketers say AI is remaking customer engagement. Here's how to make it work in 2026
AI has moved from experiment to core marketing infrastructure. In Smartly's 2026 Digital Trends Report, 92% of marketers say AI is changing how they connect with customers - and those who go all-in waste less budget and scale faster.
The report draws on 450 marketers across the US, UK, and Germany, each spending $5M+ in paid media. Conducted by Reach3 Insights in August 2025, it maps where budgets are going and which teams are actually seeing performance lift.
Key takeaways at a glance
- AI is now table stakes: 95% use AI for creative generation or optimization.
- Waste drops with precision: Precision-first marketers are 27% more likely to keep media waste under 10%.
- Video connects everything: It's the default format across social, CTV, and even audio platforms.
- Cross-channel wins: Precision-first teams run ads on 6+ platforms and adopt new channels faster.
- Predictive over reactive: AI-led planning, validation, and pre-launch QA are separating leaders from the pack.
AI is redefining the funnel into fluid, predictive journeys
Smartly's data points to a clear shift: AI is replacing manual, reactive optimization with predictive decisioning. Instead of linear funnel thinking, teams are building fluid systems that adapt creative, budget, and placements in real time.
One-third of marketers already deploy predictive modeling, creative validation, or AI-generated creative pre-launch. Another 86% plan to expand these capabilities in 2026. This is where the efficiency gains are coming from.
Meet the precision-first marketer
Precision-first marketers run AI across six or more platforms and push it into planning and creative, not just bid tweaks. They advertise across roughly 2x the number of platforms as their peers and are 22% more likely to apply AI in campaign planning and creative development.
They're also more aggressive testers - 20% more likely to put real budget behind new platforms - and 20% more likely to use AI for ongoing optimization. The result: fewer dead ends, more incremental reach, tighter feedback loops.
Where incrementality-focused teams are active
- TikTok: 65% (vs. 50% among others)
- Meta: 82% (vs. 77%)
- YouTube: 71% (vs. 59%)
- LinkedIn: 33% (vs. 25%)
- Snapchat: 34% (vs. 26%)
- Spotify: 26% (vs. 18%)
Video is the connective tissue across channels
Video has moved from advantage to expectation. Smartly's platform data shows nearly all customers ran video ads in 2025. And budgets are following video-heavy channels into 2026.
Planned 2026 spending increases
- Meta, YouTube, TikTok: 50%+ plan to increase
- LinkedIn video: 46%
- Spotify and Connected TV: 44%
- Twitter/X: 43%
- Pinterest: 41%
- Snapchat: 36%
- Reddit: 34%
Regional priorities
- Connected TV: UK 65%, US 41%, DE 53%
- YouTube: UK 70%, US 60%, DE 56%
- Meta: US 77%, DE 63%, UK 65%
The big shift: video isn't confined to "video platforms." LinkedIn, Reddit, and Spotify now offer in-feed and immersive placements that support full-funnel performance - especially when paired with AI-led creative iteration.
Predictive intelligence cuts waste before launch
The teams keeping waste in check do one thing differently: they solve problems before the first impression is bought. Precision-first marketers are 40% more likely to use AI to QA campaign setup pre-launch and 35% more likely to use AI in creative development.
Where budgets are leaking today
- 1-10% waste: 29% of marketers
- 11-20%: 35%
- 21-30%: 21%
- 31-40%: 8%
- 41-50%: 2%
- 50%+: 4%
If you're above 20%, it's a signal to tighten your pre-flight process and expand AI's role beyond bidding into planning, creative, and QA.
What to do next: a 6-step 2026 playbook
- Expand your surface area: Get to 6+ active platforms. Treat CTV, Reddit, and Spotify as incremental reach, not nice-to-haves.
- Adopt predictive workflows: Use AI for audience modeling, budget simulation, and pre-flight checks. Stop "fixing in-flight" what you can prevent upfront.
- Operationalize creative AI: Standardize rapid video iteration (hooks, formats, aspect ratios). Validate concepts with AI before production spend.
- Install pre-launch QA: Automate checks for tracking, naming, placements, exclusions, geo, and creative-policy compliance.
- Measure incrementality: Run holdouts or geo splits per platform cluster. Prioritize channels that add net-new reach, not just clicks.
- Budget for testing: Ringfence a test budget each quarter. Commit enough spend to learn quickly, then scale winners.
Bottom line
AI isn't a single tool. It's an operating system for media, creative, and measurement. The marketers who push it into planning, creative, and QA - across more channels - are the ones spending less to get more.
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