2026 trends: AI's impact on advertising strategy and execution
In 2025, Nexxen launched nexAI across its unified ad tech stack. The aim: make planning, activation, optimisation, insights and monetisation faster, clearer, and closer to real outcomes. That launch sets the tone for how AI will reshape day-to-day marketing work in 2026.
The takeaway for marketers: AI won't sit on the sidelines. It will sit inside your workflow, inform every decision, and connect strategy with execution in real time.
AI assistants become the operating system for media teams
Janice Chan, VP of Platform and Client Services APAC at Nexxen, expects AI assistants to give marketers real-time visibility into performance and outcomes. Tools like nexAI translate complex data into clear actions and push those actions directly into campaigns. Work that once required specialists becomes simpler and faster for practitioners.
- Move "data to action" inside your platform. Cut manual hops between BI, planning docs, and activation.
- Standardise prompts and QA checklists for common tasks (forecasting, pacing, creative testing, budget shifts).
- Set guardrails: allowed levers, budget caps, and brand controls the assistant must respect.
Real-time optimisation gets smarter and more automated
Chan also points to deeper automation: predictive modelling for audiences, bidding, pacing and budget allocation that improves through iterative learning. nexAI monitors and optimises live, focusing on ROI and incrementality as signals get richer.
- Define the optimisation objective clearly (e.g., CPA with ROI floor, incremental reach at a cost ceiling).
- Feed the model fresh signals: creative variants, audience seeds, and conversion quality markers.
- Use constraints: frequency ranges, inventory preferences, and spend velocity to avoid waste.
- Review weekly learning cycles and lock in what works via automated rules.
Automation frees time for higher-value work
As repetitive tasks and daily tuning shift to AI, teams can focus on strategy, growth experiments, and client relationships. That means leaders need to accelerate upskilling and evolve team capabilities to keep pace.
- Reskill media managers on prompt writing, experiment design, and AI-assisted analysis.
- Redraw roles: fewer manual operators, more strategists and analytics-minded planners.
- Create an internal playbook that documents what the AI changes, what humans decide, and how exceptions are handled.
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ACR data is central to TV and streaming planning
Viewing is fragmented across linear and streaming. Nexxen expanded its TV Intelligence solution in Australia with an Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) dataset across more than 1.9 million devices, giving buyers a clearer view of cross-platform behaviour.
Alex Gregory, Head of Sales, ANZ, notes that seeing across both linear and streaming helps traders make smarter investment decisions. In 2026, cross-platform data won't just inform planning; it will guide targeting, creative sequencing, and live reallocation.
- Unify IDs and normalise frequency across linear and CTV. Prioritise deduplicated reach.
- Target based on viewing behaviour clusters, not just demographics.
- Use ACR to find light-TV and cord-never segments where incremental reach is highest.
- Set up always-on measurement to spot shifts in viewing patterns and adjust weekly.
Partnerships will decide scale and flexibility
Premium CTV inventory is expanding, but reaching the right viewers needs flexibility across the buy and sell sides. Adam Hunt, VP of Business Development and Partnerships, JAPAC at Nexxen, highlights that streaming partners vary in tech preferences-some integrate supply-side, others demand-side, many use both. The priority is meeting each partner where they are while giving advertisers better reach and outcomes.
In 2026, delivering incremental audiences becomes a key differentiator. Partnerships powered by data and insights will help both platforms and advertisers find the next slice of reachable, responsive viewers.
- Map supply paths by content type, audience overlap, and cost efficiency-not just price.
- Structure deals that allow fast shifts between curated supply, PMPs, and open auctions.
- Measure incrementality by partner and use that metric to guide renewals and budget splits.
What marketing leaders should do in Q1 2026
- Run a two-week audit of repetitive tasks; hand the top three to AI assistants.
- Stand up a cross-platform measurement plan using ACR to track deduped reach and frequency.
- Rebuild your budgeting model with "always-on" reallocation rules driven by ROI thresholds.
- Launch one creative learning agenda per quarter: message variants, sequencing, and format testing.
- Formalise an upskilling path for media, analytics, and client teams with clear milestones.
2026 won't be about adding more tools-it will be about tighter loops between data, decisions, and delivery. Marketers who build those loops now will move faster, waste less, and win more consistent results.
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