Mumbrella says 75% of Marketers See AI as the Top Consumer Trend

AI continues to dominate marketing conversations, with a significant majority of marketers recognizing its pivotal role in shaping consumer behavior and advertising strategies in 2026.

According to a Mediaocean report summarized by Mumbrella, 75% of marketers have identified AI as the most crucial consumer trend to monitor, marking the trend's fourth consecutive period of top ranking. This report highlights a pronounced shift from early-stage experimentation with AI towards its practical, hands-on implementation across marketing operations. As AI matures from a novel technology to a core capability, marketers are increasingly realigning their budgets to capitalize on its potential for enhancing operational efficiency and creative effectiveness.

The recent Mediaocean report underlines a significant transformation in how marketers perceive and utilize AI. While AI was once viewed primarily as a futuristic technology promising wholesale revolution, the focus in 2026 has shifted towards applying AI to specific, actionable marketing challenges. The adoption of AI for data analysis has reached 50%, illustrating marketers' reliance on AI's capacity to digest large datasets and deliver actionable insights.

Noteworthy is the increase of over 50% in using AI for creative development and personalized content, signaling that marketers are not just leveraging AI for backend analytics but integrating it into front-end processes that directly impact consumer engagement. Yet, the report also points to a decrease in the share of marketers who consider AI a major workflow transformer—from 28% down to 19%—indicating a more nuanced, pragmatic view. Rather than expecting instant, radical change, marketers are recognizing AI as a tool for incremental improvements that enhance efficiency and effectiveness in existing workflows.

This maturation is a natural evolution from AI's earlier life cycle, from hype and speculation to measured deployment in operational settings. The transition is characterized by a move away from AI prototypes and pilot projects towards production-ready applications supported by robust data infrastructure and automation. This shift entails greater demand for marketing technology platforms capable of integrating AI outputs seamlessly into campaign orchestration, media buying, content personalization, and performance measurement.

The Mediaocean report reveals that AI-driven media, or "AI Media," has become the fastest-growing investment category in marketing budgets, with 60% of marketers planning to increase spending in this area in the second half of 2026. This trend reflects the growing confidence in programmatic advertising platforms that use AI to optimize media buying decisions in real time.

Additionally, an overwhelming 89% of marketers aim to maintain or increase their investments in Connected TV (CTV), underscoring its role as a critical channel for reaching audiences. The convergence of AI and CTV is reshaping how marketers think about audience targeting, attribution, and cross-channel measurement. AI's prowess in handling real-time data and making predictive adjustments enhances the efficiency of advertising campaigns across streaming platforms, which continue to expand rapidly as alternatives to traditional TV.

These trends illustrate a dual focus on leveraging AI to optimize the media mix and harness emerging consumer habits anchored in streaming technologies. As media landscapes fragment and audiences distribute themselves across an increasing number of digital channels, the need for sophisticated AI tools that deliver cross-channel attribution and enable agile campaign adjustments has become more critical.

Another important finding from the Mediaocean report is the movement away from manual, spreadsheet-based marketing workflows toward more automated and integrated systems. About 35% of marketers are adopting API-driven automation platforms that facilitate direct-to-publisher transactions and streamline the mechanics of campaign execution.

This shift is an essential component of embedding AI into marketing operations. Automation powered by APIs not only reduces human error and speeds up repetitive tasks but also allows for real-time data sharing between platforms. This connectivity enhances marketers' ability to deploy AI models effectively, ensuring that intelligence generated from data feeds smoothly into activation and optimization steps.

Experts in the marketing technology space emphasize that the true value of AI emerges when it is operationalized across the campaign lifecycle—from planning and activation to measurement and continuous optimization. The integration of AI into these stages enables marketing teams to make stronger, data-driven decisions faster, ultimately driving better business outcomes.

The Mediaocean findings align broadly with the broader AI and marketing landscape trends noted by industry analysts in 2026. Major marketing brands are focusing on hyper-personalization fueled by AI, predictive analytics to forecast customer behavior, and enhanced automation to accelerate campaign execution.

A key takeaway from recent thought leadership is that AI is no longer simply a tool but a foundational piece of modern marketing infrastructure. It supports not only operational tasks but also strategic initiatives, such as crafting customer journeys that are both relevant and respectful—emphasizing ethical AI use and consumer trust.

Moreover, the increased ROI and engagement reported by companies that embed AI into their marketing stacks reflect the technology's proven impact. Reports show a 22% higher ROI and 47% better click-through rates for AI-supported campaigns, along with markedly faster campaign launch times compared to manual approaches.

Looking ahead, marketers are set to focus on refining their AI use cases to maximize efficiency and personalization while maintaining ethical standards. The drop in marketing professionals viewing AI as a sweeping workflow disruptor suggests a shift toward incremental improvements and the scaling of successful AI implementations rather than grand, high-risk overhauls.

Key indicators to watch include the adoption of automation platforms with strong API ecosystems, the rise of creative automation tools, and deeper integration between AI-generated insights and media-buying platforms. Vendors and agencies are expected to collaborate on innovations that embed AI more deeply into measurement and optimization workflows, closing the loop between intelligence gathering and marketing action.

While AI remains the dominant consumer trend in marketing, its role is evolving. Marketers are no longer experimenting with AI as an abstract concept but are operationalizing it to improve decision-making, automate routine tasks, and enhance creative output. This transition to pragmatic AI adoption signals a maturing market that recognizes AI not as magic but as a critical enabler of smarter, faster, and more personalized marketing strategies.

Sources