In 2026, Industry experts tell TV Tech to expect companies promoting artificial intelligence will attempt to move beyond hype and become a more practical, useful tool, but are wary about security and legislation to rein in some of its darker consequences.
But most agree that its cultural impact—from marketing to advertising, content discovery and media production—has yet to be fully felt.
Synamedia, Elke Hungenaert, VP of Product Management, Video Network
The biggest AI impact in 2026 is the most unsexy-operations: The hype cycle is over; practicality will take center stage. Operational AI, specifically LLM-driven automation, will transform the video software industry in 2026 by delivering measurable improvements in reliability and scalability alongside a reduced operational burden.
The most significant AI breakthroughs will be behind the scenes, with the automation of workflow ‘micro-decisions’ such as meta-data triggers and synchronization. Copilots that read configurations, detect anomalies, forecast issues, interpret logs, and guide operators through fixes in real time will also become the norm.
Quickplay, Paul Pastor Chief Business Officer
From dabbling to de riguer: The industrialization of media AI: The shiny object phase of Generative AI is over. 2026 is the year of scaling AI throughout the media enterprise. I predict that media companies will shift focus from Generative AI (creating content) to Operational AI (managing yield). We will see the rise of connectivity points where recommendation engines, ad-tech, CMS and analytics, to name a few, share a single brain.
This unified layer will learn to re-cut long-form content into shorts, for example, tag it with metadata for discovery, and serve it to the user most likely to churn. AI will not replace creativity but solve the metadata mess. It will become the connective tissue that links disparate systems, deriving greater value from current assets and driving greater value to consumers by predicting exactly what a user wants/needs to see next to prevent them from wandering off to another platform or worse yet, hit the cancel button.
Adtaxi
Identity is being rewritten: Privacy walls are rising and cookies are disappearing, which means that understanding consumers will increasingly rely on location, context, and intent—no longer static profiles.
Marketers may have to test more: Meta's Andromeda AI model has increased its efficiency, which means teams should be looking at how to evolve with these models and continuing to test ad creatives. Integrating various Advantage+ Creative options in the coming year may be more fruitful than in years past, but we recommend testing slowly and intentionally.
The traditional funnel is going away: Consumers are moving seamlessly from scroll to story to sale, without following a linear path, permanently changing how influence translates into revenue.
Artificial intelligence is quietly becoming the new front door to the internet: AI is no longer supporting the customer journey… it is the customer journey. Discovery, decision-making, and purchase are expected to all be AI-driven, with social platforms acting as recommendation engines and even checkout lanes.
Digital Culture Group, Crystal Foote, Founder and Head of Partnerships
Diversity and cultural intelligence will become Ai’s strategic edge: In 2026, the most effective AI-driven campaigns will come not from those with the largest datasets, but from brands that embed cultural intelligence into the core of their tech infrastructure. AI is only as effective as its operator; without diverse talent guiding its development and deployment, campaigns risk automating bias instead of unlocking insight.
Authentic cultural resonance requires more than data: IT demands teams with lived experience and cultural fluency. Agencies that eliminated DEI roles missed a critical opportunity to evolve those positions into AI and innovation leadership. The expertise required to detect and mitigate bias, understand nuance, and build inclusive strategies already existed within those roles. To succeed in the next wave of AI, brands must reimagine their organizational structures—infusing diversity not as a layer of review, but as a strategic function at the foundation of how AI is built, trained, and applied.
The smartest startups will seek collaboration, not acquisition: In 2026, the most meaningful AI innovation in advertising won’t come from big tech—it will come from startups. Agile and unencumbered by red tape, these companies will lead by building culturally intelligent, partnership-driven solutions that reflect how people actually live and choose. They’ll use AI not just to automate but to anticipate—decoding emotional, behavioral and cultural signals in real time.
The smartest founders won’t wait for acquisition offers; they’ll build power through collaboration. By joining forces with other nimble innovators, they’ll form ecosystems of shared data, creativity and cultural fluency that big tech can’t replicate. Together, these partnerships will create value through clarity, resonance and measurable outcomes shaping the future of advertising on their own terms.
IAB Tech Lab, CEO Anthony Katsur
LLMs will force a new economic model for the open web: Large Language Models are accelerating a profound shift in how audiences discover and consume information, and the economic foundations of the open web are under strain. Zero-click behaviour now accounts for nearly sixty percent of searches, contributing to double digit declines in referral traffic for many publishers and far sharper drops in news. As AI summaries increasingly replace traditional search pathways, publishers are losing both audience and monetizable attention, while generative AI platforms continue to expand their user bases without proportionally returning value to the sources they rely upon.
This imbalance will trigger sustained regulatory and legal pressure across global markets in 2026. Courts and policymakers are increasingly unwilling to allow AI platforms to extract value from copyrighted content without compensation. A recent German court ruling found that OpenAI violated German copyright law and ordered the company to pay damages, establishing one of the clearest precedents yet that LLMs must financially compensate rights holders. Similar regulatory approaches are emerging in other jurisdictions, indicating a global shift toward enforcing economic fairness in AI content use.
As audiences migrate toward AI mediated discovery and traditional search-based business models erode, the industry will be forced to pursue a durable, long-term economic model ensuring open web media companies can sustain themselves. Without a rebalanced system in which value flows back to content creators, the open web risks deep structural decline at the very moment its importance to AI models is increasing.
AI matures, but agentic advertising faces false starts as creative production becomes the first true breakthrough: As we look to 2026, the digital media economy will enter a formative yet unsettled phase for AI-driven innovation. Although AI solutions will increasingly take shape, the industry should expect several false starts in deploying agentic solutions. The promise of agentic AI is real and meaningful, yet its practical application will require years of market experimentation, standardization, and alignment across platforms, agencies, and publishers.
In the near term, the most immediate and measurable efficiencies will arise in creative generation and copywriting. Generative AI is already reshaping these workflows, and leading global brands such as Coca-Cola and General Motors are demonstrating how AI-driven content production can dramatically accelerate creative cycles while maintaining brand integrity. In 2026, this will become the first area of true operational transformation across the broader ecosystem.
By contrast, agentic AI will be characterized by competing models, proprietary implementations, and a fragmented set of early solutions. While experimentation will accelerate across the industry, a unified approach is unlikely to emerge for several years as buyers, sellers, and technology partners test and iterate on divergent architectures.
In short, 2026 will be a year of meaningful progress tempered by uneven execution. Generative AI will deliver tangible value in creative production, led by pioneering brands already proving what is possible, while the broader agentic future will require continued investment, collaboration, and standardization.
Fuzzy Door Tech: Faith Sedlin, President, Gene Reddick, CTO & Brandon Fayette, CPO
As AI continues to gain acceptance, 2026 promises to be another year where imagination and innovation converge. Here are a few trends we see on the horizon:
Prediction 1: AI Ttols shift from chance to creative control:
Gene: “AI tools are advancing rapidly, but the industry will still be in the early adoption phase through 2026. Tools will evolve beyond the current 10-second clip limit to support longer, more consistent sequences where the same characters, props, and environments persist across shots. This shift will enable filmmakers to edit portions of scenes and maintain visual continuity. As we cross this hurdle, we may start to see even more control over lighting adjustments, camera moves and shot variation.”
Prediction 2: AI ethics and legal guardrails emerge:
Faith: “AI adoption is accelerating with early adopters leading the charge. In 2026, we’ll see clearer ethical guidelines, legal frameworks, and business models for responsible use. This includes defining what can and can’t be done with someone's likeness, how AI-generated assets are attributed and policies to protect both content and creators. Guilds and studios who are sometimes foes, will come together to navigate this new terrain safely, creating an opportunity for collective progress.”
Prediction 3: Indie filmmaker's lead AI experimentation
Brandon: “In 2026, independent filmmakers and smaller studios will push the boundaries of AI-driven production, using generative tools to create content that is ‘final pixel-ready.’ While larger studios are still experimenting cautiously, indie teams will demonstrate what’s possible – moving beyond testing the waters with visual effects and AI dialogue to deliver more ambitious, polished stories. These early adopters will showcase how AI can accelerate creativity, reduce costs, and open up new avenues for storytelling.”
Future Today, Vikrant Mathur, Co-Founder
AI will empower SMBs to compete with giants in advertising: AI flips the power dynamic in advertising next year. Small and mid-sized businesses will compete on the same playing field as the world’s biggest brands — not because they’re spending more, but because they’re thinking smarter. The same sophistication that once required big budgets and agency-scale resources can now be achieved through intuitive, AI-powered platforms.
The next wave of AI innovation will be less about flashy creative tools and more intelligence at the infrastructure level: real-time price floor optimization, dynamic audience segmentation, and contextual tracking that works without IDs or cookies. However, the true differentiator won’t be the algorithms but the humans who know how to use them. When machine precision meets human insight, brands can deeply understand audiences and reflect real values, to deliver authentic and effective ads.
Yahoo DSP, Joshua John, Head of Strategy
AI becomes the primary gatekeeper of discovery. Seventy-five percent of executives say OS-level AI assistants will increasingly determine which shows and services are surfaced on TV home screens, shifting power away from individual apps.
AI reshapes what gets watched, not what gets written. Nearly half say AI’s biggest near-term creative impact will be in automated trailer creation, artwork testing and content packaging. Respondents see AI enabling faster, scalable creation of thumbnails, cuts and promotional assets tailored to different audiences at a speed impossible with manual workflows.
GQI: Misha Williams, COO
Generic AI will collapse under its own weight. In 2026, the threat to marketing won’t be AI hallucination—it’ll be AI homogeneity. As more brands rely on the same public models, strategies will start to blur. What once felt like an edge will become indistinguishable. The real differentiator? Specificity. Brands embedding real-time, psychographic data into their AI tools won’t just move fast, They’ll move meaningfully. In a world of sameness, relevance becomes the moat.
Human data will be the next great AI differentiator. In 2026, the smartest AI won’t be the biggest—it’ll be the most human. Most tools today are trained on scraped, outdated or synthetic data. The result? Insight that feels off, or worse, biased. Winning brands will pair AI with real, structured, psychographic data, turning automation into cultural relevance. Truth, not scale, will be the new benchmark.
Digital Remedy , Matt Fanelli, CRO
AI becomes the silent architect of every media plan: AI will move from a novelty tool to the default engine behind planning, transforming how campaigns are built. Instead of starting fresh each cycle, planning will draw from continuously updating behavioral intelligence, shrinking weeks of manual work into hours.
The real shift is continuity: AI will carry forward what drove performance and what didn’t, creating a compounding advantage traditional workflows can’t match. As this becomes standard, the gap will widen between advertisers who plan with live intelligence and those relying on last quarter’s assumptions. In 2026, the fastest-growing brands will be the ones whose media plans never start at zero.
Looper Insights, Lucas Bertrand, CEO
AI becomes the primary gatekeeper of discovery: 75% of executives say OS-level AI assistants will increasingly determine which shows and services are surfaced on TV home screens, shifting power away from individual apps.
AI reshapes what gets watched, not what gets written: Nearly half say AI’s biggest near-term creative impact will be in automated trailer creation, artwork testing, and content packaging. Respondents see AI enabling faster, scalable creation of thumbnails, cuts, and promotional assets tailored to different audiences at a speed impossible with manual workflows.
