Digiday’s report, based on a survey of 142 brand and agency professionals and interviews with marketing and technology executives, finds AI tools have become embedded across marketing workflows entering 2026, yet trust and the complexity of agentic AI remain material barriers to wider adoption.
A Digiday+ Research survey of 62 agency professionals conducted in the fourth quarter of 2025 found that agencies cite reduced client spending and the effects of AI as equal leading concerns for 2026, each selected by 38% of respondents.
In a late‑2025 Digiday+ Research poll of 62 agency professionals, 38% of respondents identified reduced client budgets as the industry’s biggest challenge for 2026 and an identical 38% pointed to the effects of AI; the survey continues a trend of spending pessimism from 2025, when 47% named reduced client budgets the top concern.
A Digiday+ Research report, based on a survey of 40 publisher professionals and interviews with publisher executives, says generative AI fits editorial workflows better than predictive AI. The finding appears in a member-exclusive Digiday article summarizing the report.
Digiday’s excerpt describes a report—drawn from a survey of 40 publisher professionals and follow-up interviews—that concludes generative AI is more compatible with newsroom editorial tasks than predictive AI, as publishers seek the right roles for AI after the technology moved into mainstream workflows.