Marketers embrace AI in the campaign process while struggling to navigate its complexity

AI is reshaping media campaigns—but most companies haven’t fully integrated it yet, according to the State of Data 2025 report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). While publishers are leading, agencies and brands are catching up, with many expecting full deployment within the next few years. However, challenges like complexity and data security are prompting the need for clearer strategies, use case definitions, and performance metrics.

Here are five key data points from the IAB report and their implications for brands, agencies, publishers, and AI solutions providers.

1. AI isn’t fully integrated into media campaigns—yet

A majority (70%) of agencies, brands, and publishers haven’t fully scaled AI across media planning, activation, and analysis.

• Publishers are the furthest along in AI adoption, with 37% saying they’ve reached full-scale deployment.
• Over half (53%) of agencies, brands, and publishers expect full-scale deployment by 2026, while 30% are eyeing full-scale deployment by 2027 and beyond.

The takeaway: Full-scale deployment will differentiate brands, agencies, and publishers, while AI providers will rush to make it easier to scale their tech across the organization.

2. Complexity and security slow progress

Nearly two-thirds of agencies, brands, and publishers cite significant challenges in incorporating AI into their media campaigns.

• Complexity of setup/maintenance and data security risks are the biggest barriers to adoption, with each cited as a top challenge by 62% of respondents.
• To overcome these challenges, 49% of companies are using or planning to use strategic roadmaps for AI use over time. The same percentage will or plan to use a clear list of approved AI use cases, while 40% have or will develop defined KPIs specifically for AI solutions.

The takeaway: Implementing AI can be time- and resource-intensive, but brands that put in the work will benefit long-term. AI solution providers should identify clients’ biggest pain points and solve them, whether through a seamless onboarding process, rigorous security guardrails, or helping organizations develop their own AI guidelines.

3. Companies are identifying key AI use cases

Identifying/segmenting audiences is the top use case across the media campaign lifecycle for agencies (51%) and brands (36%).

• Other top use cases include predictive real-time bid adjustments, automated data collection/integration, and tracking and optimizing ad delivery and conversions.
• Agencies (37%) are twice as likely as brands (18%) to use AI to analyze performance data against campaign goals.

The takeaway: Brands and agencies want to make their campaigns more efficient and effective. AI tools can help organizations make sense of the massive amounts of data brands have and fill gaps where signals are lost.

4. Use cases will continue to evolve

Agencies, brands, and publishers are actively experimenting with new use cases.

• Agencies are focused on real-time optimization and measurement, conducting AI pilots for real-time budget allocation shifts and predictive real-time bid adjustments, multi-touch attribution modeling, and marketing mix models.
• Meanwhile, brands are zeroing in how AI can enhance targeting strategies and automate campaigns. They’re also experimenting with AI to create RFPs or other media campaign docs.
• Publishers are all about optimizing inventory and audience engagement, using AI pilots to leverage behavioral data to recommend ad placements or analyze and attribute campaign incremental lift.

The takeaway: As AI evolves, it may unlock new cases and opportunities, so brands, agencies, and publishers should continually evaluate AI’s role in the campaign process. AI providers should also think ahead, highlighting current and future use cases for their technology.

5. AI is meeting most expectations

Over three-quarters (76%) of agencies, brands, and publishers say AI generally/consistently meets expectations around efficiency, resulting in time, resource, and/or cost savings.

• 71% say AI has achieved the desired impact on media campaign processes and 69% say AI’s performance is consistent over time.
• Over two-thirds of respondents say AI is efficient, effective, and reliable when used for audience segmentation and data aggregation/reporting.
• However, less than half say the same about its role in ad fraud/brand safety monitoring and RFP/contract management.

The takeaway: AI’s reputation as an efficiency-booster has been solidified across the digital advertising industry. However, there’s room for improvement, particularly when it comes to more advanced or complex tasks.

This was originally featured in the EMARKETER Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.