Ad Industry Lags in Full AI Integration for Media Campaigns

Key Statistic: Only 30% of advertising professionals have fully scaled AI across their media campaign cycles, according to January 2025 data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

AI Adoption Trends

• Publishers Lead the Way: While agencies and brands primarily use AI for audience identification and segmentation, publishers are leveraging the technology for inventory prediction and forecasting.
• Barriers to Adoption: The complexity of setup/maintenance and data security risks are the top concerns, with 62% of ad professionals citing these as significant or critical hurdles.

Industry Implications

Marketers Take Note: Companies should evaluate their AI maturity relative to peers, especially brands lagging behind agencies and publishers. Competitors and partners may already be using AI to optimize spending and performance.

Related Reports

• A Marketer’s Guide to AI Agents 2025 (EMARKETER subscription required)
• Generative AI Trends to Watch in 2025 (EMARKETER subscription required)

Methodology: Data comes from the March 2025 IAB report "State of Data 2025: The Now, the Near, and the Next Evolution of AI for Media Campaigns," conducted with BWG Strategy and Transparent Partners. The survey included 529 US ad industry professionals (buy-side and sell-side) between November 18, 2024-January 13, 2025.