"There are over 500 sessions at Advertising Week New York this year, but the most revealing ones address how marketers are adapting to fundamental shifts in consumer behavior and technology," said our analyst Jeremy Goldman, during a recent episode of "Behind the Numbers."

The annual industry event, running October 6-9, will bring together 16,000 attendees from over 4,000 companies to hear 1,300 speakers across hundreds of sessions. Here’s a sneak peek at what we’ll be paying close attention to.

Social media's evolution into a decision engine

Reddit's resurgence as an information source is driving renewed interest in social platforms as decision-making tools.

"People aren't necessarily focusing enough on social as a decision engine for purchasing and recommendations," Goldman said, highlighting the session entitled "Can I Get a Second Opinion on Social Media?" which explores how consumers increasingly turn to social platforms for critical decisions.

• This trend is supported by data showing Reddit’s user growth, which increased from 111 million US users in 2023 to 170 million this year, per EMARKETER’s forecast, largely driven by its prominence in AI search results.
• Reddit is the second-most cited website by Google AI Overviews, according to Semrush data, creating what Goldman calls a "second window" for the platform.

Although the extent to which consumers trust information on social media remains uncertain, the message for marketers is clear.

"Whether or not all of the information is true, your customers and prospects are on social," said Goldman. "If you're not part of that conversation, what chance do you have at really being discovered?"

CTV's growing pains amid rapid expansion

Another session, "Streaming Strategic Advantage: How Precision Meets Scale," addresses the challenges in connected TV (CTV) advertising as audiences shift from linear television.

For the first time this year, US adults’ CTV viewing time will surpass traditional TV, per a May 2025 EMARKETER forecast. Despite this growth, advertisers face significant hurdles in the CTV landscape:

• Ad reach still lags behind traditional channels, while the proliferation of providers has led to a fragmented market.
• Many subscribers choose ad-free tiers, and even on sports-focused platforms, where ads might seem most secure, high churn rates remain a persistent issue.
• Measurement standards vary widely across platforms, making it difficult for advertisers to track performance confidently.

Major streaming services like Netflix have significant staying power, with 44% of subscribers willing to tolerate price increases over 30% before canceling, per Attest data, smaller players face existential challenges.

"I think of it as a game of musical chairs and somebody is going to be left without a chair," said Goldman, explaining why consolidation moves like Paramount's reported interest in Warner Bros. Discovery make strategic sense.

Agencies fighting for relevance in the AI era

Perhaps the most existentially important session is "The Agency Model of the Future," which examines how traditional agency business models are being threatened by technological and economic shifts.

"If you're a creative agency, AI is definitely a big threat," said our analyst Daniel Konstantinovic. "There are a lot of large clients like Coca-Cola who have been very publicly experimenting with AI and historically have had deep agency relationships."

The challenges facing agencies extend beyond AI.

• More large brands are bringing their advertising in-house, forcing agencies to vie for the smaller budgets of mid-sized and emerging companies.
• This forces agencies to reconsider their value proposition.
• "The agencies have to figure out where they add value and is that value going to shift and does that impact the pricing model?" Goldman notes.

Listen to the full episode

This article was prepared with the assistance of generative AI tools to support content organization, summarization, and drafting. All AI-generated contributions have been reviewed, fact-checked, and verified for accuracy and originality by EMARKETER editors. Any recommendations reflect EMARKETER’s research and human judgment.