Our analysts (or “bakers”) will compete in a Great British Bake Off–style episode, discussing how new standards will unlock agentic ad buying and selling, and how (and why) YouTube will benefit most from the surge in video podcasts. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, along with Senior Analyst Ross Benes and Principal Analyst Yory Wurmser. Listen everywhere, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

On today’s special podcast episode, we discuss the major headlines we expect to see and some significant milestones in the coming year—and bundle it all into a giant quiz. What happens to YouTube in 2026? What will shoppers start letting AI agents do for them? And much, much more. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, along with Vice Presidents of Content Suzy Davidkhanian and Paul Verna, and Senior Analyst Blake Droesch. Listen everywhere, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

In a year marked by platform volatility, AI acceleration, tariff shocks, and shifting consumer behavior, marketers searched for clarity across EMARKETER’s most-read topics. The top 10 themes reflect where advertiser attention truly moved in 2025. These trends captured the forces reshaping performance, discovery, and measurement: AI-driven optimization, creator-centric social ecosystems, commerce-led advertising, and CTV’s rise as the new premium video default. Together, they tell the story of a market recalibrating around efficiency, accountability, and cultural relevance as marketers prepared their 2026 strategies.

Major shifts from aging cohorts to rising media time and uneven AI adoption set the stage for another unpredictable year. Here are five charts to help your business understand these changes and kick-start the new year.

New data shows traditional SEO success no longer guarantees visibility inside generative AI answers. Ahrefs found that fewer than 9% of ChatGPT and Gemini citations come from URLs ranked in Google’s top 10 results—meaning more than 90% of high-ranking organic pages never appear in AI responses. Instead, LLMs lean heavily on community-driven sources like Reddit, YouTube, Wikipedia, Yelp, and TripAdvisor, dramatically reshaping early-stage discovery. With LLM usage exceeding one billion monthly users, brands that do not participate in open forums risk disappearing from AI-mediated journeys. Marketers must treat GEO as a distinct discipline, not an extension of SEO.

Tailoring marketing to Gen Alpha is proving critical for brands looking to capitalize on their emerging influence.

Reddit ad spend is growing 46.3% YoY, more than double Instagram's growth rate and five times TikTok's, according to a November report from Sensor Tower.

Even as the majority of podcasters (71%) use video, per Sounds Profitable, video podcast ads are falling short of driving purchases compared with audio ads. YouTube’s video podcast ads are 18% to 25% less effective than audio downloads at driving users to purchase, according to an Oxford Road and Podscribe study. Video podcast consumption is growing, and YouTube remains the largest media platform globally, but advertisers looking to target podcast consumers specifically must make audio a core part of their campaign planning.

YouTube is experimenting with AI avatars based on a small group of popular creators via Google’s “Portraits” feature, which allows fans to have conversations with AI versions of real-life creators. Advertisers should approach AI creators with cautious interest, closely monitoring how the format evolves as an ad opportunity while balancing emerging AI capabilities with consumers’ sensitivity to authenticity.

On today’s EMARKETER Miniseries—AI-Driven Media Management—we explore how to break down the media manager role into workflows that can be automated or augmented by agentic AI, what agencies misunderstand about AI, and which agency tasks are ripest to hand off to AI right now. EMARKETER Senior Director of Content Jeremy Goldman speaks with Adam Epstein, co-founder and CEO of Gigi. Listen everywhere you find podcasts, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Creator marketing will scale in 2026 as brands chase measurable outcomes. At the same time, pressures from AI, shifting platform incentives, and rising automation will reshape how creators earn and grow.

From Gen Alpha’s social video boom to millennials’ tech anxieties and boomers’ ecommerce power, this report spotlights the generational forces that will drive consumer behavior in 2026.

"The retail media landscape is only becoming more crowded, but Target's guest insights are often cited as a key differentiator," said our analyst Sarah Marzano during EMARKETER's recent Commerce Media Summit.

YouTube’s vast, diverse user base makes it the most widely adopted digital platform in the US. But engagement varies meaningfully across age, race and ethnicity, and gender. This report breaks down who is watching and how usage differs across demographic groups.

The Academy Awards will leave ABC after nearly 50 years and stream exclusively on YouTube beginning in 2029—a decisive acknowledgment that audience attention has migrated to digital TV. The deal gives the Academy expanded year-round programming options, flexible sponsorship formats, and a global distribution footprint that linear networks can no longer match. YouTube, now the No. 1 source of US TV viewing time at 13%, gains a premier cultural event as it continues its push into live programming alongside NFL Sunday Ticket. For marketers, the Oscars’ move underscores how YouTube has become the industry’s default television—and a must-buy for premium reach.

Fragmented habits define the sports consumer in Canada, where fans juggle platforms, formats, and betting styles. Engagement is high, but attention and spending are spread widely—forcing marketers to compete for moments rather than dominance.

Digital ad spending remains resilient although economic signals are wobbly. AI-driven optimization, richer first-party data, and surging digital video will keep growth strong even as search shifts and traditional budgets fade.

WPP Media and YouTube are expanding their partnership to bring non-public YouTube video and creator data into WPP’s AI system WPP Open, per a press release. Taking advantage of WPP Media’s offering gives advertisers the ability to partner with creators on the most popular social platform in a far more measurable, practical, and effective way than before.

Generational habits are diverging as younger audiences move deeper into video-first behaviors while older groups scale back. These shifts are reshaping where marketers can gain attention and how they compete for it.

Generational splits shape how consumers find, research, and trust banks. Younger adults move through digital channels with ease, while older adults rely on branches, human support, and established institutions.