As 2025 gives way to 2026, the advertising industry is still working through major structural shifts rather than closing the book on them. Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG is heading into its first full year of integration. OpenAI is moving closer to launching an advertising business, even as the contours of that model remain unclear. Google’s illegal ad tech monopoly case is entering a remedies phase that could reshape how digital ad dollars flow across the open web.
Against this unsettled backdrop, the balance of power among platforms, agencies, publishers and AI companies is being renegotiated. Here is a snapshot of what’s considered “in” and “out” for advertising in 2026.
- In: Worrying about LLMs scraping away ad revenue
Out: Worrying about LLMs scraping away referral traffic - In: Quadropoly
Out: Triopoly - In: In-house agents
Out: In-house agencies - In: Publishers buying traffic
Out: Publishers selling traffic - In: Browser wars over agentic
Out: Browser wars over tracking - In: Fragmentation of the open web
Out: Death of the open web - In: Holdcos selling outcomes
Out: Holdcos selling hours - In: Hidden influencer marketing fees
Out: Hidden programmatic advertising fees - In: Bemoaning CTV transparency
Out: Bemoaning display transparency - In: “AI slop is complicated”
Out: “AI slop is bad” - In: The commoditization of creative
Out: The commoditization of media buying - In: Brand safety crisis over generative AI
Out: Brand safety crisis over news - In: Retail media network upfront events
Out: Creator upfront events - In: OpenAI courting CMOs
Out: Perplexity courting CMOs - In: Sora
Out: TikTok - In: AI paywalls retaining current subscribers
Out: AI paywalls converting new subscribers - In: CMOs as conscientious objectors
Out: CMOs as politicians - In: Podcast networks
Out: Creator networks - In: Negotiating with AI companies
Out: Litigating AI companies - In: The TikToktification of publishers
Out: The YouTubification of publishers - In: Real transparency
Out: Expressed transparency - In: Niche stardom
Out: True celebrity - In: Holdcos as sellers of media
Out: Holdcos as buyers of media - In: The Trade Desk versus Amazon
Out: The Trade Desk versus SSPs - In: The Trade Desk mimicking Amazon
Out: Amazon mimicking The Trade Desk - In: Measuring programmatic transactions by microseconds
Out: Measuring programmatic transactions by minioseconds - In: Being selected
Out: Being seen - In: Holdco principal buying desks
Out: Holding trading desks - In: Agency client leaders
Out: Agency CEOs - In: Request duplication
Out: Bid duplication - In: Owning custom bidding algorithms
Out: Owning DSP contracts - In: “AI spending is taking jobs”
Out: “AI is taking jobs” - In: Agency operating companies
Out: Agency holding companies - In: Video search
Out: Keyword search - In: Evergreen content
Out: Trending content - In: Signing the biggest back catalog
Out: Signing the biggest creator
Together, these shifts highlight an industry reorienting around AI, new platform power centers and renewed focus on outcomes, transparency and long-term content value.