This story was originally published in On Background with Mark Stenberg, a free, weekly newsletter that explores the key themes shaping the media industry. You can sign up for it here.
The media industry spent much of 2025 reacting: to AI-driven traffic volatility, to shifting advertiser expectations, and to the collapse of familiar playbooks.
Looking ahead to 2026, a dozen media executives told ADWEEK they anticipate a year defined less by experimentation and more by sorting: what scales, what doesn’t, and what audiences and marketers will actually reward in an AI-saturated environment.
Across the industry, the predictions converge around a few core ideas.