Ep 154: 70% of Marketers are Behind on AI

Send us Fan MailA new Interactive Advertising Bureau study reveals how marketers are using AI.The State of Data 2025 from IAB and OneTrust takes a close look at how AI is (and isn’t) being used across media campaigns today.Based on responses from 500+ brand, agency, and publisher leaders, the report finds that while AI can now support full-funnel media execution, 70% of marketers haven’t yet scaled it across planning, activation, and analysis.Key FindingsAI adoption is still in the early stages for many organizations but is accelerating rapidly, more than half of marketers use AI tools, and agencies/publishers lead adoption, while brands often lag due to resources and costs.Most teams use general-purpose AI tools (like ChatGPT, Gemini) or platform-embedded AI for content creation, automation, and data-driven optimisations.The leading use cases are audience segmentation, predictive bidding, workflow automation, reporting, and content creation.AI delivers strong gains in efficiency, time, and cost savings, with over 70% of marketers saying it meets or exceeds these expectations.Major challenges to wider AI adoption are data quality, security concerns, a lack of expertise, tool fragmentation, and regulatory risks.Trust and governance lag: fewer than half have clear AI strategies or governance structures - privacy, accuracy, and transparency standards are most in demand.Overall, AI marketing industry value is surging: it is expected to grow from $47 billion in 2025 to over $107 billion by 2028.Want to go deeper on AI? 📖 Buy AI Playbook📩 Get my weekly LinkedIn newsletter, Human in the Loop. 🎓 Level up with the CPD Accredited AI Playbook Diploma 📞 Let's talk about AI training for your team: digitaltraining.ie or publicsectormarketingpros.com if you are in government or publics sector.