Executive Briefing: Saturday 10 October

Executive summary Global advertising spend is set to climb significantly in 2026, yet marketers face substantial waste in programmatic channels. Artificial intelligence is rapidly redefining competitive landscapes in retail search, while major agency groups are realigning leadership and strategies for the evolving media environment. These shifts highlight a critical need for smarter investment and proactive intelligence across all marketing functions. Marketers waste billions on Made-for-Advertising sites Advertisers wasted an estimated $13 billion on Made-for-Advertising (MFA) sites in 2023 alone, according to the Association of National Advertisers. These sites, designed solely to siphon programmatic ad budgets, comprised 21% of programmatic ad impressions and attracted 15% of ad spend. MFA sites publish low-effort, often machine-written content, pack pages with ads, and acquire cheap traffic through arbitrage, creating a business model that provides zero value to brands beyond generating impressions. This extensive waste means that only 36 cents of every dollar entering a demand-side platform effectively reaches the end consumer, with 35% lost to low-value environments like MFA sites, highlighting a critical need for greater scrutiny in programmatic media buying. AI reshapes competitive landscape in retail search Artificial intelligence is fundamentally altering how consumers discover retailers, presenting a new competitive dynamic for brands. A study found that when customers asked AI for appliance retailer recommendations, previously untracked businesses appeared prominently, with one online retailer named in 99% of AI answers for appliance questions. The competitive set identified by AI models like OpenAI, Gemini, and Claude often differs significantly from traditional market tracking, and even shifts based on the specificity of the consumer's query, such as asking for "real-time availability" versus "best retailer." This means retailers tracking only established competitors risk missing significant business volume directed elsewhere by AI-driven search, necessitating a re-evaluation of competitive intelligence and presence on the "AI shelf." Global ad spend surges, driven by performance channels Global advertising spend is projected to grow by 11.9% to $1.34 trillion in 2026, following 10.0% growth in both 2024 and 2025, according to WARC Media. This expansion occurs despite consumer pressures and geopolitical uncertainty, fuelled by corporate AI investment and major events like the Olympics and FIFA World Cup. Performance-oriented channels continue to dominate, with social media, search, and retail media expected to account for 66.4% of global ad spend in 2026, rising to 70% by 2028. Social media is forecast to be the fastest-growing channel, increasing 21.3% to $394.6 billion this year. Technology and electronics is predicted to be the fastest-growing product category, up 20.7%, with social media making up 40.2% of its ad spend. This indicates a sustained shift towards measurable, agile channels. Agency landscape sees leadership shifts and strategic realignments The agency sector is undergoing significant strategic shifts and leadership changes, reflecting the evolving demands of the AI era. WPP has appointed Tyler Turnbull, currently Global CEO of McCann, as its new CEO of WPP Creative from early 2027. Turnbull is tasked with integrating WPP's creative offerings with its media, data, production, commerce, and technology capabilities to create a new kind of growth partner for clients. Concurrently, Accenture has ceased reporting specific revenue figures for its Song marketing and creative arm, folding it into a new "Reinvention Services" line. This move, noted by Forrester analyst Jay Pattisall, complicates competitive comparisons and raises questions about Song's global media ambitions and the impact of AI on labour-based work, suggesting a broader re-evaluation of how large consultancies position their marketing services.