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StackAdapt has released its State of Programmatic Advertising 2026 report, revealing a significant performance gap between marketing leaders and laggards. The research, based on insights from senior marketers and platform data, shows that top performers are four times more likely to consolidate their technology stacks and pragmatically adopt AI to unify channels and drive growth, marking a defining transition in the programmatic landscape.
StackAdapt's 2026 report finds top marketing performers are 4X more likely to consolidate tech stacks.
Leaders are using AI to unify channels, data, and creative across the funnel.
Despite overall optimism, a maturity gap exists between ambition and operational execution.
75% of marketers run omnichannel campaigns but lack infrastructure for consistent cross-channel insights.
The report is based on a survey of 484 senior marketers and data from over 6,000 global advertisers.
The shift indicates fragmented tools and siloed execution are becoming a competitive disadvantage.
The report indicates that programmatic advertising is at an inflection point where adding more tools is less effective than consolidating around unified platforms. Top performers are pulling ahead by embedding AI into execution to connect creative, data, and media seamlessly. Yang Han, Co-Founder and CTO of StackAdapt, explained the shift, stating, “The marketers seeing the strongest gains aren’t adding more tools—they’re consolidating around platforms that can connect channels, data, and AI in one system. That shift is unlocking faster learning, stronger performance, and more efficient growth.”
While omnichannel marketing is widely adopted, the report highlights a critical disconnect: most marketers lack the integrated infrastructure to act on cross-channel insights consistently. This leads to fragmented activation, wasted spend, and uneven performance. Han emphasized the need to turn visibility into action, adding, “Measurement has finally caught up, but execution hasn’t. In 2026, the advantage will belong to marketers who turn visibility into action, using AI to accelerate what’s slow, unify what’s fragmented, and elevate what already works.”
The research underscores that future success in programmatic will depend on strategic consolidation and the intelligent application of AI. Marketers who move beyond siloed point solutions to embrace unified, AI-driven platforms are positioned to close the maturity gap, optimize spend, and achieve stronger, more efficient growth as the industry evolves.
About the Report
The State of Programmatic Advertising 2026 combines proprietary survey research conducted in partnership with Ascend2 and StackAdapt’s anonymized platform data. Survey respondents included brand and agency marketers at the manager level or above, representing organizations with annual marketing budgets ranging from $10 million USD to over $500 million USD. Platform insights were drawn from campaign performance, channel mix, feature adoption, and creative production trends across a global advertiser base.
The full report is available for download here.
About StackAdapt
StackAdapt is the leading AI advertising and orchestration platform marketers rely on to drive brand growth and revenue. Built entirely in-house with an easy-to-use interface, StackAdapt unifies programmatic and owned channels—including CTV, DOOH, display, native, audio, email, and more—into one seamless experience. The platform makes it easy to find the right audience, personalize creative, run campaigns, optimize, and measure results in one place. Trusted by the most forward-thinking brands and agencies, StackAdapt combines speed of innovation, deep vertical expertise, and partnership that powers real business growth.
TechIntelPro empowers B2B technology decision-makers with the latest industry trends, deep insights, leadership perspectives and actionable intelligence to drive both organizational and professional milestones—and thrive on the tech pulse.