Features like Spotify’s “Wrapped” or Netflix’s “Your Next Watch” resonate because they surface data-based insights into our actual behavior. Similarly, the articles that were most popular among our audience in 2025 reveal the challenges and opportunities that most captured marketers’ time, curiosity, and attention over the past year.
In analyzing the posts that drew the most traffic in 2025, four key themes appeared: AI’s transformative influence on the search landscape, evolving and oft-conflicting regulatory pressures, leadership roles expanding and evolving, and media formats continuing to fragment. Below, we unpack what these four themes tell us about the current state of marketing—and where the industry is headed in 2026.
When Gartner predicted in early 2024 that 25% of traditional search engine volume would shift to AI chatbots and agents by 2026, it crystallized what many marketers were already sensing: A fundamental shift was underway. The rise of zero-click search is radically changing where and how consumers engage with information—and, by extension, where advertising needs to show up.
The popularity of our search-related content reveals where marketers are seeking guidance most urgently: Navigating the fragmentation of the search landscape, understanding how to adapt to AI Overviews, and building the operational flexibility needed to adjust as platforms and query formats continue to evolve.
This piece explores what the shift to natural-language queries and AI-powered agents means for advertisers, highlighting fragmentation in the search space, brand safety and misinformation risks, and organic traffic declines. Plus, it provides guidance on upskilling teams, testing with AI-driven tools, and building the operational flexibility needed for a rapidly evolving search landscape.
Early research has found the appearance of AIOs to be correlated with lower organic and paid click-through rates. Here, learn why certain verticals and query types trigger AIOs more often, how the format changes user behavior, and what marketers can do to adapt.
Alongside these AI-driven changes, regulatory shifts are pulling marketing leaders in competing directions. The popularity of our regulation-focused content in 2025 reveals how much uncertainty exists around what’s actually changing and what it means for advertisers.
On one hand, the Trump Administration has taken a deregulatory approach, signing an executive order requiring that for every new rule, regulation, or guidance, 10 existing ones must be repealed. At the same time, the number of states that have comprehensive consumer privacy laws enacted or in effect continues to climb, and consumer concern about data privacy remains high. As teams plan for 2026, they must understand existing regulations and build strategies flexible enough to absorb diverging and ever-evolving compliance requirements without constant overhauls.
The return of the Trump Administration introduced a new regulatory posture for digital advertising, with many anticipating reduced federal oversight and heightened economic uncertainty. This post explores the political, economic, and cultural pressures evolving under the new administration, giving teams context for how future planning may need to adjust.
Despite the Trump Administration’s focus on deregulation, regulatory activity across states and global markets continues to accelerate. New privacy laws, stricter enforcement under the CPRA, rising false advertising scrutiny, and movement on AI regulation are reshaping the compliance landscape. This post provides a clear overview of the regulatory trends influencing data use, targeting precision, and campaign operations.
These external technological and regulatory pressures—alongside other forces like economic volatility—are transforming expectations for leadership.
For brands, the CMO role has expanded. Today’s leaders are tasked with not only building their brand but also bringing product and sales strategies together to build alignment and ensure cross-functional success. Meanwhile, agency leaders are also navigating complexity, caught between client demands for efficiency gains and the need to maintain profitability—and inaction on new capabilities only makes them vulnerable to competitors who move faster.
In 2026, competitive advantage will come from understanding these pressures and adapting to them quickly. Leaders who can integrate AI meaningfully, evolve how their teams work, and prove business impact faster than peers will separate themselves from competitors still debating whether to act.
Agencies are navigating a perfect storm of pressures: economic volatility, shrinking client budgets, rapid innovations in AI, and a media landscape that is growing increasingly fragmented. Here, industry veterans share where agencies are feeling the most strain, how expectations from brands are shifting, and what leaders can do to evolve their talent, technology, and operating models.
The CMO role has expanded far beyond more traditional brand building expertise. Today’s leaders are expected to blend strategic vision, technical fluency, financial logic, and cross-functional influence—all while navigating growing misalignment across the C-suite. This deep dive unpacks the pressures reshaping the CMO role, the growing expectations for business impact, and the leadership traits that will matter most in the years ahead.
While leadership grapples with new mandates, the media landscape continues to splinter. The continued growth of short-form video and streaming TV in 2025 wasn’t a surprise, but the scale of their impact became impossible to ignore. As of this year, 40% of sports fans only watch sports on streaming services. And people (especially younger audiences) are spending an increasing amount of time watching short-form video—and making purchases as a result.
Understanding how media consumption continues to change is key for deciding where advertising dollars go, how creative gets developed, and what “engagement” actually means when formats and platforms are constantly fragmenting.
Short-form video has become a default media habit, reshaping how people discover products, engage with creators, and make purchase decisions. TikTok and TikTok-esque features across platforms have normalized fast, highly personalized content that blurs the line between entertainment and advertising. Here, learn how this shift is changing creative expectations, funnel dynamics, and brand safety needs, as well as what it takes to use short-form video as a meaningful driver of attention.
Live sports are evolving from cable mainstays to a fragmented, streaming-first world, with leagues striking exclusive deals across platforms and rights fees soaring. This post breaks down how shifting inventory packages, rising sports betting engagement, and second-screen behavior are reshaping the value of live sports advertising.
As viewers continue to migrate to streaming and advertisers look for flexibility, programmatic CTV is becoming a critical way to reach audiences on the big screen. This piece breaks down why upfront commitments are losing ground to dynamic, data-driven buying and how AI is improving contextual targeting, reporting, and brand safety controls.
The themes that drove engagement this year won't be resolved neatly in 2026. If anything, they'll deepen. Teams will need ongoing strategies for adapting to AI-driven search changes, managing evolving regulatory requirements, proving business impact as CMO and agency leader responsibilities expand, and reaching audiences across increasingly fragmented media channels. The common thread across all four themes? Success will require strategies built for continuous adaptation, not one-time fixes.
For a more comprehensive look at what’s ahead—including expert perspectives and strategic guidance on navigating these shifts—download our full 2026 Trends Report: Rewinding to Fast Forward.
