Core Insights - The 2026 State of Programmatic Report indicates a shift in the programmatic market towards intentional spending and accountability, with 58% of media buyers expecting increased investment in 2026 and 87% valuing cross-channel performance metrics for decision-making [1][6]. Group 1: Market Trends - Programmatic advertising is entering a mature growth phase, with buyers focusing on purposeful budget allocation and demanding transparency and quality across all screens [2]. - CTV (Connected TV) and audio are the only media channels projected to see year-over-year budget growth, with CTV expected to capture an average of 26% of media budgets and audio 10% [6]. Group 2: AI and Optimization - AI-powered optimization is now considered essential, with 82% of marketers affirming its importance [6]. - The top AI applications anticipated for 2026 include audience targeting and modeling (88%), campaign pacing and bid automation (77%), measurement and attribution (71%), and fraud detection and brand safety (70%) [6]. Group 3: Budget Reallocation - A significant 45% of marketers are reallocating budgets from linear TV to CTV, while 21% are moving funds from linear to programmatic audio [6]. - More than half of the respondents (58%) expect their programmatic investment to increase in 2026, indicating a positive outlook for the programmatic market [6]. Group 4: Measurement and Effectiveness - Marketers prioritize conversion rate (62%), ROAS (47%), reach and frequency (46%), and click-through rate (39%) as key metrics for measuring programmatic campaign effectiveness [10]. - 43% of respondents plan to increase their use of contextual targeting in 2026, especially in privacy-regulated sectors where 50% identify contextual targeting as their main tactic [6].