Matthew Gibbons is a Senior Data & Tech Writer at WebFX, where he strives to help businesses understand niche and complex marketing topics related to SEO, martech, and more. With a B.A. in Professional and Public Writing from Auburn University, he’s written over 1,000 marketing guides and video scripts since joining the company in 2020. In addition to the WebFX blog, you can find his work on SEO.com, Nutshell, TeamAI, and the WebFX YouTube channel. When he’s not pumping out fresh blog posts and articles, he’s usually fueling his Tolkien obsession or working on his latest creative project.
Advertising technology, or adtech, is an ever-shifting landscape. Like the rest of digital marketing, it experiences fresh changes and trends every year — and keeping up with those changes is a must for your business. If you don’t stay on top of things, you’ll fall behind your competitors.
To that end, we’ll use this page to go over some of the most significant advertising technology trends going into 2026. Knowing these trends is important for staying ahead of the curve, so even if you don’t follow every one of these trends yourself, at least be aware of their significance.
When it comes to advertising technology, innovations in programmatic advertising are on the rise, and more and more advertisers are taking advantage of new features and ad campaign types.
With developments like programmatic audio, dynamic ad insertion, dynamic creative optimization, and automated host-read ads evolving digital advertising, businesses will need to keep up with the latest innovations to ensure they don’t fall behind.
2. Gaming and virtual worlds
Another rising trend in the Adtech space is promoting your brand in video games and virtual worlds.
For example, several companies and brands partner with games like Fortnite to create custom maps, characters, clothing, and more to advertise their brand.
Companies can also create immersive brand experiences by sponsoring video games and partnering with developers to feature their products in virtual worlds and games.
3. Mergers and acquisitions
Next on our list of adtech trends for 2026 is mergers and acquisitions. The Adtech space is quickly growing, and demand for integrated data, innovative solutions, and creative capabilities is on the rise. That means several adtech software companies are joining forces or acquiring smaller businesses to help them deliver the innovative technology customers are demanding. When it comes to purchasing and using adtech software, it’s important to stay in the loop so that you know what tools are available for you to use to enhance your ad campaigns.
4. First-party data
One of the most important shifts shaping the 2026 adtech landscape is the growing dominance of first-party data.
While Google’s original plan to fully phase out third-party cookies has evolved, the direction is clear: Privacy expectations are rising, browser-level tracking is tightening, and brands can no longer rely on third-party data as a stable foundation. Instead of a single “cookie cutoff” moment, advertisers are navigating a prolonged transition toward privacy-first measurement and targeting.
As a result, businesses are accelerating investments in first-party data — information collected directly through owned touchpoints like websites, CRMs, email programs, gated content, and logged-in experiences. These data sources are more durable, consent-based, and resilient to ongoing platform and regulatory changes.
In the 2026 landscape, first-party data is the backbone of sustainable, privacy-safe advertising and AI-powered optimization.
Expert insights from
Karley Ice-KalinayWebFX’s Director of Social & Media Advertising Operations
“Activating first-party data will be more important than ever in 2026. Businesses will win when they leverage owned data in ad formats across digital experiences and segment audiences to reach people at the right time, in the right place, and with the right message.”
5. Artificial intelligence
Another of the biggest 2026 trends for adtech — unsurprisingly — is artificial intelligence (AI). AI has been making enormous waves in many different areas of the business and marketing world, including digital advertising.
Specifically, many businesses and agencies will likely invest in AI advertising models specific to their industries or companies. These models will be used to create advertising content, as well as to refine ad targeting and distribute ads to the right channels and users.
It’s debatable whether this trend is good or bad. For some businesses, it could reap notable rewards. But AI is still largely uncharted territory, so it could also potentially spell disaster for businesses who dive into it too deeply and recklessly. For that reason, it may be a good idea to partner with a professional agency for AI solutions.
6. Increase in video ads
As time passes, video advertising has only grown more popular and effective. It’s always been a great way to engage your audience, but that’s even more true today, with faster Internet speeds and the increased impact of channels like social media and YouTube. In recent years, video ad spend has consistently gone up over time.
This trend is fully expected to continue in 2026, with video ads becoming more prominent than ever. Many businesses seem to view it as more effective than text- or image-based ads.
7. Greater focus on TikTok
Building off the last trend, TikTok is becoming an increasingly important channel for marketing and advertising. The platform has only grown bigger in the last few years, and advertisers have taken notice. 2023 was the year that many businesses realized the advertising potential of TikTok, and 2026 will be the year that they take advantage of that potential.
Advertising on TikTok is something of a new frontier, relying on short-form videos rather than the kind you would find on YouTube or other social platforms. It also commonly attempts to mimic the more casual, less produced feel of regular TikTok videos.
8. Audio and connected TV
It might seem like television ads are a relic of days gone by, but that’s not quite true — TV ads are still around, they’ve simply evolved into a new format. That format is known as connected TV (CTV). CTV ads are typically shown through streaming platforms, and unlike traditional TV ads, they can be targeted to specific users based on their interests.
The same applies to audio ads, which appear in audio content like podcasts or between songs on music streaming services. Just like with CTV ads, they can be directed to specific audiences to reach the people most likely to respond positively to them.
Expert insights from
Karley Ice-KalinayWebFX’s Director of Social & Media Advertising Operations
“Audio and connected TV ad formats will continue to grow as opportunities for marketers and businesses to reach audiences in ways they can’t through other forms of digital advertising.”
Both of these advertising advancements have been around for a few years now, but they’ve picked up popularity over time, and they’re expected to be one of the biggest trends for adtech going into 2026.
9. Contextual targeting
Another of the biggest advertising technology trends right now is contextual targeting. This is an interesting trend, because it’s not new at all — it’s older than digital marketing itself. But with Google’s decision to remove third-party cookies, marketers are turning back to it in greater numbers.
Contextual targeting is basically where, rather than directly targeting your ads to specific users, you instead place ads in locations where your target audience is known to go. So, if you sell boating equipment, advertising on boating-related websites is probably a safe bet.
It’s an extremely simple concept that advertisers have been doing for ages, but it’s newly relevant going into 2026.
10. In-app ads
Last on our list of [stat-current-year] adtech trends is in-app advertising. The name of this one pretty much says it all — it refers to ads that that appear within mobile apps. Like some of the other trends on this list, in-app advertising is nothing new, but it’s gaining more traction going into 2026.
The reason in-app advertising is so successful is that apps are often able to incentivize people to watch ads voluntarily. For instance, in a mobile game, users might be given the opportunity to regain lives by watching 30-second ads.
Recognizing the success of this method, many businesses are latching onto the trend as they head into the new year.
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If you’re looking for a way to take advantage of these advertising technology trends for your own business, you might not know where to start. In that case, you can consider partnering with a digital advertising agency like WebFX.
We have over 29 years of experience driving revenue for our clients through advertising, and we can do the same for your business.
Matthew Gibbons is a Senior Data & Tech Writer at WebFX, where he strives to help businesses understand niche and complex marketing topics related to SEO, martech, and more. With a B.A. in Professional and Public Writing from Auburn University, he’s written over 1,000 marketing guides and video scripts since joining the company in 2020. In addition to the WebFX blog, you can find his work on SEO.com, Nutshell, TeamAI, and the WebFX YouTube channel. When he’s not pumping out fresh blog posts and articles, he’s usually fueling his Tolkien obsession or working on his latest creative project.
