marketingartificial intelligence
How AI Is Rewriting Trust and Buying Behavior in 2026"
AI Digital recently released their annual Media Trends report. Can you briefly summarize what you’ve learned and why it matters for marketers right now?
The report shows that the media has crossed a structural threshold. AI now determines visibility, credibility determines recommendation, and premium environments determine performance. The research makes clear that many marketers are still optimizing for reach and efficiency in systems that no longer govern outcomes — for example, brands are still buying on CPM when AI systems don't prioritize based on volume anymore. Right now, the gap between brands adapting to this shift and those clinging to legacy playbooks is widening fast, and it shows up directly in performance.
One of the report’s big takeaways is that AI is changing how discovery works. What does that mean for marketers who still rely heavily on clicks and last-click metrics?
Discovery is no longer a journey, it is a decision moment. AI-driven answers are collapsing multi-touch funnels into single conversations, reducing organic click-through rates by 34–64%. The report is blunt: if a brand is not present inside the AI response, it is not part of the consideration set. This forces marketers to move beyond clicks and last-touch metrics toward measuring visibility, credibility, and influence earlier in the decision cycle. The priority should be ensuring brand information is structured and authoritative enough to appear in AI-generated answers.
Why does trust matter more now, and what should brands focus on to build it?
Trust now operates at two levels, human and machine. Consumers remain skeptical of AI-generated content, and AI systems themselves prioritize reliable, consistent signals when deciding what to surface. Our research has shown that transparency, premium inventory, and verifiable data inputs are no longer brand hygiene, they are performance levers. Brands that treat trust as infrastructure consistently outperform those that treat it as messaging.
How does first-party data factor into building trust and driving performance today?
First-party data is the strongest signal brands actually control. The report shows that campaigns anchored in first-party identity deliver lower CPAs and higher conversion rates, while third-party dependency continues to erode. AI Digital frames unified CRM, CDP, and clean-room infrastructure not as a tech upgrade, but as the foundation for privacy-safe personalization and sustainable performance.
Many marketers are investing in AI tools, but still struggling with performance. Where do you see teams getting stuck or overlooking foundational issues like data and transparency?
AI amplifies everything — good strategy and bad. Teams see breakthrough results when they ensure clean data, transparent supply chains, and clear success metrics before adding AI to the stack. Without these fundamentals, automation simply scales inefficiency faster. We consistently see performance improve only after teams address basics like fraud exposure, measurement integrity, and signal quality. The AI isn't the problem; it's a mirror that reflects the strength or weakness of what's already there.
Why are channels like CTV, retail media, and audio becoming more important, and how are brands underusing them today?
These channels combine attention, trust, and closed-loop measurement, but remain underutilized. CTV now reaches nearly all U.S. households and supports real attribution. Retail media is approaching $69B with full-funnel capability built on first-party data. Audio and podcasts deliver high engagement with relatively low saturation. The report shows brands still undervalue these channels because they don't fit traditional reach-and-frequency or last-click attribution models, even though they increasingly shape how decisions are made. Marketers need to rebuild their measurement frameworks around these environments, not force them into outdated metrics.
