As programmatic advertising continues to mature, marketers are being forced to rethink how they structure technology, workflows, and execution to stay competitive. That shift is the focus of the newly released State of Programmatic Advertising 2026 report from StackAdapt, which finds that top performing marketers are four times more likely to consolidate their technology stacks and embed artificial intelligence into execution to drive measurable growth. The findings highlight a widening performance gap across the MarTech ecosystem as programmatic enters a more disciplined, outcome driven phase.
The StackAdapt programmatic advertising report is based on a survey of 484 senior marketers across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, combined with platform data from more than 6,000 global advertisers. According to the study, programmatic advertising is at a defining transition point where fragmented tools, siloed workflows, and disconnected channels are no longer sustainable. StackAdapt defines top performers as marketers reporting significantly stronger year over year results compared to their peers, and the data shows these leaders are pulling away as the market matures.
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While overall sentiment remains positive, the report reveals a growing maturity gap. Seventy five percent of marketers expect advertising budgets to increase, and eighty four percent report stronger year over year performance. However, only a subset of marketers are successfully translating that momentum into scalable results. The report finds that top performers are distinguished by their ability to unify workflows, consolidate technology, and apply AI pragmatically across creative, data, and media activation.
“Programmatic has reached an inflection point,” said Yang Han, Co-Founder and CTO of StackAdapt. “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.”
The StackAdapt report also uncovers a disconnect between omnichannel ambition and operational reality. Although three quarters of marketers say they run omnichannel campaigns, most lack the infrastructure required to consistently act on cross channel insights. As a result, many organizations experience fragmented activation, inefficient spend, and uneven performance across formats and platforms. In contrast, top marketers are aligning execution across the funnel, enabling insights from one channel to inform decisions in another.
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Artificial intelligence plays a central role in this divergence. Rather than experimenting with isolated AI tools, leading marketers are embedding AI directly into planning, optimization, and measurement workflows. This approach allows teams to accelerate decision making, reduce manual effort, and apply learnings more effectively across campaigns. The report suggests that AI is becoming less about novelty and more about operational leverage.
“Measurement has finally caught up, but execution hasn’t,” Han added. “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.”
For the industry, the StackAdapt 2026 programmatic advertising report underscores a clear message. Growth is no longer driven by adding complexity, but by simplifying and integrating. As programmatic advertising continues to evolve, marketers who consolidate technology and use AI to connect channels and workflows are setting the pace, while those relying on fragmented stacks risk falling further behind.
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