The 2026 Trends Preview: What Marketers Need to Know

Writer: Jill Enriquez
Date: December 18, 2025

This year did not seem to slow down, and 2026 is shaping up to move even faster. As consumer behavior shifts, technology accelerates, and expectations rise, today’s marketers are navigating one of the most transformative periods in recent years.

To help make sense of what’s ahead, we sat down with Michael Schoen, Simpli.fi’s Chief Product & Technology Officer, for a forward-looking conversation on the trends, opportunities, and strategies that will define the year to come.

If there’s one truth in advertising, it’s that nothing stays still for long. Audiences shift. Technology accelerates. Channels evolve. And every so often, the industry hits a moment where everything feels like it’s rewriting itself at once.

2026 is shaping up to be one of those years.

Across national brands shifts, local strategies, streaming trends, omnichannel planning, political cycles, AI-driven consumer journeys, and even the way we watch sports—change is coming fast.

Here’s a sneak peek at the trends shaping next year’s biggest conversations with more to come in our blog series in 2026

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1. NATIONAL BRANDS ARE FEELING LOCAL, FAST

Personalized ad experiences aren’t optional anymore; they’re expected. As viewers tune into their favorite shows and big games, they now expect a level of personalization that requires localized strategy, particularly from larger brands.

National and multi-location marketers are treating location data as a true competitive advantage, recognizing that consumers want messaging rooted in their neighborhood, not a generic national script.

But what’s really driving this shift? Which industries are about to feel it most?

And with the rise of premium publishers, what role will new channels play in redefining localization?

More to come!

2. MULTI-LOCATION BRANDS ARE ACTING LESS LIKE COMPANIES AND MORE LIKE NETWORKS

From QSR to automotive, multi-location brands are rethinking how they operate within specific industries. The old one-size-fits-all playbook isn’t cutting it anymore.

Instead, brands are changing their approach to feel more dynamic, flexible, and responsive to real-time, hyperlocal conditions.

But the big questions are:

• How does an organization restructure for true local responsiveness?
• What systems give brands real autonomy without sacrificing consistency?
• How do you empower locations while keeping the brand intact?

There’s a lot happening beneath the surface.

 

3. WILL STREAMING BECOME THE NEW LOCAL REACH CHANNEL?

Audiences are shifting faster than channels can keep up. TV remains a core awareness driver, but how TV is activated and viewed is fundamentally changing.

Streaming has taken center stage and it’s pushing marketers to rethink what local reach even looks like.

Which begs the question: how are brands replacing the old “ZIP code targeting” playbook? What does success look like for advertisers still comfortable with linear? And how can addressable technology close the loop at the local level?

We’ll explore those answers and what they mean for brands.

 

4. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO TRULY UNIFY OMNICHANNEL IN 2026?

Consumers don’t move in a single direction, and neither should campaigns. As today’s audiences are moving to more apps and channels than ever before, marketers are striving to build seamless experiences even when the tech stacks behind them are anything but.

So who (or what) will step in to solve the fragmentation?

How do CTV, social, mobile, and in-store signals connect to form a real cross-device customer path?

Where does AI elevate personalization—and where does human judgment still matter most?

Spoiler: Michael has a few thoughts (good ones), and let’s just say we might be closer to a solution than it seems.

 

5. POLITICAL & ADVOCACY CAMPAIGNS FACE A WILD YEAR AHEAD

Between ongoing redistricting and nonstop election noise, both political and non-political advertisers are entering a year where targeting accuracy and message clarity are more challenging as well as more important than ever.

Which leads to three big conversations:

• How much will redistricting reshape voter reach strategies?
• Can non-political brands still win attention in a politically saturated environment?
• Where can advocacy and political advertisers gain precision and breakthrough the noise?

We’ll break this down, because 2026 is set to test every tactic in the book, yet it might be the year the right strategies shine the brightest.

 

6. AI IS COMPLETELY REWRITING THE CONSUMER JOURNEY

AI is quickly becoming the first layer of decision-making once a search begins. As AI Overviews and recommendation engines surface answers directly in the results, many users make choices before ever clicking through to a website. That shift is reshaping traffic, attribution, and what a brand’s true “first impression” really is.

So what does that mean for advertisers? We get into it and what 2026 might look like because of this shift.

Will usual site traffic performance change as AI Overviews and recommendation engines take on more of the decision-making moment?

Big changes are coming.

 

7. SPORTS ON CTV: THE NEWEST VERSION OF ORGANIZED CHAOS

Sports on CTV are experiencing a surge and a shake-up. Rights are in motion, platforms are multiplying, and fans are hopping between ecosystems in search of the next game. And with sports marketing moments like the World Cup and Winter Olympics approaching drawing in billions of viewers, fragmentation is about to hit new levels.

Which sets up the real questions for marketers:

• How do you reach sports fans spread across so many platforms?
• How does the strategy shift as streaming giants like Prime Video, Netflix, and Peacock claim more sports rights?

Is the industry ready for the scale of what’s coming in 2026? If any category is poised for a reset in 2026, it’s sports marketing.

 

THE FULL SIT DOWN WITH MICHAEL

These trends above are only the beginning. In the full conversation, Michael takes a deep dive into what 2026 is already signaling, what’s shifting, what’s accelerating, and what bold marketers can accomplish when they embrace the moment instead of react to it.

It’s a conversation rooted in possibility: how strategy, technology, and creativity can move together to create breakthroughs in a year that’s poised to reshape the industry. And as preparations for 2026 get underway, this perspective arrives right on time.

The full blog series with more answers and insights are coming soon. Consider this your early advantage for what’s ahead.

 
Want to get ahead and talk about 2026? Shoot us an email and let’s have a conversation at hi@simpli.fi, ensure you’re following us on socials to be the first to check out this great conversation.

 

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