By Seb Joseph • January 5, 2026 •
An editorial series that sets marketers, media buyers and publishers up for a successful 2026. More from the series →
2026 opens with more unfinished business than clean conclusions. Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG is moving toward its first full operating year in 2026. OpenAI is edging toward an advertising business without having settled what the business actually is and Google’s illegal monopoly over the ad dollars that fund the open web is moving into a remedies phase that could redraw the market. And that’s only a few of the loose ends carried over from last year. This year’s in and out list reflects an industry reorganizing itself around the unresolved power negotiations.
In
Agentic web
Out
Internet of Things
In
Worrying about LLMs scraping away ad revenue
Out
Worrying about LLMs scraping away referral traffic
In
Quadropoly
Out
Triopoly
In
In-house agents
Out
In-house agencies
In
Publishers buying traffic
Out
Publishers selling traffic
In
Browser wars over agentic
Out
Browser wars over tracking
In
Fragmentation of the open web
Out
Death of the open web
In
Holdcos selling outcomes
Out
Holdcos selling hours
In
Hidden influencer marketing fees
Out
Hidden programmatic advertising fees
In
Bemoaning CTV transparency
Out
Bemoaning display transparency
In
“AI slop is complicated”
Out
“AI slop is bad”
In
The commoditization of creative
Out
The commoditization of media buying
In
Brand safety crisis over generative AI
Out
Brand safety crisis over news
In
Retail media network upfront events
Out
Creator upfront events
In
OpenAI courting CMOs
Out
Perplexity courting CMOs
In
Sora
Out
TikTok
In
AI paywalls retaining current subscribers
Out
AI paywalls converting new subscribers
In
CMOs as conscientious objectors
Out
CMOs as politicians
In
Podcast networks
Out
Creator networks
In
Negotiating with AI companies
Out
Litigating AI companies
In
The TikToktification of publishers
Out
The YouTubification of publishers
In
Real transparency
Out
Expressed transparency
In
Niche stardom
Out
True celebrity
In
Holdcos as sellers of media
Out
Holdcos as buyers of media
In
The Trade Desk versus Amazon
Out
The Trade Desk versus SSPs
In
The Trade Desk mimicking Amazon
Out
Amazon mimicking The Trade Desk
In
Measuring programmatic transactions by microseconds
Out
Measuring programmatic transactions by minioseconds
In
Being selected
Out
Being seen
In
Holdco principal buying desks
Out
Holding trading