New Digital Age gathered reaction to the latest IPA Bellwether report for Q3 2025…
Mateusz Rumiński, VP of Product at PrimeAudience
“With budgets on a steady upward trajectory, brands need to consider how to maximise their successes in these moments of positivity. As the report shows, opportunities for growth in AI have emerged as a key tool for refining audience targeting and enhancing campaign results to drive ROI.
“Despite this, there is a tremendous amount of potential still untapped. Our data reveals that only 1% of company executives feel their AI rollout has reached maturity, while only 42% of marketing and sales teams report using this technology at all. From ad creative production and audience targeting optimisation to publisher content creation in the era of AI-assisted search, AI is going to be instrumental for marketers in the coming months. If they want to truly understand their audiences, AI is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s an essential tool for success.”
Alexia Nakad, VP of Brands and Commerce Media, UK and MEA, LiveRamp
“The growth of marketing budgets, despite persistent economic headwinds, is grounds for optimism. Long-term meaningful investment remains key to expanding market share, and the first decline in sales promotions in two years is evidence that brands are prioritising customer lifetime value over short-term gains.
“Building customer value requires a measurable view of consumer engagement across channels, including video content (which grew by 6.7% in Q3). Consumers might browse TikTok, compare prices on Amazon, buy in-store, and review on Reddit. No single business can track the full journey, making data collaboration essential. Neutral, interoperable clean rooms that connect to high-quality data partners enable marketers to build complete and actionable audience views.
“AI, when underpinned by data collaboration technology, helps marketers turn customer intelligence into action, and it’s encouraging to see respondents continue to invest. Moving beyond insight-only use cases into activation and incremental measurement, the technology is helping provide a clearer picture of what is driving growth. Marketers that combine data collaboration built on strong partnerships with AI-driven intelligence will be best positioned to deliver stronger outcomes today and build stronger brand equity for the future.”
Dom Coleridge, Commercial Director at Scale Digital
“Even as marketing budgets stabilise, the real question for brands is how to make each pound deliver impact. Investment in video and direct marketing is rising, and for good reason. These channels allow teams to see what resonates, optimise campaigns in real time, and link spend directly to outcomes. Approaches that focus solely on reach risk underdelivering, especially as audiences spread attention across more platforms and formats.
“As brands plan for the next quarter, combining channels strategically and testing iteratively becomes essential. Exploring opportunities beyond desktop, including mobile, connected TV, and affiliate marketing, can help teams reach audiences where they are most active and measure impact across every touchpoint.
“As consumer behaviour evolves and AI subtly shapes discovery, predictable reach is fading. Marketing today is less about volume and more about agility, measured performance, and effectiveness. By approaching campaigns with focus and flexibility, brands can convert attention into meaningful business impact.”
Phil Acton, Country Manager UK, Adform
“It’s encouraging to see marketing budgets continue to grow, and for the first time in over a year, companies are slightly more optimistic about their own prospects. While economic uncertainty remains and eyes will be on the Autumn Budget, there are positive signs on the horizon.
“Advertisers are doing the right thing by keeping their spend strong and ensuring their brands stay front and centre. Respondents highlighted AI as a key productivity tool, helping reduce costs while giving marketers the control and confidence to invest in online channels.
“Video continues to attract spend, but channels don’t work in isolation. Consumers see brands everywhere, on their screens at home, on mobile, and on billboards. Top-of-funnel channels like DOOH and audio, once seen as purely branding plays, can now be integrated into the full media mix. Brands that get this complex mix right, and use AI-based identity technology that keeps campaigns flexible and relevant, will drive stronger engagement and game-changing results.”
Denise Cornelissen, Head of Product Marketing at RTB House
“It is encouraging to see that the Q3 IPA Bellwether report follows the same trajectory of optimism as we’ve seen throughout 2025, even though budgets haven’t risen as strongly this quarter. Marketers need to use this moment of buoyancy to make strategic marketing decisions, despite the macroeconomic concerns still being faced across the globe.
“The report also references the optimism around the growth of AI across several sectors within our industry. It’s very clear that AI-driven solutions, particularly Deep Learning, can drive operational efficiencies and deliver stronger results than those previously possible. With budgets in such a flux, markets should be looking at how they can utilise this technology effectively to drive efficiencies and greater ROI, regardless of the economic environment.”
Ed Barter, Co-Founder and CPO at Herdify
“The latest IPA Bellwether report shows the cautious optimism among marketers continues, with UK marketing budgets up for the second consecutive quarter (+3.6%), despite economic uncertainty. This growth is concentrated in channels that deliver targeted engagement, with direct marketing standing out for lead generation and customer acquisition.
“Brands are clearly moving away from broad broadcast approaches and reallocating resources to channels that enable targeting and measurable attribution. This makes understanding real-world community influence and local networks more important than ever – insights that go beyond digital metrics and highlight the value of authentic connections that drive word-of-mouth impact, strengthen trust and amplify reach organically.
“The report also flags the rise of AI search overviews as a potential threat, highlighting the limits of automated, algorithm-driven discovery. In this environment, trust-based, human-centred approaches to engagement are becoming increasingly critical.
“Overall, the IPA findings point to a shift – while data and technology remain central, authenticity, community influence, and meaningful customer connections are more important than ever. Balancing targeting and measurable attribution with human influence will be key in the year ahead.”
Julie Selman, SVP, Head of EMEA, Magnite
“The second consecutive quarter of increasing marketing budgets is a promising sign for high-performing channels like video, which delivered its strongest growth in a year. This confirms video’s position as a key channel for brands that offers both scale and engagement as audiences increasingly consume content across various digital and streaming platforms. What’s more, when combined with other channels, video becomes even more impactful. Brands can connect with audiences more seamlessly across multiple touchpoints, enhancing both reach and impact.
“AI adoption is another area gaining real traction, as businesses look to boost operational efficiency and enhance productivity. From creative production to campaign optimization, the technology is being embraced to accelerate delivery and unlock innovation. These trends signal an opportunity to leverage intelligent, data-driven video strategies to maximise performance.”
Russell Pedrick, Managing Director, Octave
“The latest IPA Bellwether findings reflect a market that’s steadily regaining confidence, with video emerging as a clear winner this quarter. The continued growth in investment highlights advertisers’ appetite for channels that deliver both attention and measurable impact.
“We’re seeing this reflected in our own conversations with brands. Video remains a powerful way to drive engagement and storytelling, particularly when paired with trusted media environments, first-party data and high-quality content. While audio continues to be a vital and growing part of the mix, the current momentum around video shows how advertisers are diversifying their strategies to reach audiences across multiple touchpoints.”
Thomas Ives, Co-founder RAAS LAB
“The latest IPA Bellwether report reveals a clear shift to widespread implementation of AI. Businesses across verticals are embedding the technology to streamline processes, reduce costs, and unlock new commercial opportunities. This is grounds for optimism, but there remains an important question: are we using AI to do the wrong things faster?
“The focus on efficiency is essential, but there is still massive untapped potential for brands to deliver better marketing that drives real outcomes. For example, far from diminishing human creativity and authentic engagement, AI is maximising it and enabling media buyers to optimise campaigns to placements on the fly. Moving from clunky, broad audience segments to signal-driven insights, AI helps brands design and place hyper-relevant creative to match the web page’s content. With budgets rising and confidence improving, now feels like the moment for that shift, where this type of AI-driven innovation comes to the forefront of advertising effectiveness.”
Anna Forbes, RVP of Northern Europe, DoubleVerify:
“As media consumption fragments, advertisers are focusing on performance with purpose and ensuring every impression delivers real value. AI is playing a powerful role in that evolution, helping brands better understand context, strengthen campaign performance, and safeguard against inefficiency and waste.
“While there continues to be a perception that AI is a threat or a replacement, respondents to the latest IPA Bellwether report are clearly seeing it as a way to make their lives easier. From automating administrative tasks to boosting productivity, there has been a 32% year-over-year increase in AI-led campaign activation. As such, marketers are increasingly embracing its power to drive cross-channel effectiveness, reduce costs, and enhance outcomes.
“Those that pair smart technology with transparent measurement will not only build stronger connections with consumers, but will also free up time to focus on higher-value strategic work that drives further growth.”
Ryan Afshar, VP, Publishers & Platforms, International, LG Ad Solutions:
“The latest Bellwether report highlights a real boost for video marketing, with budgets up by 6.7% in Q3, the strongest growth we’ve seen in a year. It’s a clear sign that advertisers are regaining confidence in video-led strategies, especially connected TV (CTV), as they look to strike a balance between creativity and measurable results.
“TV is evolving fast, and that brings new opportunities for advertisers. CTV and innovations on the home screen are creating more premium, high-impact places for brands to show up and engage with audiences in meaningful ways. The campaigns that cut through are the ones that tell a good story and hit the right audience. That’s what turns attention into action.
“In a CTV-first world, success is about knowing your audience and using data and insights to create and shape experiences that they actually want to be a part of. As marketers continue to navigate a crowded media landscape, video remains a powerful way to stand out. It brings together reach, engagement, and accountability, redefining what TV advertising can deliver.”
The companies included in this article are all clients of Bluestripe Group, publisher of New Digital Age.
