New Digital Age gathered industry reaction to the findings of the latest IPA Bellwether report for Q1 2026…
Dom Coleridge, Co-founder and Commercial Director at Scale Digital:
“The Q1 2026 IPA Bellwether report confirms a long-awaited surge in marketing confidence; however, this optimism is grounded in realism. While nearly 29% of UK Companies are seeing marketing budgets increase, the industry is still navigating significant supply chain disruptions and rising shipping costs driven by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
“Despite this, the real success stories are the ‘experience’ sectors – beauty and entertainment – where brands are able to remain agile. Perhaps unexpectedly, we are also seeing AI move into the spotlight as a genuine tool for ROI rather than just a trend. For brands that balance between tech-driven engagement coupled with cost-effectiveness, the outlook for 2026 remains stable.”
Phil Acton, Country Manager UK, Adform:
“Operating in a state of continuous global crisis has tragically become the norm. Yet, where UK advertisers would have previously pulled back spend, the fact that they haven’t proves that resilience has become well and truly hardwired into the industry.
“Performance remains key and the 5.7% boost in video and other online formats shows a clear drive toward proven ROI. However, respondents rightly highlight the need to prioritise investment in quality data and autonomous AI for long-term brand building and budget efficiency.
“Agentic AI in particular will define the industry’s next era, but it’s time to put the buzz into practice. Audio and DOOH took a hit this quarter, but consumers don’t live in silos. Empowered with clear guardrails and trusted partners, media buyers can now harness agentic scale and speed to bring together every screen for game-changing outcomes. True resilience isn’t just about surviving the next crisis, it’s about using sophisticated technology to keep your brand front and centre with consumers no matter what’s on the horizon.”
Graham Field, Chief Revenue Officer, Outra:
“The uptick in marketing budgets, as outlined in the latest IPA Bellwether report, will be a welcome respite for the industry. This renewed confidence, coupled with the +4.5% increase in main media advertising, signals a healthy year ahead.
“This year isn’t just about marketing recovering, it’s about getting smarter. As brands start spending, they will look at how to invest wisely and engage with consumers at a more granular level. As the report points out, AI is being used to sharpen customer targeting and generate better insights. When paired with household-level data, brands are able to move past broad demographics to engage with consumers and act with total relevance in the moments that matter most.”
Steph Hallam, Co-founder of RAAS LAB:
“The latest IPA Bellwether cements the biggest modern shift in our industry: AI is no longer optional; it is central to competitiveness. From enhanced delivery and richer insights to transparent reporting, brands must proactively embrace and integrate these capabilities to maximise results and drive market share.
“This will be key as CFOs will expect clear returns from growing marketing budgets, which likely face further scrutiny from ongoing economic pressures. To justify this spend, marketers must prove clear performance, and relevance is the critical ingredient.
“Put simply, driving results means delivering creative in the right context. Even the most engaged audiences will ignore ads that don’t speak to their immediate needs or interests. Yet those that are worthy of attention will enjoy lasting brand impact. Advertisers that prioritise contextual relevance and AI-driven efficiencies will be best positioned to drive stronger engagement, deliver measurable outcomes, and sustain growth in an increasingly complex landscape.”
Denise Cornelissen, Head of Product Marketing at RTB House:
“After several years of uncertainty, the fact that respondents to the latest IPA Bellwether report have seen an upward revision in their marketing budgets will bring much-needed optimism to the industry. As the report stated, AI is now being utilised as an opportunity as it moves from the testing phase to being a useful tool. This next-generation technology, particularly Deep Learning, allows marketers to utilise the semantic intelligence generated by LLMs to enrich data points and insights, driving efficiency. This depth of insight will drive new levels of engagement and ROI. However, if the industry is to see this renewed optimism continue through the remainder of 2026, it must remain committed to learning and adaptation as this technology advances further.”
Charlie Celino, Commercial Services Director, News UK:
“The latest IPA Bellwether report highlights a clear shift in how marketers are thinking about growth. Even with a softer economic outlook, investment is holding up, with budgets set to increase into 2026/27 as brands prioritise areas that can deliver measurable impact. AI and automation are central to this, not just as efficiency drivers, but as tools to improve decision-making, sharpen targeting, and unlock more meaningful insights.
“At the same time, the findings reinforce the growing importance of robust first-party data strategies and the real differentiator, though, is how effectively brands use their data. Platforms like Nucleus, News UK’s first-party data platform, point to a broader move towards connecting data more effectively across environments. They help marketers better understand audiences and make smarter use of their budgets without losing sight of trust and transparency.”
Krystian Żółtowski, Senior Product Manager at PrimeAudience:
“I’m hugely encouraged by the Q1 IPA Bellwether report, which revealed that budgets are on an upward trajectory, despite the economic uncertainty caused driven by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
“As the report identifies, AI is creating a clear opportunity. Vendors are investing in technologies that improve how audiences are built and activated, while brands and marketers increasingly buy into the outputs of these systems. This is reflected in the growing focus on segmentation and curation to make marketing budgets more efficient.
“At the same time, challenges remain in defining Go-To-Market processes, which may explain increased event spend alongside reduced research budgets. However, as budgets recover, applying AI to campaign optimisation, including through curated audience activation, is becoming essential for forward-thinking brands.”
Maor Sadra, CEO & co-founder, INCRMNTAL:
“The headline is budget growth, but the more interesting story is how easy it is to misread performance in this kind of environment.
“When you have external pressure – geopolitical instability, cost inflation, shifting demand – performance metrics tend to look better than they actually are. Conversion rates go up, CPAs go down, and it creates a false sense of efficiency. The rise in events and PR fits into that. These are channels where impact is harder to isolate, but easier to justify when results look strong at a top level.
“The risk is that marketers optimise into that illusion. The Bellwether shows movement, but not necessarily clarity. The next phase for the industry isn’t just about where budgets go, it’s about whether teams can separate real impact from background noise before those decisions compound.”
Selen Ozkan, Head of CPG and Retail, EMEA Uber Advertising:
“It’s brilliant to see the strong commitment to brand building in this quarter’s Bellwether. Respondents are rightly leaning into sophisticated AI to sharpen delivery and unlock better insights. However, as AI levels the playing field for efficiency, genuine attention becomes even more important. In a fragmented digital landscape bogged down by proxy metrics, scale alone won’t drive proven outcomes or long-term brand equity.
“Digital media seamlessly intersects with consumers’ physical lives. To cut through the clutter and capture attention, advertising experiences must be grounded in utility, context, and trust. This means not only understanding the customer’s mindset through sophisticated technology, but also catering to it with top-notch, human-led creative.
“By combining rich insight and AI-enhanced delivery with quality, interactive campaigns right when consumers are travelling with purpose, brands can command immediate ROI and lasting brand power.”
Tom Ridges, CEO, Herdify:
“The latest Bellwether findings point to a modest uptick in confidence, with marketing budgets edging up to +3%. This signals some renewed momentum, but it’s still one of the weakest outlooks on record. While growth is back on the agenda, scrutiny on how budgets perform hasn’t gone anywhere.
“The return to growth in main media is a clear sign that brands are re-engaging with broad-reach channels, while the continued resilience of direct marketing – which grew in 12 of the past 13 quarters – shows its enduring value.
“Yet recent rising costs from Royal Mail are exposing inefficiencies that were easier to overlook when distribution was cheaper. Now that every touchpoint carries greater weight, precision becomes even more critical.
“Now is the time for marketers to rethink how they approach reach and influence. Behaviour doesn’t happen in isolation, it spreads through local networks, communities, and shared environments. By focusing spend where there is already momentum, brands can amplify word of mouth and drive more effective outcomes without increasing overall investment.”
Caroline Tredget, Commercial Director, Times Media:
“We’ve seen a significant interest in our events offering, particularly around our growing B2B portfolio, so it’s no surprise to see this growth reflected in this data. In the B2B world, events offer brands the opportunity for direct connection with high-value audiences that you just can’t get with other media.
“The challenge for companies is reaching senior business decision makers and that’s where Times Media comes in – we offer unparalleled access to world-renowned journalists, topic experts and thought leaders, which allows us to connect these audiences through landmark events.”
Matt Bahr, CEO and co-founder at Fairing:
“The report points to a more confident start to the year, but also a shift in how marketers are thinking about spend. We’re seeing budgets move toward channels that drive engagement and can be more directly connected to outcomes. Contrary to the report, we’re seeing an increase in influencer and audio advertising, rather than purely reach-based media.
“At the same time, we’re seeing a growing tension in how performance is measured. As discovery fragments across creators, communities and AI-driven environments, a significant share of influence is happening outside of what traditional attribution can capture. That creates a risk that budgets are optimised toward the channels that close demand, rather than those that create it.
“In a more uncertain environment, marketers don’t just need to spend more efficiently; they need clearer visibility into what’s actually driving intent. That’s where first-person signal becomes increasingly important, giving brands a way to understand influence beyond the final click.”
The above companies are all clients of Bluestripe Group, the publisher of New Digital Age.
