2026: Navigating the Next Wave of Change

2026 has officially landed - and this year will mark the acceleration of agentic-driven Gen AI content at scale.

From agentic commerce to privacy-first attribution, the year ahead will reward brands that integrate AI strategically rather than tactically.

Here’s what some of our Jellyfish experts predict.

The Rise of Agentic Commerce and Shoppable Everything

Consumers will increasingly delegate shopping and research tasks to AI agents, fundamentally changing the brand-consumer relationship. As Natasha Wallace, CSO, notes, "Every surface will be shoppable." AI agents are collapsing the distinction between brand-building and demand capture by powering the monetization of content far beyond the traditional digital shelf. Brands must unify their brand narrative and performance marketing at scale to succeed.

Josh White, VP Paid Media, predicts "Strong growth in Agentic AI," especially as Google and ChatGPT roll out their own ad solutions. Brands must invest in technical projects that improve discoverability and purchasing power to remain competitive in these new auction spaces and gain "fair share in the Agentic space."

This shift gives rise to Conversational Commerce. Claire Leon, Head of Jellyfish Commerce & Founder of Acorn-i, highlights how AI shopping assistants like Amazon's Rufus are becoming standard. “Brands must adapt to appearing in AI-driven recommendations, whether through paid placements or by structuring content that AI tools can easily understand and prioritize.”

YouTube: Identity Dilemma Becomes a Superpower

YouTube's strength is its diverse creators. VP, Media Strategy, Sarah Flannery advises brands to view creators as "creative collaborators rather than just another video or social media buy" to exist authentically in culture. This mindset encourages collaboration with creators outside traditional target groups.

From GEO to Generative Engine Marketing (GEM)

AI's disruption to search requires evolution to Generative Engine Marketing (GEM), a holistic approach considering how paid, owned, and earned assets influence both human and AI audiences. However, SEO remains critical. VP, SEO, Edward Turner highlights the coming "mass adoption of GEO measurement tools like our proprietary Share of Model™."

Product Data as the New Targeting

Daniel Smulevich, EVP of Cloud, states, "Product data is the new targeting. Enriching product feeds with signals like contribution margin and lifetime value is essential for outperforming in agentic environments.”

Creative: Real-Time Production and Breaking the AI Black Box

Richard West, VP Creative, sees integrated, collaborative AI ecosystems enabling real-time creative production at speed and scale, freeing teams for strategy, whilst Analytics Senior Manager, Luisa Del Maschio, believes that to gain an advantage, brands must supply AI with richer signals and data to shape the model rather than be shaped by it.

Advocacy Becomes a Brand’s Moat

CSO Natasha Wallace explains that AI agents parse consumer sentiment from reviews and social media, making advocacy a critical brand defence. “Brands must invest in infrastructure for genuine conversation building and community.”

Privacy-First Attribution Dominates

The demise of the cookie accelerates the shift to first-party data. Senior Analytics Director, Brendan Hayes, predicts Server-Side Tracking will hit mass adoption, enabling profit-based bidding. Privacy-Enhancing Technology (PET) Optimization turns consent into an advantage, as higher rates feed AI bidding models.

The Evolving Media Landscape: CTV and DOOH

VP Paid Media, Kevin Geffray, believes that CTV programmatic will become a core tactic focused on measurable supply paths and outcome-based buying, leading to sharper price competition. “DOOH will become the most digitally planned offline channel, demanding incremental measurement and flexible creative.”

In a Nutshell

2026 is all about integration: commerce meets strategy, first-party data powers AI, and creators drive campaigns. Winning brands won’t just use AI to work faster, they’ll use it to fuel unified, strategic growth.