At CES 2026, the annual spectacle of screens, sensors, and silicon took a back seat to something quieter but far more consequential: a market finally sobering up about artificial intelligence. Gone were last year’s whimsical demos and experimental pilots. In their place, leaders spoke about AI the way they once talked about cloud computing or mobile—not as novelty, but as infrastructure.
Across stages, show floors, and late‑night conversations in crowded Vegas lounges, three themes kept resurfacing: AI is maturing, high‑quality data has become the industry’s new currency, and the shopper journey is splintering into something far more fluid than marketers are prepared for.
AI Moves from Hype to Hard Work
If 2025 was the year of AI experimentation, CES 2026 made one thing abundantly clear: the era of pilots is over. Microsoft, Disney, and Amazon all framed the shift as a move from “clever demos” to foundational systems—reusable models, governed data layers, and orchestration engines powering dozens of workflows at once. Kantar’s work mirrors the trend: in 2025, Kantar and Microsoft transformed decades of creative IP into an always‑on video optimization platform, demonstrating how AI’s real value comes from scaling institutional knowledge rather than spinning up one‑off tools.
AI is becoming ambient and embedded. AI‑native devices such as Copilot+ PCs enable personalized, low‑latency experiences that move part of the experience back to the edge. Consumers won’t think of AI as a feature. It will simply become the default experience.
But with maturity came realism. AI still hallucinates. It still produces inconsistent reasoning. According to Kantar’s Marketing Trends 2026, 24% of AI users already rely on AI shopping assistants, a signal that people increasingly expect automation. Yet their trust is fragile, and brand missteps risk becoming instantly amplified. Panels emphasized the need for multi‑step validation, stronger governance, and human‑centered design during deployment. In an agent‑driven world, trust becomes a brand asset as critical as reach. For marketers, the implication is clear: 2026 is the year of substance over spectacle. The winners will be the brands that use AI to meaningfully improve experiences, not simply generate content faster. Brands need to Meaningful, Different, and above all Salient because without these drivers, there is no guarantee they will show up in an AI search. As conversational search grows, brands must ensure their cues, signals, and associations are clear and consistent, so AI systems can confidently align them with relevant contexts. In an AI driven world, salience becomes a critical competitive advantage.
The emerging consensus: AI won’t replace human creativity or oversight—it will augment it. As one Microsoft speaker put it, “You can’t have great AI without great data.”
High‑Quality Data and Measurement: The New Cornerstone of Brand Growth
Publishers, DSPs, and platforms acknowledged a coming reality: when generative AI becomes commoditized, proprietary data becomes the keystone for successful brand executions. Measurement, too, is shifting from recap to real‑time. Amazon emphasized its use of always‑on performance signals to optimize creative and budget allocation in commerce media, aligning with Kantar LIFT norms that show Retail Media Networks deliver 1.8× better results than standard digital ads and nearly 3× greater impact on purchase intent.
Behind closed doors at CES, publishers repeatedly asked for structured, interoperable measurement frameworks they can plug directly into AI‑driven discovery environments. They know the next wave of competition won’t be fought with scale alone, but with clean, well‑governed data ready to be consumed by machines.
If AI is the engine, data quality is the fuel. CES underscored a growing urgency among publishers, platforms, and brands to secure better data inputs. Across discussions with tech players, OEMs, media companies, and partners, a common message emerged: brands are racing to get their data houses in order before AI commoditizes the tech layer.
Key shifts in data and measurement:
- Structured, high‑quality data is essential for AI‐powered discovery. Conversational search and agent‑based navigation reward brands whose data is properly organized and machine‑readable. Marketers must think beyond traditional SEO: How does my brand show up when an AI agent is searching?
- Measurement drives growth not just reports. Amazon framed measurement as a strategic lever that informs creative, planning, and audience strategy upstream. Brands need continuous, AI‑supported measurement systems that connect signals across the full funnel.
- Market‑leading datasets are becoming more valuable. With DSPs acting as “the new walled gardens,” publishers at CES expressed urgent demand for trusted, independent, high‑quality brand and lift data. Kantar is uniquely positioned here: as AI accelerates decision‑making and automation, marketers need credible, structured, validated data to feed their systems.
The Shopper Journey Is No Longer a Journey
The most striking shift was how leaders described the future of consumer behavior. The classic funnel? Gone. Even “path to purchase”? Already outdated.
Kantar’s Marketing Trends 2026 highlights the shift to “one consumer, many moments,” and CES leaders echoed the same. Disney, Amazon, and Prime Video all showcased identity systems that follow a single person across TV, mobile, retail, live events, and gaming. The new shopping ecosystem is one where AI agents handle intent, filtering, and even negotiation long before a human enters the decision loop.
And as agentic commerce accelerates, brand salience becomes existential. In an era where someone (or their AI) says “find me a Marriott Bonvoy” or “show me Fallout,” the brand that is most Meaningfully Different wins instantly. Kantar BrandZ data shows that brands high in Meaningful Difference are 5× more likely to grow penetration—a critical advantage when AI agents compress choices to a shortlist of one or two.
The new rules of engagement:
- AI agents will reshape consideration and purchase. Consumer agents will negotiate, automate buying, and filter information long before a person ever sees a message.
- “One shopper, many moments” is the new model. Disney, Amazon, and Prime Video emphasized consistent identity and personalized content across every surface—TV, mobile, social, live events, and retail. The expectation is frictionless continuity, not channel‑based strategy.
- Relevance now beats reach. CES speakers repeatedly underscored that contextually relevant, moment‑specific messaging outperforms broad exposure. For brands, this means moving away from siloed brand vs. performance planning and toward truly unified full‑funnel orchestration.
- Commerce and content are merging. From immersive sports experiences to device‑embedded shopping to ambient voice interfaces, the purchase moment is now embedded everywhere. Brands must design for discovery, not just conversion.
What This Means for Brand Marketing in 2026
2026 is shaping up to be a breakthrough year for marketers but also a clarifying one.
This year, brand building becomes even more essential. As automation handles more of the lower funnel, mental availability and trust become differentiators. IP, fandom, and consistent brand cues matter more, not less, in a conversational world.
Marketers must design agent‑mediated journeys. It’s no longer just about reaching people. It’s about being legible to the systems that reach them.
Data governance and measurement maturity will dictate competitive advantage. Brands that invest in structured data, continuous measurement, and interoperable systems will outperform those relying on fragmented insights.
The next era of marketing belongs to brands that combine technological maturity with human insight and high‑quality data and prioritize developing trusted relationships based on a deep understanding of how people and their AI agents navigate the world.
