Published October 10, 2025
At Advertising Week New York this year, we asked the industry an important question: What’s going to make the biggest difference in ad tech’s next chapter?
Drumroll, please… To perhaps no marketer’s surprise, the overwhelming favorite was AI — which also dominated panels, conversations and keynotes throughout the week.
We collected votes both at our on-site studio and through LinkedIn, and the results were clear:
- AI: 45 votes
- Identity: 25 votes
- Supply path optimization (SPO): 13 votes
- Retail data: 11 votes
If there was one theme that tied the week together, it was the industry’s deep curiosity about AI. This week, OpenAI’s ChatGPT also announced partnerships with Spotify, Uber, Expedia and Zillow.
“AI is finally moving from buzz to business,” said Mac Hagel, head of media for Razorfish. “Marketers are done with hype. They want AI to be accountable, measurable and immediately tied to outcomes.”
Courtesy of Ilyse Liffreing
Despite the hype, marketers are still cautious of the tech. As The Current reported this week, many marketers are eager to integrate AI into their workflows but remain wary of its impact on privacy, trust and creativity.
“There’s different expectations from different advertisers as to what we’re doing with AI and how comfortable they are with us using it,” said Jennifer Laing, senior vice president of operations at Causal, during one panel. “We’re definitely seeing more scrutiny than ever in our practices.”
While AI stole the spotlight, the poll results suggest marketers haven’t forgotten the other pillars driving ad tech’s evolution.
Identity remains a top concern as the industry navigates the end of third-party cookies and tightens data-privacy standards. SPO continues to be crucial in helping advertisers clean up the ad supply chain and ensure transparency. And retail data is increasingly being recognized as a valuable source of first-party insights as retail media networks rapidly scale.
If the votes at Advertising Week are any indication, marketers see AI as the defining force in ad tech’s next chapter — but also recognize that its success will depend on how it connects with these long-term foundations of trust, efficiency and data-driven precision.