The Interactive Advertising Bureau is setting the tone for 2026—and making it very clear that the industry isn’t just evolving, it’s mutating. Today, the IAB unveiled the full agenda for its 2026 Annual Leadership Meeting (ALM), happening February 1–3 in Palm Springs. The event returns under the banner “It Starts Here,” which doubles as both a rallying cry and a warning that the next two years won’t look anything like the last ten.
If you work anywhere in the value chain—adtech, martech, agencies, retail media, publishers, platforms, creator ecosystems—ALM is once again positioned as the alignment conference. The place everyone begrudgingly admits they must attend because the industry doesn’t move until everyone shows up in the same room to hash out disagreements, share perspectives, and interrogate what we think we know about the year ahead.
This time, the stakes are higher. AI is not a buzzword; it’s a systemic rewrite happening in real time, and the IAB’s agenda reflects that urgency.
“An Entirely Different Environment”: The 2026 Reality Check
“We’re entering 2026 and it’s an entirely different environment from years past,” said IAB CEO David Cohen. It’s a sentiment shared across the industry: AI has turned the digital ecosystem into a moving target, and the ripple effects—on measurement, identity, commerce, and creativity—are only beginning.
His follow-up note was even more telling:
“It’s impossible for any single one of us to know what’s coming next, but when we gather together and share perspectives, together we can see much further ahead.”
In other words, the forecast isn’t clear—but the fog is collective. And collaboration is the only way through.
Star Power + Strategy Power: A Speaker Lineup Built for Cross-Pollination
ALM has developed a reputation for pairing traditional thought leaders with mainstream cultural voices, and 2026 is no exception. This year’s program includes:
- Zack Kass, global AI advisor and former OpenAI leader
- Kevin Bacon, director, musician, philanthropist, and multihyphenate icon
- Bozoma Saint John, marketer, “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star, and co-host of “On Brand with Jimmy Fallon”
- Allyson Witherspoon, CMO, Nissan U.S.
- Remi Bader, creator, entrepreneur
And an expansive list of industry executives spanning retail media, streaming audio, health, sports, entertainment, creators, analytics, and commerce:
Jamie Auslander (Infillion), Jonathan Halvorson (Kenvue), Jennifer Brown (SHEIN), Keri Degroote (SiriusXM Media), Radhika Duggal (Major League Soccer), Jeremi Gorman (Fanatics), Jesser (Bucketsquad), Marie Lee (Princess Cruises), Keith Lehman (Colgate-Palmolive), Austin Leonard (Dollar General / DG Media Network), Abi Subramanian (Walgreens), Kendall Toole, Gabi Viljoen (Nestlé Health Science), Heidi Zak (ThirdLove), and more.
The range is intentional. The industry is no longer siloed; creators shape retail, retail shapes content, AI shapes targeting, identity shapes everything.
The roster reads like a cross-section of the modern marketing economy—one where brand, commerce, tech, and entertainment collide.
ALM’s Themes: Six Battlegrounds That Will Define 2026
This year’s ALM programming runs across six thematic tracks—all built around practical AI, structural challenges, and the tectonic shifts affecting digital advertising.
These aren’t fluffy “future of marketing” panels. They’re real—and in some cases existential—issues the industry must confront.
Let’s break them down.
1. Beyond Human: When AI Becomes the Audience
The most provocative theme—and probably the most important. AI isn’t just changing how ads are built or bought; it’s emerging as a new decision-maker inside the consumer journey.
We’re quickly approaching a world where:
- AI agents select products before humans ever see an offer
- Autonomous systems influence media planning and optimization
- Targeting expands beyond people to include machine behavior
ALM will tackle how teams restructure operations, build creative for both humans and algorithms, and rethink attribution when the “consumer” could partially be a software agent.
This is the direction Amazon, Google, Meta, and Apple are quietly heading in. IAB is elevating it to center stage.
2. Commerce Unboxed: The Next Phase of Retail & Commerce Media
Retail media’s meteoric ascent was just the warm-up. Commerce media—the fusion of retail, content, marketplaces, social, shopper, and trade marketing—is the real battleground.
ALM’s commerce track examines:
- How AI-driven agents reshape discovery and shopping
- The merge of retail media with brand + trade marketing
- Transparency requirements retailers will be pressured to adopt
- The spread of commerce media into streaming, creators, CTV, and DOOH
- The complete collapse of the “upper funnel vs lower funnel” distinction
Dollar General, Nestlé Health Science, Walgreens, SHEIN, and Kenvue leaders will offer perspective from the front lines of integrated commerce.
Expect this track to be standing-room only; the commerce media race is already reshaping budget allocation across the entire industry.
3. Fortifying the Foundation: Measurement for a Modern Media World
If the digital ad ecosystem has a chronic illness, it’s measurement. Fragmentation, incompatible standards, mismatched currencies, broken attribution, outdated modeling… take your pick.
ALM’s measurement track will get into the guts of what needs to change:
- What an actual modern measurement framework looks like
- How to overhaul model inputs and view-through logic
- How to align MMM, incrementality, and attribution
- Why the industry still can’t define “outcomes” consistently
- How regulatory and privacy dynamics shape future models
The IAB’s State of Data Report—to be released at ALM—will anchor this conversation. And expect MMM to get a serious reality check. AI-driven modeling is promising, but marketers desperately need clarity on what’s real and what’s still experimental.
4. Storytelling Evolved: Influence, Imagination, and Impact
Creators aren’t an add-on anymore. They’re the cultural engine of digital marketing—and AI is accelerating the shift.
This track explores:
- New definitions of ROI for creator marketing
- AI-enhanced creative formats and hybrid human-machine storytelling
- Better compensation models and collaboration frameworks
- How brands can build multi-layer relationships with creators
With speakers from SHEIN, ThirdLove, major creator networks, and cultural influencers themselves, this track will likely push brands to rethink influence not as “going viral” but as developing durable, collaborative creative ecosystems.
Brands that still treat creators like paid placements are already behind.
5. The New World of Screens, Signals, and Outcomes
The video landscape is no longer “CTV vs linear” or “digital vs social”—it’s everything, everywhere, all the time.
ALM will address the new expectations:
- Integrated planning across CTV, streaming, DOOH, social, and video podcasting
- Unified signals across platforms that weren’t built to talk to each other
- Moving beyond impressions to outcome-based frameworks
- How the next wave of AI personalization alters video storytelling
This is arguably the most fragmented domain in marketing today—and one where marketers are most desperate for consolidation.
Expect tough conversations here. And likely some tension between buy-side and sell-side viewpoints.
6. Data, Identity, and Privacy in a Reshaped Ecosystem
Identity is shrinking. Privacy regulation is expanding globally. IP ownership in AI is the new minefield. And cookie deprecation, despite repeated delays and half-steps, is still shaping how marketers build addressable audiences.
This track gets into the specifics:
- How to design for trust in an identity-scarce ecosystem
- IP risk surfaces created by generative AI
- Global privacy patchworks and evolving U.S. legislation
- Consent frameworks that actually work
- Alternate identity strategies beyond third-party IDs
This is one of the few places where optimism and realism often clash—and where product roadmaps from major platforms could shift overnight depending on regulatory rulings.
The 2026 State of Data Report: The Industry’s Decoder Ring
At ALM, the IAB will also release the 2026 State of Data Report, the organization’s annual deep dive into the most pressing issues affecting data, measurement, and AI.
This year’s edition will dissect:
- MMM, attribution, incrementality, and outcome frameworks
- How these models must evolve under privacy and signal loss
- Misconceptions around AI’s role in measurement
- What AI can actually deliver today vs 18–24 months from now
With AI flooding every link in the advertising chain, separating hype from reality is no longer optional. Brands need to know what’s “deployable now,” what’s “emerging but risky,” and what’s “years out.” The report will attempt to draw those lines.
Why ALM 2026 Matters More Than Previous Years
ALM has always been a temperature check for the digital ad industry. But the 2026 edition might be the most consequential since the meeting’s inception.
Three forces are colliding:
1. AI-driven structural change
This isn’t automation—it’s architectural redesign. Workflows, roles, content creation, optimization, and consumer decision-making will all be AI-inflected.
2. Commerce media maturity
Retail media budgets rival national TV. Commerce media is now the connective tissue linking brand, shopper, and digital channels.
3. Rising regulatory pressure
Privacy laws, AI governance, measurement transparency, and data ethics aren’t theoretical—they’re here.
When everything shifts at once, the industry needs a centralized forum to align on principles and priorities. That’s why ALM 2026 feels different: it’s not a conference about trends; it’s a conference about survival and reinvention.
A Crossroads Moment for Digital Advertising
The digital media ecosystem is entering a once-in-a-generation transition. The IAB’s agenda acknowledges this reality—not with panic, but with pragmatism.
The through-line across all tracks is clear:
- AI will reshape every operational layer
- Measurement reform is non-negotiable
- Identity and privacy will redefine competitive advantages
- Commerce media will become the backbone of digital strategy
- Creativity and influence must evolve for both humans and algorithms
- Video will demand unified planning and new outcome standards
ALM 2026 doesn’t promise easy answers. But it does promise the one thing the industry desperately needs: a shared starting point.
Hence… “It Starts Here.”
