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Adtech 2030: Predictions for the Agentic Age

Publisher IDC
Published Jan 27, 2026
Length 13 Pages
SKU # IDC20818917

Description

This IDC Perspective provides a high-level analysis of the forthcoming shifts in digital advertising, offering industry predictions for CMOs and the adtech vendors that support them to consider. The advertising technology landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, shifting from reactive automation to autonomous intelligence by 2030. Key trends include the rise of first-party data collaboration, the fragmentation of retail media into commerce clouds, intrinsic in-game advertising, agentic AI-driven operations, and the dominance of AI-generated discovery and attention-based metrics. Privacy-enhancing technologies and regulatory pressures are reshaping identity and market structure, while social commerce and AI-generated advertising redefine engagement and efficiency. Adtech suppliers must prioritize privacy, interoperability, and advanced automation, embedding AI and outcome-based measurement at their core. Success will depend on the ability to adapt to ecosystem fragmentation, regulatory change, and the growing importance of trust and transparency. The winners will be those who enable secure data collaboration, deliver measurable outcomes, and position themselves as strategic partners in an increasingly agentic, privacy-centric, and AI-powered ecosystem."By 2030, digital advertising will be defined by brands that build durable data alliances, deploy autonomous AI, and treat privacy as a structural requirement rather than a constraint. In this near-term future, relevance will hinge on a brand's ability to syndicate value and adapt to shifting models of commerce and attention. Those that fail to intentionally architect their signal for the agentic era risk fading as the ecosystem recalibrates around automation and trust." — Roger Beharry Lall, research director, Advertising Technologies, IDC

Table of Contents

13 Pages

Executive Snapshot

Situation Overview

Overview

Top investment priorities

The signal war: First-party data becomes "compounding capital"

Prediction description

Explanation

Ecosystem response

Retail media fractures into competing "commerce clouds"

Prediction description

Explanation

Ecosystem response

The rise of in-game intrinsic

Prediction description

Explanation

Ecosystem response

Agentic ad operations become fully autonomous

Prediction description

Explanation

Ecosystem response

Agentic engine optimization redefines discovery

Prediction description

Explanation

Ecosystem response

The death of the impression

Prediction description

Explanation

Ecosystem response

Shift from hindsight to real-time simulation

Prediction description

Explanation

Ecosystem response

Big tech antitrust breakups triggering new landscape

Prediction description

Explanation

Ecosystem response

Shoppable social overshadows traditional digital commerce

Ecosystem response

AI-generated "black box" advertising dominates midmarket

Prediction description

Explanation

Ecosystem response

The "premium web" bifurcation

Prediction description

Explanation

Ecosystem response

Privacy-enhancing technologies replace traditional identity

Prediction description

Explanation

Ecosystem response

Advice for the Technology Buyer

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