2026年美国 B2B 广告、营销与数据行业展望报告：持续演进

Bruce Biegel, Senior Managing PartnerJanuary 15, 2026 AboutWinterberry Group A specialized managementconsultancy that offers more thantwo decades of experience anddeep expertise in the intersectingdisciplines ofadvertising,marketing, data, technology,mediaandcommerce. Winterberry Group helps brands,publishers, marketing serviceproviders, technology developersand information companies—plusthe financial investors who supportthese organizations—understandemerging growth opportunities,create actionable strategiesandincrease their value and globalimpact. Looking Back at 2025 A Year of Tariff Shock, Moderate Inflation, the Impact of AI–ButSurprisingly Stable Macroeconomic Conditions Marketing Spend Growth Normalizes Closer To Historical GDPRatios, Spend Growth Beats Inflation, Typical Non-Election Dip Review 2025:As Usual, Digital Drove Market Growth, Offline Decline–Most ImportantlySpend Is Moving Between Channels Review 2025:Offline Decline Driven by Linear TV and Print, WhileExperiential, Shopper and Sponsorship Deliver Good Growth Review 2025:Direct Mail Volumes Largely Hold Steady Through 2025,With Political Mail Absent for the Year Review 2025:Online Marketing Growth Remained Strong, Led bySocial, Video, RMN Driven Search and Creator Spending Review 2025:With Channel Spend Growing Slowly, InvestmentFocused on Data Infrastructure for Video and AI First Applications Data Services:includesidentity resolutionanalytics, measurement,attribution and data layerintegration Data Infrastructure:includes audience data management for 1st, 2ndand 3P data, use ofcollaboration platforms and the investments in support for AI and data lakehouses 2025 Marketing M&A Trends:HeightenedActivity Span Marketingand Media, Financial Buyers Outspending Strategics In 2025, global M&A deal value reached $4.9 trillion,marking a 44%increase compared to 2024; highest value ever, other than the 2021 record Agency, Media and Marketing Tech consolidation accelerates,reflectsa shift toward scale, cost synergies and changing agency economics 2025 M&A Trends:Improving Market Conditions ReactivatedCapital Across Buyers and Strategies Asteady increase in transactions, as improving financing conditions andstabilizing macro sentiment, with overall deal value growth outpacingtransaction volumes in the back half of 2025 PE dry powder declined to ~$880Bin the U.S. from ~$1.2T earlier in 2025,reflecting increased capital deployment, with sponsors remaining active forscaled, high-quality assets AI was the dominant recipient of VC investment dollars,sustaining arecord share of funding—over half of global and U.S. VC investment—through 2025, increasingly concentrated in outsized rounds Fund-to-fund transfers gained further momentum across PEs,withsecondaries transaction values accelerating through Q3 2025 andpositioning the market for a record-setting year, driven by increased use ofcontinuation vehicles amid extended exit timelines 2025 Notable Deals:Accelerating M&A Momentum Heading Into2026 Across All Sectors Macro Trends: What’s Driving the Market Trend:AI's Foundation Problem—Everyone Wants Agentic,Companies Are Still Trying to Get Their Data Ready AI investments continued to move towards agentic solutions in2025, yetlack of clarity around use cases, data silos and/orcreative infrastructure slows transformation. Significant progress isshown inagentic adoption for marketing use cases led bycreative production and media. Trend:Linear TV Becomes the Extension as CTV Takes Center Stage TrendThe power dynamic flipped in 2025:Linear now extendsstreaming strategies rather than CTV extending linear buys. Thespread between CTV and linear narrowed to ~$8BBas cord-cutting continues, streaming channel sign more sports contracts.Planning shifts from network first to audience buying acrossdelivery media. Trend:Social Commerce Accelerates—Creators Drive DirectTransactions The shift from influencer to creator marketing acceleratedin 2025, withcreators driving more unique contentthat blendswith social commerce adoption.Creators generating contentto drive engagement/conversiongained ground overinfluencers focused on reach Trend:Commerce Media Networks Expand Across Verticals—Measurement Challenges Continue to Dominate Conversation prioritize purchase intent audiences and closed-loopmeasurement. Market moves beyond retail as Marriott, Uber,AMEX, PayPal, etc. provide unique audience data and placement. ImpactAs mid and smaller footprint media networks (traffic andaudience) face scale limitations,expect platformconsolidation to simplify buying complexity and frequencymanagement.Measurement and attribution remainsfragmented and complex challenging future adoption Trend:Search Shifts to GEO and AEO—Traditional SEO StrategiesBecome Obsolete Trend:Pressure for Ad Tech Optimization as Providers Compete toStreamline the Supply Path Between Advertisers and Publishers Amazon DSP aggressively moved outside its walls,providingsignificant price pr