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In August 2024, we explained how the advertising industry is entering the “walk” phase of AI adoption.
At that point, the marketers were moving beyond the experiment. The early “crawl” phase incorporates basic work to use AI to construct data, analyze content, and build taxonomy for creative classification. That phase helped the team improve input quality and prepare for more dynamic use cases.
As confidence grew (the “walk” phase), AI began to appear in production workflows, where it helped to support reformatting assets, generating creative variations, and optimizing against defined signals. These applications reflect a shift towards operational use as AI accelerates execution across formats and platforms.
A year later, the latest MediaOcean 2025 H2 Market Report shows how quickly the landscape has changed. Recruitment is more consistent across teams, with wider use cases and marketers preparing for deeper integration.
They are no longer experimenting, they are deploying Generated AI (Genai) across creative, media and measurement workflows. We have entered the “execution” phase of adoption.
72% of marketers identified Genai as the most important consumer trend heading into the second half of 2025. This is an increase of 15 points since the second half of 2024. Genai was first ranked on all verticals included in the survey, from telecom and retail to travel and financial services.
From backend to frontend
Genai is currently widely applied across features. Data analysis remains the most common use, cited by 47% of respondents, consistent with last year's survey results. Market research is currently at 46%, earning a huge profit since the previous wave. The use of genai in the backend is growing strongly.
The difference this year is that Genai is deployed for more creative and front-end applications. AI is currently used at 34% of marketers, image generation, 25% image generation, and 25% copywriting for new creative versions to this wave. Genai currently supports modular versioning, scaled personalization, and increased speed and agility in production timelines.
Of all use cases, the biggest jump was seen in website development, up nearly 70% from last year. Coding rose 41%. These answers show that Genai has moved beyond the support role to core execution.
Wideer impact on workflows and strategies
Marketers are anticipating the wider impact they face. 31% expect major disruptions in creative optimization over the next 12 months. The other 25% expect significant changes in media planning and purchasing. These expectations illustrate the technology that is beginning to influence how teams are structured, how workflows are organized, and how strategies operate across channels.
AI agents are expected to play a central role in adopting Genai for broader operationalization from individual tasks. Agents can handle more complex tasks by connecting to tools such as Customer Relationship Management Tools (CRMS), Enterprise Resource Planning Tools (ERP), and social media platforms.
Access is what really makes agents effective. The omnichannel advertising platform allows agents to connect to systems marketers that they already rely on, allowing them to play a more central role within existing workflows.
Where things are standing now
The “crawl” adoption phase was about data structure and signal clarity. The “walk” phase was about efficiency and creative scale in the workflow. The current moment is defined by integration and orchestration.
Genai is no longer just a tool, it is a thread woven into the entire field built into the system, and is expected to expand further in the coming months. It powers integrated systems, informs decisions in real time, and shapes how brands appear across the channel.
The “execution” adoption phase has begun. And the pace is picked up and is already changing how work is done.
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