In the midst of economic, regulatory, environmental, generational, and organizational volatility, fragmentation, and a fiercely competitive landscape, opportunity doesn’t vanish, it just hides in plain sight. As we continue navigating the shifting terrain of the marketing and media economy, The Myers Report 2025-2026 Marketing & Media Economic Forecast is a call to look forward not with fear, but with strategic clarity.
This 75-page report unpacks where the dollars are headed, why, and how smart marketers, agencies, and media organizations can not only adapt but grow. Amid the noise of disruption, five promising signals are emerging that point to scalable, measurable, and brand-affirming opportunities.
These five themes serve not only as investment guidance, but as leadership principles for navigating the post-currency, post-cookie, AI-augmented future.
1. Data-Driven Premium Integrations
While retail media has quickly captured the attention of performance marketers, there’s a powerful countertrend emerging data-integrated, content-aligned partnerships that combine the scale and trust of linear TV and streaming with verified outcomes. Think NBCUniversal’s OnePlatform. Think Disney’s Audience Graph. Think brand moments inside cultural moments — measurable, addressable, and deeply resonant.
This is not a return to the 30-second spot. It’s a reinvention of it — augmented by identity resolution, creative intelligence, and outcome-based guarantees.
In The Myers Report, we project that marketers investing in these hybrid partnerships will not only see a higher return on brand lift but will outperform standalone retail media placements in long-term consumer equity. The key is creative alignment and audience intelligence — not just impressions.
2. Brand Safety and Trust
In an era dominated by brand safety risks — from MFA websites to synthetic influencers and manipulated video — premium environments are regaining their value.
According to third-party verification data cited in the report, linear networks and their streaming extensions continue to offer the lowest rates of fraud, misinformation, and ad misplacement. That’s not just a tactical advantage — it’s a brand trust strategy.
As AI-generated content proliferates and platform accountability wanes, advertisers will return to brand-safe contexts not just out of fear — but out of necessity. The pendulum is swinging back. Marketers will ask not just “who saw my ad?” but “what was it next to, and how did that affect my brand?”
Trust will be the currency of the next five years. And premium media, long undervalued in algorithmic models, is sitting on a trust reserve that will soon become a strategic differentiator.
3. Cultural and Content Capital
As The Myers Report outlines, premium content is more than entertainment; it is the cultural scaffolding around which audiences organize identity, discussion, and decision-making. From the NFL to award shows to binge-worthy drama and reality formats, content still drives cultural impact and that cultural capital translates into brand capital.
Streaming has democratized content, but that has made standout content more valuable, not less. The clutter is the enemy. Relevance is the answer.
Investing in adjacencies to premium content not just through sponsorships but through narrative integration and value-aligned creative offers brands long-tail impact beyond click-through rates or ROAS. It generates shared memory, emotional association, and signal value in an attention-scarce economy.
Marketers who understand the value of being part of the moment — not just present in the feed — will build durable brand preference that performance channels alone cannot replicate.
4. Identity and Clean Room Collaborations
The cookie is dead. The IDFA is constrained. Signal loss is real and for many, existential. But what The Myers Report emphasizes is that precision at scale isn’t gone, it just requires new partnerships.
Clean room technology has emerged as a central pillar of post-cookie targeting, and identity graphs from partners like LiveRamp, TransUnion, and Experian are enabling brands and publishers to match audience segments, model behaviors, and measure performance with fidelity.
The opportunity isn’t just technical, it’s strategic. Clean rooms are unlocking cooperative intelligence, enabling joint data activations between retailers and media sellers, between brands and platforms.
What was once competitive IP is becoming a collaborative differentiator. And the companies that learn to share to grow will reclaim both audience relevance and measurement authority.
5. Collaborative Innovation with Holding Companies
Perhaps the most under-leveraged growth driver in media today is the potential for true collaboration between media sellers and agency holding companies.
We’re seeing it already — NBCUniversal’s OnePlatform, Disney’s Audience Graph, and multi-platform activations across Publicis CoreAI and Omnicom Omni. These aren’t just tools. They are relationship reinforcements — custom integrations that build long-term shared value.
The Myers Report identifies a growing trend: media partners who are willing to co-invest in tech stacks, data integrations, and outcome modeling are becoming preferred collaborators. This isn’t about access — it’s about alignment.
And for brands, this means one thing: more coherent, more customized, more effective marketing systems.
Growth in a Time of Compression
We are at an inflection point. Not just economically, but philosophically. Growth will not come from working harder at outdated models. It will come from reframing what we mean by value, performance, and brand connection.
The 2025-2026 Myers Report offers a roadmap not just for managing change, but for leading through it.
From detailed investment forecasts by category, to platform-by-platform analysis of AI, media currencies, retail dynamics, and creative trends — the report is designed to arm leaders with the insight, context, and foresight needed to thrive.
For Corporate Subscribers:
Your full PDF of the 75-page 2025-2026 Myers Report Marketing & Media Economic Forecast was included as a PDF attachment in an earlier report you should have received. If not received, contact us at MyersReport@gmail.com.
For Non-Subscribers:
The report is available for purchase at $2,950 or subscribe to all 24 white papers in the 2025 series at a one-week only 50% discount: $6,000 at www.myersreports.com. This offer expires and the cost reverts to the full $12,000 subscription on May 1.
