As we begin the New Year, we spoke to industry leaders to reflect on the shifts that shaped 2025 and the forces expected to define 2026. For Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, ReBid, 2025 marked the moment when marketing moved decisively from AI experimentation to measurable productivity and accountability.
Reflecting on the year gone by, Dingra explains how brands were forced to pair AI adoption with governance, transparency, and stronger data foundations:
“The One Trend That Defined 2025 - The AI shift - Experimentation to Productivity - 2025 was the year marketing finally shifted from AI experimentation to AI accountability and productivity.Brands embraced AI across media, content, and analytics, but were forced to pair it with governance, transparency, and data ownership. The industry realised that automation without connected, consented data only amplifies inefficiency. As a result, marketers moved away from siloed tools and fragmented agencies toward integrated, full-funnel systems where AI, human expertise, and first-party data work in a single workflow.”
Looking ahead, Dingra believes the next phase will be less about adoption and more about operating models—where AI, data, and decision-making converge at scale:
“Three trends you expect to dominate 2026: Agentic AI Becomes the New Operating System for Marketing - 2026 will be the year agentic AI shifts from ‘assistive’ to ‘autonomous-with-controls.’ Marketers will rely on agents that plan media, optimise budgets, generate insights, and execute workflows across platforms—with humans validating context. This closes the long-standing gap between analytics and action. The winners will be marketers who unify their data foundation and allow agentic AI to drive always-on optimisation at scale.
Full-Funnel Convergence: Media, CRM, and Commerce Collapse Into One System - The divide between performance, brand, retention, and commerce will finally dissolve in 2026. As budgets face pressure and attribution becomes harder, CMOs will demand one connected system that tracks the journey from ad to transaction to lifetime value. This convergence forces agencies and platforms to break creative–media–CRM silos and work through a shared data spine, improving ROAS, reducing CAC, and enabling real business-outcome marketing.
Data Independence Becomes a Board-Level Priority - With global privacy tightening and India enforcing stronger guardrails, brands will realise they cannot outsource data control anymore. Owning ad accounts, consented first-party data, identity graphs, and clean-room pipelines becomes essential to protect targeting, measurement, and audience building. In 2026, data autonomy will be the new competitive edge, enabling marketers to activate AI safely, personalise at scale, and avoid dependence on external intermediaries.”
(As told to Ruchika Jha)
