TripleLift finds AI standoff in advertising industry

TripleLift has published research suggesting the advertising industry remains divided over the use of artificial intelligence in campaign work. The survey points to a gap between formal AI planning and confidence in wider deployment.

The study drew on responses from 200 advertising professionals worldwide. It found that 60% said their companies had a centralised AI strategy, but fewer than 30% expressed high confidence in that approach. Another 62% said their organisations were still in the exploration or pilot stage of adoption.

The findings suggest AI has become more common in areas of advertising that rely heavily on data and repeated decision-making, but has made less progress in creative work. Campaign optimisation was the most common use case, with 73% of respondents saying they use AI in that area. A further 59% said they use it for audience targeting, including segmentation and contextual modelling.

Creative divide

Creative production remained the least automated part of campaign delivery. Just 25% of respondents said they use AI for creative production, and many limit its role to testing and iteration rather than creating fully AI-generated assets.

The same pattern appears in overall campaign control. Only 19% of those surveyed said they fully automate campaign execution with AI, while 40% said they still keep manual control across the entire process.

Concerns over creative quality, brand safety and accuracy are holding back wider use of automated systems. The report described the market as being in an AI "standoff", with advertisers interested in efficiency gains but unwilling to hand over too much control.

Rob Deichert, Chief Operating Officer, TripleLift, said the sector has already spent years using earlier forms of AI in ad technology.

"Machine learning has been a staple in the ad space for over a decade, with agentic AI and LLMs fundamentally up-leveling how campaigns are built and optimized. Now, the human layer is getting tools that can handle tasks ML isn't ideal for. This leaves the industry caught in a balancing act. Companies want better results from AI, yet remain hesitant to share the data and trust required to unlock its full potential," said Deichert.

Review burden

The report also highlighted a practical cost of AI adoption in advertising operations. Rather than removing work altogether, automated tools often add another layer of checking, as staff must verify outputs before campaigns go live.

According to the survey, 45% of respondents spend up to four hours a week reviewing AI-generated outputs, while the broader report said 74% spend several hours a week on that task. TripleLift called this a "review tax", arguing that time saved by automation is often partly offset by manual validation.

That review process reflects a broader trust issue across the industry. Advertisers may be willing to use AI to improve bidding, targeting or measurement, but remain more cautious when outputs affect messaging, visual execution or brand perception.

Creative caution

The survey breaks advertising activity into four areas: media, measurement, audience and creative. In the first three, AI appears to be gaining acceptance because the work tends to involve high volumes of data, forecasting and optimisation. Creative work, by contrast, remains more dependent on human judgement.

This matters because creative development directly affects how campaigns are perceived by consumers and clients. Errors in tone, imagery or context can carry commercial and reputational risks, making agencies and brands less willing to rely on automated tools without close supervision.

TripleLift argued that the next stage of adoption will depend on whether companies can apply AI across campaign planning and execution without losing transparency or oversight. Fragmented workflows remain a barrier to broader use, particularly when multiple teams handle media buying, audience decisions, measurement and creative approval.

Deichert said the unresolved issue is how creative work fits into more automated systems.

"When AI systems work in sync across media, measurement, and audience, the opportunity is clear: faster, always-on campaign execution. The missing piece is creative. Bridging that gap, without losing the human spark, is what will define the next era of advertising," added Deichert.