2026: The Year of the Great Rebalancing

After two years at Utiq, I’ve come to believe something quite simple: every part of our industry is trying to rebalance itself. After a decade defined by extraction, opacity, and a chase for scale at any cost, the pendulum is finally swinging back towards value, trust and genuine human attention.

 

In 2026, I think that rebalancing becomes impossible to ignore.

 

You can already feel it in the conversations happening across the open internet. Publishers asking how to deepen relationships rather than just fill pages. Brands questioning the true cost of frequency overload. Agencies rethinking what “efficiency” means in a world where AI can generate, optimise and automate almost everything – but still can’t replicate judgement.

 

The clues are everywhere. And when you connect them, you realise they all point to the same thing: 2026 will be the year we rebalance digital advertising toward what actually matters.

 

A Rebalance of Power: Publishers as Brands

 

One of the clearest shifts coming is the way publishers behave. The era of simply monetising impressions is fading. As revenue pressure grows and the cost of acquiring traffic rises, publishers will begin to act much more like brands in their own right – prioritising loyalty, retention and high-value engagement over raw, anonymous volume.

 

I see this as a healthy correction. For too long, publishers have been valued on quantity rather than quality. In 2026, the publishers who win will be those who behave less like inventory factories and more like trusted destinations for engaged communities.

 

And when publishers elevate themselves, the entire ecosystem benefits—fewer meaningless impressions, better content, stronger identity signals and more responsible revenue models.

 

A Rebalance of Rights: AI and the Price of Permission

 

AI has been all about disruption. In 2026, it going to become about a negotiation.

Publishers and media owners have woken up to the reality that their content is feeding vast AI systems without clarity, permission or compensation. I expect this year will therefore introduce a new industry standard: consistent, enforceable remuneration for AI crawlers that want to use publisher content.

 

This isn’t about pushing against innovation. It’s about correcting a basic imbalance. If AI depends on quality human-made content, then creators deserve transparent value in return.

 

That principle – value for value – is exactly what the open web has needed for years.

 

A Rebalance of Scale: Consolidation Returns

 

Rebalancing isn’t always gentle. In 2026, it will also come with consolidation.

With revenue pressure mounting across agencies, adtech, and publishers, we’ll see weaker players fold and stronger ones acquire. Not because innovation is slowing, but because duplication and fragmentation have become unsustainable.

 

We’re entering a phase where the market rewards clarity of purpose, stable identity foundations and proven business value. The noisy middle – those with no differentiation beyond slogans – will shrink dramatically.

 

A Rebalance of Data: First-Party Becomes the True Currency

 

Identity has been fractured for too long. Cookies are disappearing. Devices are multiplying. Browsers are drifting towards their own AI-powered behaviours.

In this chaos, the most stable asset becomes the one closest to the customer: first-party data.

 

Brands and media owners will treat it not as a tactical advantage but as the most important strategic asset they own. Its quality, governance and interoperability will determine their competitiveness for the next decade.

 

This is where our mission at Utiq feels particularly aligned with the moment. The industry wants data that is consented, deterministic, privacy-first and durable across environments. Telco-powered identity is not a trend – it’s part of the rebalancing. It gives brands and publishers what they’ve been missing – stability.

 

A Rebalance of Commerce: Retail Media Grows Up

 

Retail Media is the fastest-growing area of digital advertising. But in 2026, it finally becomes mature.

 

Retailers will stop thinking like media owners and start thinking like full-funnel intelligence platforms. Activation, insights and closed-loop measurement will merge into a single commerce engine powered by high-quality consented data.

 

This shift will transform how brands spend, how retailers monetise and how agencies strategise. It’s another place where accuracy, privacy and performance merge—and another sign of the rebalance toward clarity.

 

A Rebalance of Automation: AI With a Human Hand

 

Yes, the AI hype will continue. But in 2026, the narrative becomes more grounded. We’ll see less excitement about what AI could do and more focus on what it should do.

 

AI will automate workflows, improve media planning, and streamline creation. But the industry will remember something fundamental: judgement, ethics and meaningful choices cannot be fully automated.

 

AI will scale efficiency. Humans will ensure direction.

That balance has been missing. It returns this year.

 

A Rebalance of Identity: The Adoption of Telco-Powered IDs

 

And finally, perhaps the biggest correction of all: the market will begin adopting persistent, telco-powered deterministic identity across the ecosystem.

 

A privacy-first, human-only, consented ID that works across browsers, devices and channels is what advertisers have been asking for—and what the open web has lacked for too long.

 

In 2026, that finally changes.

Advertisers want sustainability.
Publishers want sovereignty.
Agencies want accuracy.
Users want control.

 

A telco-powered ID aligns all four.
That is the ultimate rebalancing.

 

2026 will not be defined by radical disruption. It will be defined by a return to balance – between privacy and performance, automation and judgement, value and remuneration, human behaviour and digital innovation.

 

And it’s why I’m more optimistic than ever about the open web’s future.