Media Mix Optimization in 2026: Only 57% of Advertisers Trust Their Mix, Per Kantar’s Media Reactions

Marketers have more data than ever, yet confidence in media mix optimization is slipping. According to Kantar’s 2026 Media Reactions report, 57% of advertisers are confident their organization has the right media mix, down from 64% a year earlier. Only 51% say they get actionable intelligence that supports their marketing goals.

The report surveyed 806 senior marketers worldwide (May 25 – July 21) and 23,452 consumers across 33 markets (July 3 – Sept. 10).

Brand vs. performance: confidence drops to 50%

Just half of advertisers believe they have the right balance between brand building and performance marketing, down from 60% in 2025. Jeff Greenspoon, CEO of Americas at Kantar, framed it this way: marketers haven’t lost faith in media; the ecosystem is fragmenting and outgrowing the way decisions have been made for 25 years.

43% of campaign performance comes from channels working together

Between 2020 and 2025, 43% of campaign performance was attributable to channels working together, up from 18% before 2014. Cutting budgets based on single-channel reports risks ignoring almost half of what drives results.

Measure the orchestra, not the instruments

The obstacle is measurement. Media, creative, brand, performance and commerce each run on separate dashboards and partners with different incentives. Greenspoon’s advice:

• Ask media partners for evidence of why and how their inventory helps reach agreed business outcomes.
• Require data that can be easily combined with other channels for analysis.

Where the next dollars go: AI assistants and smaller creators

• AI: Nearly two-thirds of marketers expect generative AI to play a major role in brand recommendations, and 75% plan to increase investment in AI assistants next year. Yet only 23% of consumers trust AI recommendations.
• Creators: Planned spending increases are 66% for micro-creators and 61% for nano-creators, versus 42% for mega- and 48% for macro-creators. The shift is from borrowing fame to earning relevance in smaller audiences.

How to apply this

1. Adopt portfolio-level measurement. Combine marketing mix modeling and incrementality tests at least quarterly instead of relying on platform ROAS alone.
2. Write outcome evidence into media deals. Agree up front how a partner will prove contribution to sales or new customers.
3. Test clusters of small, relevant creators. For measurement tactics, see Influencer Marketing Measurement Is the Hardest Part for Two-Thirds of Marketers.
4. Earn trust before scaling AI channels. With consumer trust at 23%, make sure product specs, reviews and pricing that AI assistants surface are accurate.

For context on how ad budgets are shifting overall, read Ad-to-Sales Ratio: CPG Giants Spend More While Big Tech Pulls Back.