2026 Marketing and Public Relations Predictions

It’s that time again, when marketing and public relations professionals reflect on everything that’s happened over the past year and ask what’s on the horizon for 2026.

The start of a new year brings to mind endless possibilities, but picking out the probabilities — and acting on them — is always a challenge. However, one thing echoes in every planning conversation I’ve had: AI is changing the communications game faster than most agencies can keep up.

To help you prepare, we’ve identified three AI-focused predictions for marketing and public relations professionals in 2026. Read on to get a sneak peek at what the new year will bring and some actionable tips to help you stay ahead.

Prediction 1: Generative AI Platforms Will Bet Big on Ad Revenue

While some companies like Perplexity have started experimenting with ads, generative AI platforms for the most part remain ad-free. Expect that to change in 2026.

OpenAI, once staunchly anti-advertising, has changed its position and indicated that ads are a possibility for the platform. The shift makes business sense. Since many tools, like OpenAI’s Chat GPT, offer free versions, they’ll need to find additional reliable recurring revenue streams to stay profitable. They’ll likely reach the same conclusion that social media platforms did long ago: When your product is free, advertising is the solution to revenue challenges.

But that doesn’t mean the road to ad revenue will be easy. It’s still unclear how these platforms will measure ad performance or what the ads will look like. We expect platforms will favor a native approach, with ads appearing as text embedded in the answers returned by chatbots. Other platforms like Reddit take a similar approach, featuring ads that appear as posts or comments.

The prospect of native advertising on generative AI platforms introduces a host of other questions. How will users react to ads appearing in their answers? How will the ads be identified as such? Will companies be able to bid on prompts like they bid on keywords? Expect answers to arrive via trial and error in the year ahead.

Tip #1: Do you know what generative AI platforms your customers are using? If not, now is the time to do your research. That way, you can effectively allocate dollars if and when they adopt ads. You may also consider reaching out to your preferred platform now to ask about becoming an early ad partner, potentially helping them test their new capabilities for a discounted rate on ad buying.

Prediction 2: Human-Created Content Will See a Boost in Engagement

The internet’s new favorite term, “AI slop,” refers to the poor-quality, AI-generated content dominating certain spaces online. The proliferation of AI slop is leading to AI fatigue, which in turn causes users to disengage with AI writing. Additionally, poor-quality content typically ranks lower on search engines, further reducing AI content’s engagement potential.

But there’s a positive side to AI slop: It is paving the way for human-created content to attract higher engagement. As more brands and individuals lean on AI, human-created content stands out from the crowd. In 2026, expect to see a major spike in engagement for original content and a higher premium placed on human writing.

Tip #2: Want to beat out your competition? Don’t rely exclusively on AI for your content. No matter how you approach content creation, make sure your copy includes differentiated perspectives — something that can’t be readily scraped from the internet. Ask yourself what point of view you are uniquely qualified to provide. That’s exactly what AI can’t do.

Prediction 3: Measuring Brand Awareness Will Get More Difficult

AI chatbots are quickly becoming ubiquitous, with 62% of people reporting they use an AI chatbot every day. One of the main uses for these chatbots? Search. As a result, we’re seeing the rise of generative engine optimization (GEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO). These cousins of SEO refer to optimizing content for inclusion in AI-powered search engines and chatbots.

But how do you know whether your content is showing up in AI outputs? Many companies now offer GEO measurement tools for this purpose. Unfortunately, these tools are still in their infancy, making it difficult to get an accurate picture of brand representation on any given platform. As users increasingly turn to AI for their search needs in 2026, we’ll see a growing gap in brand awareness measurement until GEO measurement tools catch up.

Tip #3: Even though GEO is hard to measure right now, many tools on the market claim to offer comprehensive information on your presence across different generative AI platforms. Before paying for a tool, scrutinize how it works and what it purports to measure. If the tool isn’t clear about what its metrics mean, how they are calculated, or what data it uses, consider holding off.

What will it take to achieve marketing and public relations success in 2026?

In marketing and PR, today’s innovations are tomorrow’s table stakes, and staying ahead means constantly learning and evolving. The most successful professionals and agencies look beyond today, envisioning the future, and acting on it — even when they don’t have all the answers.

Looking for more insight into what the future holds for marketing and PR? Contact us today to get the full download.