AI agents set to run marketing by 2026 as campaigns give way to autonomous systems: Report

Marketing is heading for a structural shift by 2026, with autonomous AI agents expected to replace traditional campaign-led models, as brands move from experimentation with generative AI to full-scale agentic execution, according to a new industry report.

The study projects that the next 12–24 months will mark an inflection point where marketing operations are increasingly run by orchestrated multi-agent systems, capable of handling content creation, audience segmentation, decision-making, optimisation and insights in real time, rather than isolated AI tools or human-led workflows.

The report highlights rapid adoption momentum. Multi-agent systems outperform single-agent architectures by 90.2 percent on complex tasks, while 56 percent of organisations report improved scalability after adopting such systems. About 50 percent of enterprises say multi-agent adoption creates competitive differentiation, and analyst firm Gartner recorded a 1,445 percent surge in multi-agent system–related queries between 2024 and 2025.

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Instead of episodic campaigns, these systems operate continuously, adjusting to customer behaviour and business goals without manual intervention, effectively turning marketing into an always-on, self-optimising engine.

Shift from reach to relevance

A key theme in the report is the emergence of “Brand Twins,” always-on AI agents representing brands that deeply understand individual consumer intent and preferences. This shift is being driven by what the report calls an “attention collapse” across digital platforms.

Data cited shows 73 percent of consumers skim content, while only 27 percent engage meaningfully. Average human attention spans have dropped to 8.25 seconds, down from 12 seconds in 2000, making relevance more valuable than scale.

As a result, marketing is expected to become quieter and more contextual, with fewer interactions that are more precisely targeted, rather than high-frequency outreach designed to maximise impressions.

Agent-led commerce reaches scale

E-commerce is expected to be the first sector to feel the full impact of agentic AI. The report estimates that AI agents will influence 20 percent of e-commerce transactions by 2030. By 2028, 33 percent of organisations are projected to adopt agentic AI, and 15 percent of AI agents are expected to make autonomous daily decisions.

This is expected to give rise to agent-to-agent commerce, where consumer-side AI agents and brand-side agents negotiate pricing, promotions, recommendations and inventory in real time, dynamically optimising transactions without direct human involvement.

Attention becomes the growth bottleneck

As AI agents increasingly filter choices on behalf of consumers, brands will need to appeal to both human emotion and machine logic. The report argues that attention, not technology, will become the primary constraint on growth, with AI agents acting as gatekeepers that decide which messages even reach human users.

Brands that succeed, it notes, will be those that convert limited attention into loyalty, customer lifetime value and long-term profitability.

Outcome-based pricing replaces martech sprawl

The rise of autonomous execution is also expected to reshape how marketing technology is priced and evaluated. The report points to widespread inefficiency in current martech stacks: 55 percent of marketers are dissatisfied with cost versus value, 99 percent underutilise their martech tools, and 40 percent cannot measure ROI, while 18 percent report no clear return at all.

Martech cost sensitivity has risen sharply, from 37 percent in 2023 to 61 percent in 2024, with 47 percent of leaders citing stack complexity as the main barrier to value creation.

As a result, vendors are expected to move toward outcome-based pricing, where brands pay for measurable results such as conversions, revenue and lifetime value, rather than software licences or usage metrics.

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The CMO’s role changes

With execution increasingly automated, accountability is shifting upward. Sixty-five percent of CMOs believe AI will fundamentally change their role within the next two years, with leadership responsibilities moving toward orchestration of AI systems and direct ownership of growth outcomes.

The findings are detailed in Netcore Agentic Predictions 2026, a thought-leadership report that examines how agentic AI is reshaping marketing, commerce and organisational accountability as brands prepare for a post-campaign era.