11 Marketing Trends for 2025: AI Agents, Bad Creatives & Content Flood

If 2024 was the year of large language models, 2025 will be the year of AI agents. These intelligent tools can automate complex tasks that would otherwise require significant human resources.

In marketing, AI agents excel in managing and processing data spread across silos. Bringing this data together, organizing it, and making it accessible is no small feat. AI agents can consolidate information from various sources and formats, identify customer needs, and deliver tailored solutions.

As AI agents learn to understand the customer journey, brands will be able to address customer needs with even greater precision across countless touchpoints.

2025 could mark the end of bad creative: Thanks to AI, marketers will get better data, creatives, forecasts and personalised targeting.

A few examples: If AI penetrates deeper into media planning processes, targeting will become more efficient and the data more accurate. Marketers will know how an advertising medium will work even before a campaign goes live – without having to carry out live tests.

AI-supported tools also help to understand cultural, demographic, psychographic and channel-specific target groups and to personalise campaigns on a granular level.

Content creation through AI is also becoming standard. I would even say that AI will be in almost every piece of content. Even the decision on what type of creative to create will be influenced by AI based on data. So everyone will get the message that makes them convert.

The Creator Economy continues to grow rapidly. Goldman Sachs estimated its value at $250 billion in 2024, forecasting an increase to $480 billion by 2027. For brands, this means it’s time to reassess, measure, and potentially restructure their influencer programs.

At the same time, AI is driving more content creation and efficiency for creators. It aids in identifying audience-specific topics, producing tailored texts, images, and videos, and delivering them effectively to target groups.

And there’s more: virtual influencers are on the rise. The first agencies are already specializing in this field. By the end of the year, we might see the first SDKs enabling anyone, even without coding skills, to bring their own virtual influencer to life.

The revenue models for influencers are evolving. While brand-sponsored content still accounts for the majority of their income, other revenue streams are growing rapidly: platform payments, merchandise sales, creator-owned brands, subscriptions, fan donations, and affiliate sales.

Platforms are rolling out the red carpet for influencers: Tiktok introduced a new subscription model, Meta improved payouts for top creators, and YouTube is offering more tools to support subscriber growth. At the same time, more influencers are demanding fairer compensation.

The growing influence of creators is transforming consumer behavior. Brands that understand this dynamic and collaborate with the right personalities will be well-positioned in the expanding creator economy.

According to Meltwater, 92.7% of internet users engage with social media daily, compared to only 88.7% who watch linear TV. The average time spent on social media has grown to 2 hours and 19 minutes per day, significantly exceeding the 1 hour and 47 minutes spent watching TV.

At first glance, this may not seem revolutionary. Some might even be surprised that this tipping point has only now been reached—but it still marks a milestone in media consumption.

Brands, especially traditional ones, must adapt their strategies for these platforms. The TV commercial as the centerpiece of creative campaigns should be a thing of the past. Short videos for Tiktok or Instagram Reels must take priority.

Additionally, social commerce is experiencing substantial growth and will become a key force in retail. Global social commerce revenues are projected to reach $1 trillion by 2028.

As Tiktok’s future in the U.S. remains uncertain, new competitors are gaining traction. For instance, Reddit, with its highly engaged user base, offers largely untapped potential for marketers.

According to Statista, Reddit’s ad revenue is projected to grow from $790 million in 2023 to $1.25 billion in 2025. Content on Reddit is considered especially trustworthy: internal research shows that two out of three Reddit users would buy a product they saw advertised on the platform.

Other platforms marketers should keep an eye on:

• Meta’s Twitter/X clone Threads
• the decentralized alternative Bluesky, which is on track to surpass 30 million users
• the youngest users are flocking to Roblox.

And who knows, perhaps 2025 will bring yet another new contender.

“Performance marketing people who understand brand are the hottest marketers right now,” quotes Digiday from the founder of New York agency Mojo Supermarket.

It seems the market is finally realizing that performance and brand cannot exist in isolation – they must work hand in hand. Over-investing in performance marketing may deliver short-term results, but in the long term, it erodes brand value – and ultimately, performance suffers. Recent examples include high-profile cases like Adidas and Nike.

A 2024 DMEXCO survey revealed that while 27% of CMOs plan to increase their performance marketing budgets, 31% admit they have over-invested in performance at the expense of branding in recent years. Encouragingly, 32% plan to allocate more resources to branding moving forward.

According to a study by Dentsu, retail media is set to grow by 12.7% by 2025. Kantar even predicts that this medium will account for nearly a quarter of total U.S. media spending by 2028. Globally, 41% of marketers plan to increase their retail media investments in 2025.

Retailers are responding with massive investments, optimizing their advertising inventory for growth. They are professionalizing their platforms, offering solutions across the entire marketing funnel, and creating all-in-one packages for advertisers. With their first-party shopper data, retailers have the potential to build ad platforms that rival traditional media companies.

Even payment providers are entering the game. Companies like PayPal and Chase have launched their own media platforms, giving brands direct access to their users.

CTV (Connected TV) is set to maintain its rapid growth, with ad spending projected to increase by 19.6% to $35.2 billion in 2025. This expansion is fueled by the continuously growing number of CTV devices worldwide. The key advantage over traditional TV lies in superior targeting and more precise audience segmentation.

However, the CTV market is highly fragmented across devices and platforms, making ad booking, measurement, and comparison a significant challenge for advertisers. The industry must address this by developing better measurement solutions and standardizing data across platforms.

Linear TV still dominates live events such as sports and news, drawing high viewership. Yet, streaming platforms are increasingly investing in live content, particularly sports. Additionally, the trend of ad-supported streaming content is expanding inventory, further driving CTV’s growth.

The significance of e-commerce continues to grow. In 2022, global e-commerce generated around $4 trillion. By 2040, this figure could skyrocket to $14–20 trillion, according to a McKinsey study.

This growth is fueled by two main factors: emerging markets with expanding middle classes and developed regions exploring untapped categories that have yet to thrive in e-commerce.

In the global West, Chinese trends are reshaping the e-commerce landscape. Here are just a few examples:dee

• Discovery-Driven E-Commerce: Platforms shift from static product lists to dynamic Tiktok-style feeds, transforming products into engaging content.
• Interactive Product Pages: Chinese websites offer immersive experiences with videos, 360-degree views, and integrated user reviews.
• Social E-Commerce: Shopping becomes a social event with features like live chats and group reviews, creating shared experiences.
• New KPIs: Customer relationships take center stage, focusing on engagement and time spent rather than quick clicks.

E-commerce in the West is taking notes, and the future looks more connected, interactive, and human-centered.

B2B marketing is undergoing a major transformation. By 2026, digital B2B ad spending in the U.S. is expected to grow by 58% to reach $23 billion. Digital platforms are driving this growth, capturing nearly half of all ad spend.

In 2024, Linkedin leads with 47% of B2B display ad spend ($4.2 billion), while Meta follows closely at $2.91 billion. Youtube is also benefiting from the rising demand for video content, generating $298 million (+12%). Key drivers include ease of use, precise targeting, and robust analytics.

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