A Modern Retail+ Research survey of more than 100 marketing professionals in first-quarter 2026 reveals significant hesitation toward AI adoption in two key marketing channels. Only 25% of marketers said they use AI for influencer marketing work, and 82% of survey respondents said they are not using AI for connected TV (CTV) marketing. This contrasts sharply with social media and retail media channels, where 49% and 42% of marketers respectively are using AI.
Consumer trust concerns are a primary barrier to influencer AI adoption. According to an April 2025 study by the World Federation of Advertisers, 96% of brands that have no plans to work with virtual influencers cite consumer trust issues as their reason for caution. Among the 25% of marketers already using AI for influencer work, the majority (75%) use AI to analyze data, while 63% use it to create content and 56% use it for influencer outreach. For CTV, among the 18% of marketers using AI, 69% leverage it for data analysis, while 54% use it for content creation and ad placement buying.
Despite adoption hesitation, real-world applications are expanding. Beekman 1802 partnered with AI analytics firm Bezel to analyze first-party data and uncover customer personas that guide campaign strategy and product messaging. Later, an influencer agency, uses AI to discover human creators and match campaign briefs with influencers using historic engagement data. Amazon offers AI tools including Complete TV for optimizing spending across premium streaming publishers, plus AI Creative Studio and Audio Generator for designing video and audio assets. However, Tinuiti's Harry Browne noted that CTV remains the creative channel advertisers are most protective of, creating hesitancy to delegate to AI technology.