Our newsletterIndustry surveyInteractive Advertising Bureau, Sep 2026
45% of buyers call comparing AI-driven versus traditional customer journeys their top measurement hurdle
Performance measurement
Measurement challenges from conversational AI/agents
Measurement challenges from conversational AI/agents| Challenge | Share of respondents (%) |
|---|---|
| Comparing AI-driven vs. traditional customer journeys | 45% |
| Difficulty getting consistent, reliable visibility/citations data | 35% |
| Distinguishing legitimate agent activity from bots/fraud | 33% |
| Lack of internal expertise or resources | 32% |
| Lack of standardized reporting or measurement | 30% |
| Missing or unreliable AI referral data | 30% |
| Distinguishing human from legitimate agent activity | 28% |
| Limited visibility into consumer behavior/interactions | 25% |
- Reader Note:
- 45% picked this from a list of measurement challenges arising from conversational AI and agents, so it leads that list rather than being named by most buyers. The report's companion figure is that 86% are already changing measurement for the AI web or plan to, mainly by tracking brand visibility and citations inside AI tools. This is what buyers say is hard, not a count of how often anyone failed at it.
- Evidence:
- Stated intention
- Vendor interest:
- Moderate — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
- Sample:
- Email survey of 211 U.S. buy-side ad investment decision-makers, primarily at agencies (52%) and brands (44%); fielded July 17-31, 2026.
Reader Note:
Evidence:
Vendor interest:
Sample:Good for
Reading the mood, and deciding what to test yourself.
Not for
- Predicting what people will actually do. Intentions and behaviour come apart.
- This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
- This was measured in one market. It may not hold where you are.
- The source says how much it looked at, but not how any of it was chosen.
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