Industry surveyInteractive Advertising Bureau, Sep 2026

Most marketers are making or planning changes to performance measurement for the AI web, mainly tracking brand visibility and citations in AI tools

Performance measurement

Measuring brand visibility/citations in AI tools48%
Using branded search/direct traffic as proxies44%
Using 3P AI-driven discovery analysis tools40%
Monitoring AI platform interactions/referrals31%
Increasing use of incrementality tests30%
Using modeled measurement (probabilistic)30%
Refining fraud detection for legitimate agents28%
Placing less weight on website traffic26%
Establishing direct AI-platform partnerships23%
Using consumer surveys or self-reported data21%

AI's impact on planning and measurement approaches: current/planned changes to performance measurement for the AI web

AI's impact on planning and measurement approaches: current/planned changes to performance measurement for the AI web
Change	Share of respondents (%)
Measuring brand visibility/citations in AI tools	48%
Using branded search/direct traffic as proxies	44%
Using 3P AI-driven discovery analysis tools	40%
Monitoring AI platform interactions/referrals	31%
Increasing use of incrementality tests	30%
Using modeled measurement (probabilistic)	30%
Refining fraud detection for legitimate agents	28%
Placing less weight on website traffic	26%
Establishing direct AI-platform partnerships	23%
Using consumer surveys or self-reported data	21%

Reader Note:: Measuring visibility in AI tools and using search/direct proxies are the leading changes.
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.

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 is an aggregated or average number that covers very different cases. Real results in a particular segment may differ.
This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
The source says how much it looked at, but not how any of it was chosen.

Platform engagement and real effectiveness only line up in about one out of three creator ads, so most engaging content isn’t what will grow your brand

151

is the long-term ROI index for influencer campaigns in the UK, contributing 6.2% of total sales (excluding campaigns that produced no result)

Go deeper on this topic

Our Substack turns the data behind these cards into full breakdowns: what changed, why, and what to do about it.

Fixing your influencer marketing campaign: How to get into the top 10% of advertisers

Marketers are much more likely to track engagement rate than efficiency metrics, with engagement monitored by 91% but EMV per working spend tracked by only 9%

Share of marketers tracking each influencer campaign KPI (%)
KPI	Tracked by (%)
Engagement rate (likes, comments, shares) — How many people interacted	91%
Impressions / reach (How many people saw it)	84%
Click-through rate (How many people clicked)	78%
Sales / revenue attribution (Whether people bought)	72%
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) — What each customer cost	72%

Open full graph

Consumers give brands their weakest marks on crisis response and originality on social

Consumer ratings of brand efforts across social media activities
Brand activity	Fair/Poor (%)	Excellent/Good (%)
Keeping up with trends and cultural moments	30%	70%
Publishing entertaining content	31%	69%
Crafting content that matches their brand values	36%	64%
Interacting with audience comments, reactions and questions	39%	61%
Publishing truly original content	43%	56%

Open full graph

Buyers often use Google Search or visit a cited website directly after seeing a brand mentioned in an AI answer

71% of marketers say proving ROI is their biggest influencer challenge

Top challenges marketers face with influencer marketing (% citing each)
Challenge	Share of marketers citing this challenge (%)
Determining the ROI	71%
The time it takes to run programs	50%
Content quality	48%
Selecting the right creators	46%
Working with less budget	46%
Consistency in influencer rates	35%
Scaling my influencer program	35%
Internal hurdles (leadership support, legal and regulatory)	25%
Brand safety	10%
Choosing the right agencies	8%

Open full graph

Most marketers are making or planning changes to performance measurement for the AI web, mainly tracking brand visibility and citations in AI tools

Good for

Not for

Related cards

Go deeper on this topic