Any thin hope marketers had that 2026 might calm the turbulence of last year didn’t survive January, as political shocks, platform upheaval and fresh tariff-induced economic jitters piled new uncertainty onto an already fragile market.
Nobody expected serenity to be clear. The hope was for a more predictable kind of chaos: slower regulatory fights, fewer sudden platform pivots, and an economy drifting rather than lurching. Instead, the volatility sped up. So marketers adjusted their stance.
Conversations with 10 ad execs over the last month made that shift hard to miss. Ad spending plans are once again wrapped in cautious optimism but the foundation of those efforts has shifted. They’re less driven by faith in a steady economy, more faith in their own ability to navigate one that isn’t.
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