AI is changing television faster than any schedule refresh. As we head toward 2026, five shifts stand out for marketers who buy TV advertising in Sydney across broadcast, BVOD and connected TV (CTV). Here’s how.
1) Smarter planning and buying across CTV and BVOD
The first change is less guesswork in media plans. AI systems learn from viewing behaviour, content signals and outcomes to decide where and when to place spots. That means budgets move fluidly between linear, BVOD and CTV to follow attention and reach incremental audiences at lower frequency.
In Australia, video spending has surged on digital platforms and BVOD, confirming the shift in where audiences and dollars are heading; IAB Australia reported double-digit growth in video, with BVOD passing the half-billion mark and total online ad spend hitting $17.2bn in FY2025.
Global streaming sellers are also baking AI into their ad stacks. Disney, for example, connects its audience graph into programmatic marketplaces and identity frameworks, allowing buyers to activate high-value segments and measure with more precision across services. Expect similar capabilities to be standard issue by 2026, tightening frequency and improving reach quality.
2) Creative production speeds up and gets more responsive
Generative tools are moving from novelty to workflow. Brands are already producing TV-quality spots with AI video, sometimes in days rather than weeks, and at a fraction of traditional costs. That speed lets marketers tailor creative to context, match copy to content moments, or spin localised edits without re-shoots. There have been public wins and misfires.
A widely discussed NBA Finals spot produced primarily with AI came in around US$2,000 and reached millions, while high-profile holiday campaigns have drawn criticism for style inconsistencies. The lesson is clear: creative oversight matters, but the production economics have changed.
By 2026, expect more “dynamic TV” where templates, voiceover, supers and offers update based on audience cohort or time of day. Industry analysis already tracks how advertisers are using generative tools to optimise concepts and versioning for performance.
3) Measurement moves into privacy-safe clean rooms
Third-party cookies are fading, but TV is in a better position than most channels. Major publishers and platforms now offer clean rooms that let brands compare their first-party data with viewing logs to answer practical questions: who saw the ad, who visited, who bought, without moving raw personal data around.
Disney and others have built these capabilities over recent years and are extending them into planning, optimisation and cross-portfolio reporting. As standards mature, clean rooms will underpin TV attribution and incrementality in 2026.
For Australian teams, this aligns neatly with the broader push toward first-party data and programmatic investment growth. Independent forecasts point to strong CTV and programmatic expansion through the decade, which will only increase the value of clean-room measurement to avoid duplication and verify outcomes.
4) Commerce comes to the couch
Shoppable TV is no longer a pilot. Viewers are already scanning QR codes, using remotes to browse product tiles and completing purchases on mobile after a prompt on the screen. Streamers have reported higher engagement when QR experiences are designed for second-screen habits. As the tech becomes native in more apps, the flow from attention to action tightens, especially for retail, travel and entertainment.
By 2026, marketers should expect clear best practice: short paths to a mobile checkout, contextually relevant offers aligned to the content, and measurement that ties scans or remote interactions to on-site behaviour.
5) Australia’s video market keeps tilting to outcomes
Locally, the pace of change is real. Video’s share of online advertising continues to climb, with connected environments taking a larger slice of publisher inventory. Marketers are leaning into performance expectations for big-screen media: optimising reach into light-TV households and reporting outcomes alongside digital channels. Recent reporting from IAB Australia shows video ad spend maintaining strong growth across categories, reinforcing the shift in budgets that will set the tone for 2026 TV planning.
This evolution also reframes how brands plan media mixes. TV, CTV and digital out-of-home increasingly share data, creative and measurement frameworks. A national FMCG, for instance, might run AI-paced BVOD to build reach, then retarget near stores via outdoor advertising in Sydney, while premium brand activity runs alongside event TV.
Even local area tactics connect: street-level presence, including billboard advertising in Sydney, can echo the TV message and close the loop with footfall analytics.
Also Read: Benefits of TV Advertising
What to do before your 2026 TV brief
- Sort your data access: Ensure you can use a publisher or platform clean room and that your consented customer data is query-ready. Plan your incrementality methodology now.
- Update creative workflows: Build an approval path for AI-assisted production, including brand safety checks and legal review. Keep humans in the loop to avoid uncanny results.
- Design shoppable journeys: Test QR flows and remote interactions in BVOD/CTV. Keep the landing experience fast, mobile-first and contextually relevant.
- Budget for flexibility: Let AI allocate across linear, BVOD and CTV, with safeguards for frequency and brand suitability. Track effective reach, not just GRPs.
- Align teams: Bring brand, performance and retail media leads into the same planning room.
TV in 2026 won’t feel like a bolt-on to digital plans. It will run on the same data backbone, measured by the same outcome metrics, and produced with the same agile toolset, only on the biggest screen in the home.
