HOLIDAY SHOPPERS WANT MORE THAN A RECOMMENDATION. THEY WANT TO SEE THE ARGUMENT.

3. 10. 2026 | 4 min read A friend's word still carries the most weight with holiday shoppers. But a close second is something brands rarely offer on their own: an honest account of a product's flaws. Some 41.9% of consumers said a trusted friend's recommendation or family member's recommendation made them feel confident in their last holiday purchase, according to a new survey of 1,001 US adults by EMARKETER and Reddit.

CTV ALREADY ACCOUNTS FOR THE MAJORITY OF PREMIUM VIDEO ADVERTISING IN EUROPE, WHILE PROGRAMMATIC CONTINUES TO GROW

3. 10. 2026 | 3 min read Connected TVs (CTVs) accounted for 53 per cent of premium video ad views in Europe in the first half of this year. This is according to a new study by FreeWheel. Programmatic video ad buying also grew significantly, whilst live streaming gained momentum, driven primarily by sports broadcasts.

MULTISCREEN TV AD CAMPAIGNS DOUBLE INCREMENTAL RETURN ON AD SPEND, SAYS COMCAST

1. 10. 2026 | 2 min read New findings from Comcast Advertising find they drive more website visits. Multiscreen TV ad campaigns deliver a 2x incremental return on ad spending and drive 2.4 times more web visits compared to using only one or the other, according to new research from Comcast Advertising.

STUDY: US ADVERTISERS STARTING HOLIDAY CAMPAIGNS EARLIER

30. 9. 2026 | 3 min read The holiday advertising season is already underway. Research from Yahoo DSP finds that US advertisers are moving their holiday campaigns earlier, increasing budgets and prioritising deals and value as they compete for consumer spending.

THE MEDIA MIX IS CHANGING. MARKETERS ARE FOCUSING ON AI, CONTENT CREATORS AND NEW PURCHASE JOURNEYS

30. 9. 2026 | 7 min read Kantar’s annual Media Reactions study shows that marketers are placing a great deal of faith in AI. At the same time, however, many are unsure whether their media mix is correctly configured and whether they can extract the insights needed for further growth from the available data.

REPORT: STREAMING AUDIENCES INCREASINGLY DISENGAGED

25. 9. 2026 | 2 min read TVision by Viant has released its 2026 State of Streaming report, built on one of the largest streaming attention panels in the world. The findings challenge assumptions about where viewers are actually paying attention across streaming and linear TV.

NRF HALLOWEEN SURVEY SHOWS CONSUMER SPENDING EXPECTED TO REACH $13.5 BILLION

23. 9. 2026 | 5 min read Consumer spending on Halloween is expected to reach $13.5 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual consumer survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. The figure maintains the strong spending level of last year’s record $13.1 billion and reflects consumers’ continued enthusiasm for the holiday.

CTV DOMINATES THE SPORTS FANDOM ‘LIFE CYCLE,’ BUT PODCASTS AND NEWS ARE ALSO IN THE MIX

22. 9. 2026 | 3 min read A new study from The Trade Desk Intelligence and PA Consulting found that connected TV was the only channel that spanned all five stages of what it called the sports fandom life cycle.

RESEARCH UK: PHONE DISTRACTION TRIGGERS REWIND EFFECT

22. 9. 2026 | 4 min read Phone in one hand and TV remote in the other, 18–34s now lose 19 hours a year to rewatching TV they missed while scrolling, according to research by Uswitch, the comparison and switching service.

AGF NEXT GEN VIDEO STUDY 2026: OVER 85% OF CHILDREN AND TEENS WATCH VIDEO CONTENT DAILY

22. 9. 2026 | 8 min read Streaming services and social media are playing an increasingly important role in how older children and teenagers watch video content on their own, while watching TV together remains a key opportunity for shared family experiences.

NEW RESEARCH LAYS OUT STREAMING SERVICES’ BEST DEFENSE AGAINST CHURN

21. 9. 2026 | 4 min read HUB survey shows that being viewers’ first choice makes a streaming service up to six times more resistant to cancellation. New research indicates that in the streaming subscription businesses, not all subscribers are equally valuable. According to Hub Entertainment Research’s “Decoding the Default” 2026 study, the more engaged users are, the more likely they are to stay and the less likely they are to churn and drop subscriptions.

OLDER CONSUMERS TRUST TRADITIONAL ADS BUT ARE INFLUENCED TO BUY THROUGH DIGITAL CHANNELS

20. 9. 2026 | 2 min read Traditional offline advertising commands the most trust among US adults 55 and older, but digital channels are gaining influence over what they buy, per CivicScience.

STUDY UK: ONE IN FIVE UK ADULTS USE AI FOR NEWS

15. 9. 2026 | 2 min read One in five UK adults are using artificial intelligence services to access news, according to Ofcom’s latest study of news consumption.

TELEVISION KNOWS HOW TO CAPTURE ATTENTION: THROUGH THE BIG SCREEN, EMOTION AND SHARED EXPERIENCES

15. 9. 2026 | 11 min read Showing an advertisement today is no problem. Getting people to actually pay attention to it is the real challenge. The number of impressions or the reach of a campaign alone does not tell us whether someone genuinely watched the advertising message, engaged with it or remembered it. And according to the TV is engaging project, this is precisely one of television’s key advantages. Its strength lies not only in how many people it can reach, but also in the quality of that contact.

OMDIA: 75% OF U.S. TV VIEWERS USE SMARTPHONE WHILE WATCHING TV

14. 9. 2026 | 2 min read Nearly three in four U.S. TV viewers regularly use their smartphones for other media while watching television, highlighting growing competition for audience attention between TV and mobile video, according to new Omdia consumer research.

HUB: YOUNGER FANS FUELING UPTICK IN SPORTS TV VIEWERSHIP

12. 9. 2026 | 3 min read Viewers under the age of 18 are seven times more likely to watch sports on TV now than they were a year ago, according to new data.

SURVEY: CZECHS DO NOT CONSIDER ADVERTISING TO BE THE MAIN FACTOR IN ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION

10. 9. 2026 | 3 min read Most Czechs believe that advertising does not have a significant impact on the amount of alcohol consumed. They regard drink-driving, the sale of alcohol to minors and inadequate enforcement of existing regulations as the biggest problems associated with alcohol. This is according to a survey carried out by Ipsos for the Advertising Council.

CZECHS WANT CERTAINTY ABOVE ALL ELSE FROM AI. SIX OUT OF TEN USERS HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OF THE OUTPUTS

9. 9. 2026 | 3 min read Around two-thirds of adult Czechs currently use artificial intelligence. Although most of them have a positive attitude towards it, the question remains as to how much they can trust its answers. According to a survey by the STEM/MARK agency, 60 per cent of AI users are unsure whether the output they receive from the tool is actually correct. According to the survey results, users would therefore appreciate it if AI could distinguish more clearly between verified information, estimates and situations where it is simply unsure.