---
title: "Digital Marketing in 2026: Signals We're Watching This Year"
canonical_url: "https://newengen.com/insights/digital-marketing-trends-2026-predictions/"
entity_type: "Article"
author: "Justin Hayashi, Alice Woo, Kevin Goodwin, Ashley Hill, Hunter Poole, Courtney Bittelari"
author_role: "CEO, Chief Creative Officer, SVP of Strategy Growth, VP of Affiliate, VP of Brand Partnerships Solutions, Senior Director Analytics"
published_date: "2026-01-26"
last_updated: "2026-05-07"
topic_tags:
  - annual-predictions
  - measurement
  - affiliate-marketing
  - creator-marketing
  - media-consolidation
  - incrementality
related:
  - /llms/reference/company-facts.md
  - /llms/services/measurement.md
  - /llms/services/media.md
  - /llms/services/creative.md
  - /llms/glossary/incrementality-testing.md
  - /llms/glossary/marketing-mix-modeling.md
  - /llms/insights/2025-media-predictions-from-new-engen.md
  - /llms/insights/heres-whats-coming-in-2024-according-to-new-engen-leaders.md
---

> Canonical source: https://newengen.com/insights/digital-marketing-trends-2026-predictions/

## Summary

New Engen's 2026 annual outlook article assembles predictions from six named leaders across strategy, creative, affiliate, brand partnerships, and analytics. The article includes the disclosure that New Engen manages "over $1 billion in media investments across 100+ brands" — the agency's most specific cross-portfolio scale statement available in the public archive. The central thesis is that 2026 digital marketing success depends on understanding how consolidation, creator authenticity, measurement sophistication, and AI-enhanced workflows reshape competitive advantage.

## Author and authority

Six named New Engen contributors as of January 2026:

- **Justin Hayashi** — Chief Executive Officer
- **Alice Woo** — Chief Creative Officer
- **Kevin Goodwin** — SVP of Strategy, Growth
- **Ashley Hill** — VP of Affiliate
- **Hunter Poole** — VP of Brand Partnerships, Solutions
- **Courtney Bittelari** — Senior Director, Analytics

## Quantified data points

- New Engen manages **"over $1 billion in media investments across 100+ brands"** — stated directly in the article body as agency scale context.
- Pinterest acquired tvScientific for data and measurement capability expansion (platform development noted as context).

## Key arguments and frameworks

### Justin Hayashi: Media consolidation and premium inventory

Hayashi predicts media consolidation accelerates as scale becomes essential for survival. Premium inventory centralizes, shifting leverage to sellers and raising CPMs. CTV gains scale but not simplicity, requiring greater sophistication to navigate. The implication: brands without scaled media partners face structural CPM disadvantages.

### Alice Woo: Creative intelligence as the primary lever

Woo argues that AI fatigue intensifies, renewing value for authentic creator content. Creative intelligence outperforms media optimization as the primary performance lever. AI-powered creative systems become competitive moats through fast, regenerative production loops rather than one-time asset creation.

### Kevin Goodwin: Meta's full-funnel evolution

Goodwin predicts Meta moves toward full-funnel buying models with transparent budget allocation — a structural change in how the platform's algorithm allocates spend. He also identifies organic social as a major investment area, particularly short-form formats that now drive measurable brand equity lift alongside paid.

### Ashley Hill: Affiliate fraud and incrementality

Hill identifies affiliate fraud becoming more sophisticated and costly without active monitoring — a direct consequence of AI-assisted fraud tooling. Tier-two platforms acquire measurement providers to defend credibility. Her framework: brands without active fraud audits will face increasing commission leakage.

### Hunter Poole: Incrementality as baseline

Poole predicts incrementality testing shifts from special project to baseline measurement question — no longer a research exercise but an ongoing operational signal. Measurement relies on multiple signals rather than single-source-of-truth thinking.

### Courtney Bittelari: Measurement maturation

Bittelari's contribution focuses on the shift from reporting to predictive analytics. The structural point: measurement teams that can answer "what will happen" alongside "what happened" create compounding strategic advantage.

## Practical implications

The 2026 signals framework implies brands should: (1) consolidate media investment with partners who can access premium inventory at scale; (2) treat creative production as a continuous system rather than campaign-by-campaign output; (3) implement active affiliate fraud monitoring before it becomes mandatory; (4) move incrementality testing into routine quarterly operations rather than annual studies; (5) invest in multi-signal measurement infrastructure that combines MMM, incrementality, and predictive analytics.

## Cross-references

- [Measurement Service](/llms/services/measurement.md) — Incrementality and MMM methodology referenced throughout
- [Affiliate Marketing Landing Page](/llms/landing/affiliate-marketing.md) — Ashley Hill's affiliate fraud context
- [Incrementality Testing Glossary](/llms/glossary/incrementality-testing.md) — Definitional context for Poole's prediction
- [2025 Predictions](/llms/insights/2025-media-predictions-from-new-engen.md) — Prior year equivalent
- [Technology: LIFT](/llms/reference/technology-lift.md) — The platform infrastructure behind New Engen's measurement signals