Nielsen: 98% of Marketers Use AI and Only 15% Prove Its ROI
A Nielsen report found that 98% of marketers use artificial intelligence, but only 15% link its spend to return on investment, and 75% of consumers verify its results.
Nielsen's eighth annual report, which focuses on artificial intelligence and its impact on the advertising industry, showed that 98% of marketers actually integrate AI into their workflow, but only 15% are able to link their spend on AI discovery to ROI.
About 68% of marketers use AI for measurement and analytics, and more than three out of five use these tools for creative production, with the same proportion using them for media planning and optimization, while 57% use it for forecasting. The report noted that nearly 18,000 U.S. ad creative assets mentioned or featured AI in a single month, and six leading AI companies spent nearly half a billion dollars in the market during the first half of 2026 alone, up 2.6 times from the previous year.
On the consumer side, 52% of Americans use AI for content discovery at least once a month, compared to 50% using it for brand discovery, but 75% said they verify the results they get because they do not trust them.
The report is based on a survey of more than 1,200 marketers globally, in addition to data from Nielsen media measurement tools, including Ad Intel, Nielsen ONE, and Gracenote. The report suggests that brand awareness and customer acquisition are the top two priorities for marketers leading up to 2027, increasing the importance of understanding where audiences spend their time and how they interact with brands.
What do these terms mean?
Return on Investment (ROI): A metric that compares the profit or return generated against the cost of investment or spending.
Content Discovery: The way a user reaches content or a brand, such as through search, recommendations, or smart assistants.
Ad Intel: A Nielsen service that monitors published ads and analyzes ad spend across media.
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