The topics and trends that will be the talk of CES this year

“You’ve already set the groundwork back in October [when many brands set their annual marketing budgets]. This is that ‘come to Jesus’ moment of, ‘You committed to me a million dollars. What are we doing this year?’” said Mark Wagman, managing director of data and technology at MediaLink, the UTA-owned consulting firm that will host the “Marketing Reinvented” session track during CES. “It’s a little bit of like, ‘What’s on the table and what’s coming?’”

To that end, Digiday polled a group of industry insiders on the topics and trends they expect to be the talk of the town during CES. Below is a selection of what they had to say (responses have been edited for length and clarity). And stay tuned throughout the week for daily on-the-ground dispatches from Digiday covering this year’s CES.

AI

“The thing I think that will happen this year is you’ll see AI embedded into all the technologies to make things much more personal, to make them more consumer-friendly and make them more interaction-aware, contextually aware, to improve the experience for users. And I think that will happen across all different types of devices. Everything from the car experience to monitoring your kid or your baby to your health. I think AI could and should make those things more approachable.”

– Brian Yamada, chief innovation officer, VML

“Practically every product on the floor last year was labeled as ‘AI,’ and that alone seemed sufficient to feel relevant. This year, expect that trend to become much more sophisticated. You’ll see small language models capable of running locally on devices, optimized for very specific and efficient tasks. Additionally, new types of chips and AI agents will emerge, capable of performing remarkable autonomous tasks. Prepare to hear the term “Agentic” repeated countless times. The bottom line: AI in 2025 will have a sharper focus on utility and practicality.”

— Dan Gardner, co-founder, Code and Theory

“Our conversations with clients and agencies will focus on how to best ‘market’ AI with new tech adopters. It’s a big focus for brands that are pioneering AI innovation, to those that are leveraging AI capabilities within their own products.”

— Matt Trotta, svp of U.S. commercial, Future plc

Creators

“The creator and influencer space will be one that people don’t think will be talked about at something like this. But if you’re a marketer today, that’s where you want to spend more of your time. I lead our data and technology practice, and I’m a hardcore nerd. But these chief marketing officers don’t really want to talk about spots and dots anymore. They want to talk about these newer influencer, people-led opportunities that can create these magical moments for them, that can create competitive advantage.”

– Mark Wagman, managing director of data and technology, MediaLink

Health

“This year, I’m expecting to see new AI product advancements with a focus on health and disability inclusion, whether it be Sign Language translation services Hand Sign Talk Talk, which automatically translates oral languages in text and audio to sign language, or cervical cancer diagnosis and prediction platforms that can predict and prevent cancer for an individual at home, and scaled allowing women in areas with insufficient medical infrastructure to receive medical services immediately.”

— Danisha Lomax, head of client inclusivity & impact, Digitas

Live content

“From where I sit in media and entertainment, the power of live is really going to dominate the conversation in 2025, starting at CES. Live content is communal – it brings people together like no other medium, and every platform today is looking for ways to capitalize on the incredible reach and scale that live provides. From an NBCUniversal perspective, we are about to embark on the greatest 24 months a media company has ever had with live programming dominating our programming slate. Over 1/3 of 2025 and 2026’s big event viewership will take place on NBCUniversal, with tentpole moments including NBA and WNBA, Bravocon, the Milan Cortina Olympics, Super Bowl LX, World Cup on Telemundo and more. And this is all leading up to NBC’s 100th Anniversary in Fall 2026. So, we are using CES as our launching pad to really drive home the value and effectiveness of live for marketers. And we are doing all of this with partnership at the core – listening to our clients and their needs and opening doors instead of building walls.”

– Mark Marshall, chairman, global advertising & partnerships, NBCUniversal

Mobility

“My crystal ball says that the talk of Vegas will be everything but consumer electronics. I expect that mobility, health, AI, media consolidations, and the future of TikTok will dominate hallway conversations. 

On mobility, I suspect the talk will move from autonomy and connectivity to micro-mobility and solid-state batteries. Cities around the world are increasingly becoming unfriendly to cars and it’s sparking a revolution in how people move through their Google Map. Meanwhile, I expect the line at Starbucks will have attendees talking about how AI predictive analytics in health is finally becoming a reality and how a long overdue focus on women’s health is finally here. For those of us in the marketing and content world, the chatter will begin in 2025 where it ended in 2024, with talk of consolidations.”

– Eric Weisberg, Global Chief Creative Officer, Havas Health

Search

“Whether we are looking at established search players like Google and Bing, or newcomers like OpenAI and Perplexity, it seems clear that the new search paradigm will be one of ‘answers’ rather than ‘a list of links’. That has fascinating implications for an ads model, indicating an opportunity for search to become more of an upper-funnel brand advertising platform in the future.”

– Ben Hovaness, chief media officer, OMD Worldwide