IBM’s study of online and direct marketers from major brands listed “turning data-into-action” as their number one organizational imperative.
“The market has matured,” stated Colin Shearer, IBM’s predictive analytics strategist in advance of the study’s release. “Businesses are now aware of the clear potential analytics holds for them, exemplified in numerous high-ROI cases.This technology has gone from use in innovative projects driven by line-of-business visionaries to being a competitive must-have.”
Other findings include:
- 57 percent report the adoption of inbound marketing methods (personalized targeting/messaging) in their web channels.
- 92 percent of marketers appreciate the value and importance of web data, yet half or less apply that data to customer analysis and marketing campaigns. Less than a third of those who do use web data believe that their efforts are very effective.
- Social media remains the reigning champion among emerging marketing channels, leading the way with 53 percent current usage. “marketers’ enthusiasm is burning less brightly than last year,” the report states. “This suggests that we have passed the peak of inflated expectations and are focused on finding the value that social channels can yield.”
- 43 percent of respondents say they currently use mobile marketing methods with another 23% planning to do so within a year.
Read the entire study here.
Trending in
Most Read
More in Media
Reuters and Time adopt bot-blocking whitelists to rein in AI crawlers
June 9, 2026
Reuters and Time adopt a ‘block-all’ AI bot strategy, part of a broader publisher move toward whitelist-only access.
Google’s AI opt-out leaves publishers with a choice they can’t safely use
June 8, 2026
The CMA has, on paper, given publishers a right to refuse AI in search. But because it’s opt-out, and Google is slow-walking the data needed to judge the impact, that right is barely usable, publishers say.
YouTube’s AI remix push exposes a looming reckoning for the creator economy
June 5, 2026
YouTube’s Gemini Omni integration has highlighted some of the major problems generative AI poses in the creator economy.