Advertising remains to be a business leader in genAI adoption and showing ROI– revealing significant gains in the past year, according to a new SAS report.

While 46 % of marketing professionals checked in 2024 claimed proving ROI on genAI was their most significant barrier, this year, 93 % of CMOs and 83 % of advertising and marketing groups globally reported seeing quantifiable ROI. Amongst agentic AI adopters with much deeper technical understanding, ROI climbs as high as 98 %. Noted advantages include improved customization (94 %), faster information processing (91 %), time and expense financial savings (90 %), and gains in client loyalty and sales.

This year also saw a boost in genAI deployment, and online marketers enhanced their abilities as they became a lot more accustomed to the modern technology.

By 2025, 85 % of advertising groups were releasing genAI– up from three-quarters in 2024, according to the record, “Online marketers and AI: Navigating New Midst.”

From trial and error to daily

Full integration likewise expanded, with 15 % of teams embedding genAI right into operations contrasted to just 10 % a year earlier. At the same time, the share of teams still in the “planning” stage went down from 22 % to 13 %, highlighting just how promptly genAI has changed from trial and error to exercise.

Confidence in genAI climbed sharply in 2025, with 62 % of online marketers reporting a solid understanding of the innovation, up from 50 % in 2024 Recognition of its organization influence includes greater than 90 % of online marketers.

Dig deeper: Revenue groups fight with implementation, despite prevalent AI adoption

In between 2024 and 2025, adoption rose throughout key activities:

• Chatbots and consumer interactions: 43 % → 62 %
• Text and duplicate generation: 34 % → 45 %
• Image generation: 27 % → 36 %
• Patterns evaluation: 23 % → 34 %
• Target market targeting: 19 % → 29 %
• Consumer trip mapping: 16 % → 22 %

Regardless of progress somewhere else, governance structures continue to be largely underdeveloped. In 2024, just 7 % of organizations reported a detailed genAI administration version; in 2025, that climbed to just 8 %. Lack of openness, accountability and training stay barriers.

The most substantial change in 2025 is the emergence of agentic AI– systems efficient in acting autonomously on marketing experts’ behalf. Already, 21 % of groups are evaluating agentic AI in live settings, and nearly three-quarters anticipate to execute it within two years. Experienced genAI adopters are leading this shift, having constructed the data and governance foundations needed to support more advanced abilities.

Technique

The 2025 SAS report, “Marketing experts and AI: Navigating New Midst,” draws on an international study conducted by Coleman Parkes Research in June and July 2025 The research study polled 300 advertising and marketing decision-makers across markets, including financial, insurance coverage, public sector, life scientific researches, healthcare, telecommunications, production, retail, power and energies, and professional services. Participants represented a mix of business sizes– from SMBs to ventures with more than 10, 000 staff members– and held elderly roles such as supervisor of advertising, supervisor of digital marketing, and VP of marketing.

Geographically, the example included 99 participants from the Americas, 160 from EMEA, and 41 from APAC. Notably, the 2025 study improves a similar 2024 survey of 300 marketers, allowing longitudinal analysis of exactly how attitudes and fostering of AI in advertising and marketing are moving year over year. This consistent methodology throughout two researches supplies a clear standard for tracking arising patterns in AI-driven advertising strategies worldwide.

The study can be located below