The Biggest Announcements from the IAB 2026 Annual Leadership Meeting

At its 2026 Annual Leadership Meeting, IAB shared a series of updates spanning market outlook, AI governance, measurement and industry leadership, outlining how the organisation plans to support the advertising ecosystem through a period of continued growth and rapid technological change. 

US ad spend forecast points to continued growth 

IAB’s latest Outlook Study forecasts 9.5% growth in U.S. advertising spend, driven primarily by digital channels. Social media, TV+ and retail media are expected to lead growth, while linear TV continues to face structural decline. The study highlights increasing use of AI across media planning and optimisation, alongside growing demand for cross-platform measurement as advertisers look to understand performance across a more fragmented media landscape. 

Draft legislation to address AI content scraping 

IAB also announced the release of a US-specific draft legislation aimed at addressing AI content scraping and protecting publishers whose content is used to train generative AI models. The proposed framework is designed to improve transparency and accountability around how content is accessed and used, with the aim of safeguarding the economic foundations of journalism and the open web as AI adoption accelerates. 

Project Eidos launched to modernise measurement 

Another key announcement was the launch of Project Eidos, a new interdisciplinary initiative focused on modernising advertising measurement. The project brings together stakeholders from across the ecosystem to explore how measurement frameworks can better reflect today’s media environments, technologies and consumer behaviours, with a particular focus on improving consistency and comparability. 

New IAB board leadership for 2026 

Finally, IAB confirmed changes to its Board of Directors leadership for 2026. NBCUniversal’s Alison Levin, President of Advertising and Partnerships, was appointed Chair of the Board, with Amazon Ads’ Alan Moss named Vice Chair. The appointments reflect IAB’s continued emphasis on collaboration across media owners, platforms and technology companies. 

Together, the announcements signal IAB’s focus on supporting industry growth while addressing the structural, regulatory and measurement challenges shaping the future of digital advertising.