“The clearest finding in this year’s report is not about what publishers are missing,” says Omeda in its just-released State of Audience in Media report for 2026. “It is about what they already have and are still not using.”
With a statement that more organizations “now have a meaningful base of known, addressable audience than at any point in recent memory,” Omeda makes a pitch designed to drive dollars to email and newsletters — helpful insights for broadcast media sales leaders. But, at what cost are these suggestions to radio and TV, especially given the low adoption among organizations Omeda seeks to capture?
For Omeda, execution of the most effective ways to reach people and gain ROI comes down to “the case for owned audience” is key.
Why?
- just 9% of respondents say their organization uses audience data “extremely effectively to inform decisions”
- only 2% say they are confident that data is accurate and reliable across systems
- some 59% say fragmentation slows, constrains or prevents execution
As VP of Client Experience Tony Napoleone shares, “advertising fell short” for most of the online publishers that served as respondents in the Omeda study. “The revenue lines that performed best were the ones tied most directly to audience relationships that publishers own and control,” he says. “The ones that struggled most were the ones that depend on attention publishers borrow.”
Meanwhile, the threat of Artificial Intelligence is real — 26% of respondents say the threat of AI disruption is real, while some 41% say they are not measuring AI-driven traffic at all.
“None of this is reason for pessimism,” Napoleone concludes. “The publishers in the best position heading into 2026 are the ones that have already committed to the foundation: known audience, direct channels, connected data, and the operational discipline to act on what they know without waiting for the conditions to get easier.”
View the State of Audience in Media report in full by clicking here.
