Advertisers shift to AI to Reclaim Over 10 Hours Weekly Lost to Manual Campaign Management
NEW YORK – Advertisers are rapidly integrating artificial intelligence into their digital advertising workflows, driven by the need to alleviate the burden of time-consuming manual tasks and unlock higher-value strategic initiatives.A new report reveals a critically importent surge in planned AI adoption across key campaign stages, signaling a fundamental shift in how advertising is executed and optimized.
The move comes as agencies grapple with substantial costs associated with repetitive, manual campaign adjustments. Currently, advertising professionals dedicate more than 10 hours per week to tasks like bid modifier adjustments, budget reallocations, and performance threshold fine-tuning. For U.S. agencies, this translates to over $17,000 annually per employee spent on these routine activities – resources that could be better allocated to strategic planning and creative optimization.This trend underscores a growing recognition that human capital is best utilized for complex problem-solving, not repetitive execution.
“Campaign managers are often trapped in reactive workflows, acting more as executors than strategists,” explains mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. “AI-powered solutions offer an opportunity to reverse this dynamic by automating routine decisions, freeing up time to focus on performance optimization and higher-value tasks.”
The report highlights a marked increase in intended AI usage across the advertising lifecycle. Campaign activation leads the charge with a 32% year-over-year increase, followed by bidding and in-flight optimizations, up 12%, reflecting the increasing complexity that AI can manage more effectively than human teams. Dynamic creative optimization and media brief summarization are also seeing gains, rising 8% and 11% respectively.
Notably, 91% of marketers surveyed report currently using or planning to use third-party AI or automated bidding tools alongside their Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) to enhance campaign performance and streamline operations.
“Faced with an increasingly fragmented media landscape, marketers are embracing AI to regain control and build smarter, performance-driven campaigns,” Zagorski concludes. ”Its not just about automation; it’s about deploying more relevant and results-oriented strategies.”