Strategist

The IAB says AI saves planners 10% of their time. Akkio Inc. think that's underselling it. AI could unlock $32B in media value. But 10% time savings is just the start - see how purpose-built AI delivers 150x faster results. TABLE OF CONTENTS The IAB's State of Data 2026 report landed with a striking headline: AI could unlock $32 billion in media investment and productivity value over the next one to two years. It's a number that should stop every CMO, media planner, and analytics leader in their tracks. But buried inside that projection is a figure worth examining more closely. When planners were asked how much time they expected AI to free up, the average answer was roughly 10% per quarter - a shift from data preparation toward insight generation and strategy. The IAB frames this as a meaningful win, and across an industry of 434,000 U.S. ad managers, it translates to an estimated $6.2 billion in productivity value. Akkio Inc. don't dispute that math, but Akkio Inc.'d challenge the assumption that 10% is the ceiling. The industry is measuring from the wrong baseline. The IAB report is clear on where AI is being used in measurement workflows today: data collection, cleaning, labeling, normalization, and integration. These are the tasks eating the most time, and they're the first place teams reach for AI. That's the right instinct. The problem is that most teams are reaching for the wrong tools. The report notes that 83% of planning teams rely on general purpose AI tools - solutions that are easy to access but not purpose-built for the complexity of marketing data workflows. When you apply a general purpose tool to a specialized problem, you get general purpose results. A 10% time savings is what you get when AI is an add-on. It's not what you get when AI is purpose-built for the workflow. What 150x actually looks ike. Horizon Media is the largest independent media agency in the United States. Like every agency at their scale, they were sitting on enormous amounts of historical campaign data and facing a familiar bottleneck: audience targeting was a time-intensive, analyst-dependent process that couldn't keep pace with the speed their clients demanded. When Horizon partnered with Akkio to co-develop a custom AI platform, the results reframed what "time savings" means in this industry. Audience targeting that previously took hours per campaign is now completed in minutes. That's not a 10% improvement. That's a 150x increase in speed, replicable across their entire client portfolio. As Elizabeth Twersky, Vice President and Group Director of Data Solutions at Horizon Media, put it: "What once took hours is now accomplished in minutes, freeing our teams to focus on the strategic thinking and creative problem-solving that truly drives client success." Beyond efficiency: the competitive advantage nobody is talking about. The IAB report focuses heavily on productivity gains and measurement frequency improvements - both real and important. But the Horizon Media story points to something the survey data doesn't fully capture: what happens to your business when you operate at a fundamentally different speed than your competitors. Horizon's AI-powered capabilities didn't just make their existing work faster. They changed what was possible in new business conversations. The platform's ability to deliver sophisticated, data-driven insights - previously available only to specialized teams - became democratized across the agency. That shift in capability was directly linked to a $800 million deal closure. That's not a productivity story. That's a growth story. The real gap the IAB report identifies. To be fair to the IAB findings, the report does acknowledge that the 10% figure likely understates the potential. Analytics teams, the report notes, are more cautious in their estimates - citing challenges around scale, organizational readiness, and resistance to change. The report also flags that most teams are still using AI for data "heavy lifting" rather than the higher-impact analytical work that comes next. This is precisely the gap Akkio is built to close. The report envisions a future where AI supports attribution matching, experiment design, MMM tuning, and scenario planning. Getting there requires moving past general purpose tools toward platforms that are designed for the specific complexity of marketing data - integrating across channels, maintaining data security and governance, and delivering outputs that planning and analytics teams can actually trust and act on. Horizon Media's 150x came from building something purpose-designed for their workflows, their data ecosystem, and their clients' needs - a custom platform co-developed with Akkio that fit the actual shape of their business. What this means for your team. The IAB report is sounding an alarm that the industry can't afford to ignore. Advanced measurement is falling short. Marketing budgets are tightening. And AI adoption is accelerating faster than the governance and standards needed to support it responsibly. Waiting for industry-wide standards to materialize is not a strategy. The $32 billion opportunity the IAB identifies will accrue to agencies and brands that are already building - investing in AI infrastructure that is transparent, secure, and purpose-built for marketing data, not repurposed from something designed for a different problem entirely. A 10% time savings is a starting point. Horizon Media's experience suggests the ceiling is much, much higher. Interested in what Akkio's platform could mean for your team's measurement workflows? Book a meeting with Akkio Inc. to learn more. No items found.

Prestige Consumer Healthcare selects Horizon Media as agency of record. March 16, 2026 Prestige Consumer Healthcare, a leader in over-the-counter healthcare and wellness products, has named Horizon Media its media planning and buying agency following a competitive four-month review. The partnership is designed to expand Prestige's market leadership by combining Horizon's brand strategy expertise and data-powered audience intelligence to drive relevance and measurable business growth. Prestige Consumer Healthcare markets, sells, and distributes a diverse portfolio of category-leading brands, including Monistat(R), Summer's Eve(R), Dramamine(R), Fleet(R), BC(R), Goody's(R), Clear Eyes(R), TheraTears(R), DenTek(R), Dramamine(R), Fleet(R), Chloraseptic(R), Luden's(R), Compound W(R), Little Remedies(R), and others. The assignment spans brand strategy and integrated media execution across video, digital, social, and influencer channels. Horizon earned the business based on the deep data signals and insights from Blu, Horizon's AI-native marketing intelligence platform, its culturally fluent concepts, and seamless cross-team collaboration. Leveraging Blu, Horizon will deliver a comprehensive approach to business intelligence, audience development, channel mix identification, tactical plan development, and investment strategy. In addition, Horizon will leverage advanced analytics to inform channel planning for maximum exposure and boost Prestige's leadership position. Insights derived from these efforts will guide campaign performance and fuel optimization opportunities for growth across the Prestige portfolio. "The Today's business and media landscape is both complex and dynamic," said Krista Kiisk, VP of Marketing, Prestige Consumer Healthcare. "As leaders in our categories, we need to be at the forefront of how to reach and engage with our consumers in the most effective and efficient way possible. That is why we selected Horizon as our media agency of record. The Horizon team combines creative thinking with powerful data-driven insights that drive consumer engagement and business results." "Consumers expect brands to meet them where they are, with relevance, empathy, and authenticity," said Gene Turner, President Chief Global Client Officer at Horizon Media. "Through a unified measurement framework, we'll enable smarter investments, clearer performance comparisons, and more accountable growth, both at the brand and product levels. Prestige's portfolio includes some of the most respected and trusted names in consumer healthcare, and together we'll deliver connected, insight-driven campaigns that deepen engagement, elevate brand equity, and drive business performance." This strategic partnership underscores Horizon Media's expanding leadership in health and wellness, uniting audience insights, integrated digital strategy, competitive intelligence, and creative innovation to help Prestige Consumer Healthcare grow market share through a performance-driven growth framework. Horizon will also provide ongoing guidance on emerging media opportunities, industry standards, and best practices, helping Prestige stay ahead in an increasingly competitive marketplace. About Prestige Consumer Healthcare Prestige Consumer Healthcare is a leading consumer healthcare products company with sales throughout the U.S. and Canada, Australia, and other international markets. The Company's diverse portfolio of brands include Monistat(R) and Summer's Eve(R) women's health products, BC(R) and Goody's(R) pain relievers, Clear Eyes(R) and TheraTears(R) eye care products, DenTek(R) specialty oral care products, Dramamine(R) motion sickness treatments, Fleet(R) enemas and glycerin suppositories, Chloraseptic(R) and Luden's(R) sore throat treatments and drops, Compound W(R) wart treatments, Little Remedies(R) pediatric over-the-counter products, Boudreaux's Butt Paste(R) diaper rash ointments, Nix(R) lice treatment, Debrox(R) earwax remover, Gaviscon(R) antacid in Canada, and Hydralyte(R) rehydration products and the Fess(R) line of nasal and sinus care products in Australia. Visit the Company's website at www.prestigeconsumerhealthcare.com. About Horizon Media Horizon Media, the largest independent media agency globally, delivers data-driven business outcomes for some of the most innovative and ambitious brands. Founded in 1989, headquartered in New York, and with offices in Los Angeles and Toronto, the company employs 2,400+ people and has media investments of more than $8.5 billion. Horizon Media's fundamental belief is that business is personal, which drives its approach to connecting brands with their customers and engaging with its own employees, resulting in industry-leading workplace satisfaction levels (Glassdoor). The company is consistently recognized by independent media outlets for its client excellence and has earned several "Best Workplaces" awards reflecting its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and the life and well-being of everyone at Horizon Media.

ZeroToOne.AI and Horizon Media have announced a partnership to integrate predictive behavioural intelligence into HorizonOS, Horizon's marketing intelligence platform. The collaboration introduces ZeroToOne's proprietary Large Behavioural Model, which predicts consumer actions with over 85% accuracy rather than relying on historical data. The integration will embed ZeroToOne's daily-refreshed predictive audiences directly into Horizon's Blu platform, supporting planning, activation and measurement across client campaigns. Following successful pilots through HorizonOS Labs, the technology demonstrated measurable improvements in efficiency, visitation and conversion whilst reducing media waste. Founded with AI researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, ZeroToOne.AI has raised $295 million to date. The partnership extends across multiple sectors including QSR, retail, travel and hospitality, with plans for deeper integration into bid optimisation and ID resolution.