SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AdRoll, an AI-powered multichannel advertising platform, today released the Q3 2026 edition of its State of Digital Advertising Report, revealing that display prospecting cost per mille (CPM) fell 45% year over year from July 1 through Sept. 8. Display retargeting CPMs declined 29.1% over the same period, potentially giving holiday marketers a lower-cost window to build awareness before media prices typically increase around Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Compared with the same window in Q2, display prospecting CPMs fell 25.5%, while display retargeting CPMs dropped 40.2%. Account-based marketing (ABM) followed a different pattern. CPMs increased 4.4% from a year ago but declined 15.1% from Q2. Because ABM and retargeting focus on smaller pools of known audiences, their pricing is less reflective of the broader advertising market than prospecting costs.

Lower ad prices do not necessarily mean consumers have stopped spending. The U.S. inflation rate held at 3.4% in August, even as the University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment fell 7.5% from August to September and 13.2% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, credit and debit card spending per household increased 4.5% year over year in August, with shoppers favoring value-oriented retailers. These figures are not directly linked, but together they suggest consumers are still spending while paying closer attention to price and value.

“With CPMs down across prospecting and retargeting, marketers have more room to test before holiday competition intensifies,” said Vibhor Kapoor, chief executive officer of AdRoll. “Compare the cost of reaching each audience with the engagement, conversions, and revenue that follow. Use that full picture to reallocate budget toward the channels producing the strongest business results.”

Lower prospecting costs give brands more room to reach shoppers before the holiday competition picks up. The harder part is turning that early attention into sales. In a recent eTail and AdRoll study of 100 senior retail and ecommerce leaders, respondents named coordinating messaging and timing across channels as their biggest retargeting challenge. Nearly all described themselves as at least somewhat effective at re-engaging visitors, yet only 13% brought back more than 20% of cart abandoners. Many pointed to the first 24 to 48 hours after abandonment as the most important time to follow up.

Holiday shoppers are also using AI assistants, search, social media, connected TV, reviews, publisher content and retail marketplaces before visiting a brand’s website. As the website becomes a later-stage stop for checking price, availability and delivery timing, marketers can measure whether early exposure leads to branded searches, direct visits, product page views and stronger response from retargeting audiences. First-party signals can then help brands tailor the next message and suppress conversion ads after a shopper purchases.

As companies move into year-end planning, B2B marketers can use ABM to stay in front of priority accounts. Teams should align advertising campaigns with sales outreach, update messages as intent signals change and measure results across engagement, pipeline and revenue.

For more information and actionable insights, visit adroll.com/state-of-digital-advertising-report.

About AdRoll
AdRoll is a multichannel advertising platform built for growth-minded marketers. With powerful AI, flexible campaign tools, and seamless integrations, AdRoll helps mid-sized businesses turn complexity into clarity and clicks into customers. The AdRoll platform delivers full-funnel performance through integrated advertising, cross-channel attribution and audience insights, supporting marketers across industries including ecommerce, technology, financial services, education, and more. For B2B teams, AdRoll ABM extends these capabilities with account-based precision, multi-touch campaigns, and real-time buyer intelligence. Backed by nearly 20 years of data and award-winning support, AdRoll enables marketing teams to advertise smarter, move faster, and achieve more, all from one place.

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Katie Jewett
adroll@upraisepr.com
415-397-7600


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