Programmatic advertising is a smart, fast, and efficient way to buy digital media, which uses data and automation to deliver your ads to the right people at the right time. But programmatic has a mixed reputation. To some, it’s the engine room of modern media buying; to others it’s misunderstood and even feared. At MEERKATworks we know that programmatic advertising doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does have to be properly invested in and implemented, to give the best results.
We believe 2026 is shaping up to be the year that forces UK marketers to get clearer about what they want programmatic to do, where they want it to run and how they’ll prove it’s working.
UK adults spend an average of 4 hours 30 minutes online each day and that time is still creeping up year on year. If your customers are browsing daily (they are) and their journeys look different every day (they do), then media plans built on fixed assumptions start to wobble.
At MEERKATworks, we’re independent, meaning we’re not here to push programmatic as the answer to everything. But we are here to be honest about what’s changing, what’s worth paying attention to and what brands should be asking their agencies (and themselves) as budgets shift in 2026 and beyond.
Where the UK programmatic market is heading
Let’s look at what the numbers say. In the first half of 2025, UK digital ad spend hit £18.7 billion, with search at £8.3 billion (44%), video at £4.3 billion (23%), display at £2.9 billion and online retail media at £1.5 billion. The same report forecasts UK digital ad spend reaching £45 billion by 2026, with around 10 per cent year-on-year growth in both 2025 and 2026.
This context matters because programmatic isn’t a “channel” in the way radio is a channel. It’s a buying mechanism that increasingly spans display, video, audio and even digital out-of-home. It’s being propelled by the same forces that are pulling the whole UK ad market forward: addressable audiences, measurable outcomes and the need to adapt quickly.
MEERKATworks’ founder Heidi Carroll described the UK’s shift to programmatic in her recent talk at Eastbourne DigiFest as a series of defining moments. It started with the introduction of Real Time Bidding in 2009. Programmatic built momentum between 2012 and 2013 when all the UK National newspapers began selling inventory to Ad Exchanges, with magazines following in 2015. By 2018 to 2019 programmatic had become the dominant means of selling display inventory across UK magazine and newspaper publishers.
Heidi went on to explain the importance of frequency and audience knowledge in programmatic media planning:
“Programmatic display advertising uses data and automation to deliver adverts as people browse the internet – and nobody really switches browsing off. That’s why programmatic is such a smart and efficient means of targeting. But it’s also why frequency control matters so much. We’ve all had that experience where you see the same ad too many times – you get sick of it, you start to block it, and it puts you off the brand. Programmatic is like a DJ’s mixing desk: you have to get the balance just right.”
This is helpful framing: programmatic works best when it’s designed to meet real behaviour – in real time – rather than forcing audiences into neat boxes.
What’s changing in UK programmatic
1. Premium video gets more programmatic: TV+ keeps rising
One of the biggest UK shifts isn’t “more programmatic”, it’s more premium environments becoming programmatically accessible.
IAB UK points to the continued rise of TV+ (the catch-all for premium, broadcaster and streaming video environments that blend TV-scale reach with digital-style targeting). In H1 2025, video represented £4.3 billion of UK digital ad spend and IAB highlights TV+ as a major force within that growth story.
Meanwhile, Ofcom’s Media Nations 2025 report shows broadcast TV and Video on Demand (VoD) advertising and sponsorship spend growing to £5.3 billion in 2024 (+3.8%), with VoD growth offsetting declines in traditional broadcast advertising. Translation: video budgets aren’t disappearing – they’re redistributing, and buyers want options that feel both premium and accountable.
Are you planning a programmatic advertising campaign in 2026? Ask yourself these questions:
- Are you treating video as one line on a plan or as a mix of environments with different attention and outcomes?
- Are you using programmatic access to premium video to add reach or to fix frequency and reduce duplication across platforms?
This is where programmatic becomes less about ‘cheap’ reach and more about controlled reach.
2. AI moves from optimisation to advantage (if you control it)
AI and machine learning have been part of programmatic for years. What will change in the future is the speed at which they become a differentiator, not because the tech exists, but because more teams will learn to use it well.
In 2026, the brands that win with AI will be the ones using machine learning alongside decades of experience and the ‘human touch’ to:
- Cap and sequence frequency intelligently across formats
- Reduce duplicate reach across overlapping environments
- Spot performance changes early and adjust creative or targeting
3. Programmatic planning becomes more human, not less
Here’s the slightly counterintuitive future: as programmatic becomes more automated, the planning side needs to be more intentional and human. With people spending an average of 4.5 hours a day online, that’s a lot of moments where your brand could appear, and equally that’s a lot of opportunities to show up ‘badly’.
This is where MEERKATworks’ independent stance matters. Our independence means we are completely impartial and objective in all our media planning and buying. We never push programmatic per se but see it as a strategic tool where it earns its place – where real-time reach, flexible budget control and accountable measurement genuinely improve the plan.
So, what should you expect in 2026 and beyond?
Expect programmatic advertising in the UK to keep expanding into premium video (TV+) and more controlled cross-channel planning. Expect AI to matter most where it improves decision-making, not where it creates noise. And maybe the most important expectation of all: expect the best results to come from brands that treat programmatic as a strategic tool, not an autopilot button.
If programmatic advertising is already in your mix, the question for 2026 is whether you’re in control of it or just paying for it. MEERKATworks supports UK brands who want smarter targeting, without the sales patter. If you’re planning your next campaign, let’s talk about what success looks like and build the buying strategy around that.
Get in touch with the team today to add MEERKAT punch to your next campaign.