CES 2025: How AI, Privacy, and Sustainability are Redefining Advertising

CES 2025 showcased some of the emerging technologies and innovations that will reshape the advertising industry. From advancements in AI-powered advertising to the growing emphasis on privacy and sustainability, this year’s event highlighted solutions designed to address today’s challenges and support a more efficient future. Here are Cadent + AdTheorent’s five key takeaways from CES and how they could shape the advertising landscape.   

AI Driving Smarter Audience Targeting  

We know that artificial intelligence is gaining traction in advertising, and new AI-based tools and approaches for automating workflows, refining audience targeting, and delivering personalized experiences at scale were on display at CES. Agentic AI – autonomous AI that pursues complex goals with limited human interaction – demonstrated how brands can leverage automation to execute campaigns with greater speed and precision. On-device AI was also a key theme, offering real-time insights into consumer behavior through wearables and connected devices.

According to Mari Tangredi, SVP & GM of Audience Solutions at Cadent + AdTheorent, “AI will bring a tremendous level of sophistication to audience targeting in 2025 driving more impactful results. For instance, solutions like AI-powered predictive targeting will allow marketers to efficiently identify and reach consumers most likely to take a desired action.”  

The Cadent + AdTheorent Viewer Graph already delivers AI’s promise by enabling precise audience targeting across linear and digital platforms without reliance on cookies. Our ML-based predictive targeting ensures that marketers can reach the right households with the right messaging, at the right moment to drive business outcomes for marketers efficiently. 

Performance and Measurement Advancements  

As media consumption evolves, advertisers face growing pressure to tie campaign performance to measurable outcomes. CES revealed a renewed focus on real-time attribution, closed-loop measurement, and cross-platform performance to help brands optimize their ad spend and understand audience impact.   

Cadent + AdTheorent continues to lead in performance innovation through our proprietary audience solutions. Viewer Graph maps online and offline behaviors to over 125 million households, connecting TV ad exposure on any device to the household. This approach eliminates waste and enables closed-loop measurement with our proprietary predictive models. With our audience-first strategy, we ensure advertisers can deliver impactful, results-driven campaigns across the omnichannel ecosystem.  

Simplifying Complexity Across Ad Tech  

With an expanding ecosystem of platforms and tools, the need for simplicity was a recurring theme at CES. Industry leaders emphasized the importance of streamlining workflows and unifying processes to reduce friction in media planning, buying, and activation.   

Cadent + AdTheorent’s unified approach addresses the complexity of ad tech head-on by combining audience discovery, activation, and measurement into a seamless platform. Our platform connects the buy and sell sides to drive stronger performance in a privacy-safe manner. By simplifying these processes, we empower our partners to focus on what truly matters: reaching audiences with precision and efficiency.   

Putting Privacy into Practice  

The ongoing deprecation of cookies and heightened privacy regulations have made identity solutions a focal point for advertisers. At CES, companies displayed technologies that prioritize privacy while enabling effective targeting. Clean room integrations and first-party data strategies took center stage as essential tools for maintaining trust with consumers.  

Our Viewer Graph stands apart as a cookieless, privacy-first solution that maps households to devices without compromising user trust. By leveraging ML and contextual targeting methods – as opposed to relying on cookies or PII data – our tailormade customer strategies and overall commitment to privacy and performance ensure compliance with the latest regulations. These data-driven solutions allow advertisers to deliver personalized campaigns in a compliant and responsible way.   

Sustainability in Advertising  

Sustainability was a defining theme at CES, with companies highlighting innovative ways to reduce emissions and energy use within the ad tech ecosystem. From greener auction systems to more efficient data processing, the industry is taking steps to minimize its environmental impact.  

As a proud member of Ad Net Zero, Cadent + AdTheorent is dedicated to reducing the carbon footprint of advertising. Our solutions, including enhanced workflow efficiencies and reduced latency, support a more sustainable future for both brands and the environment. Sustainability is not simply good for the planet – it is good for business as consumers increasingly prioritize eco-friendly practices.   

We look forward to pursuing additional paths to increase our sustainability as an organization in the year ahead. 

What’s Next for Ad Tech?  

CES 2025 highlighted the critical role of innovation in addressing the ad tech industry’s most pressing challenges. From leveraging AI to improve targeting to simplifying workflows and advancing privacy-first strategies, the future of advertising is being shaped by these transformative trends.  

Cadent + AdTheorent remains committed to helping our partners navigate this evolving landscape with confidence. By embracing solutions that prioritize efficiency, privacy, and performance, we are empowering advertisers to use AI-powered omnichannel advertising solutions to drive business. outcomes now and in the future.   

Explore how Cadent + AdTheorent can support your omnichannel advertising goals. Connect with us to learn more.