Thought Leadership

AdWeek 2025 Recap: Rethinking Audiences, Automation, and Attention

Five takeaways shaping the future of live experience marketing

This fall, AdWeek 2025 brought together the largest cross-section of advertisers, platforms, and entertainment marketers since pre-pandemic times. Across hundreds of sessions, one throughline emerged: the lines between awareness, conversion, and community are disappearing.

Hot off of the last day of the conference, Account Group Directors Jeff Miele and Kyle Fox sat down to unpack what this means for marketers in live entertainment, attractions, and sports,  industries built on emotion, presence, and human connection. You can watch their discussion below or scroll down to read about some of their biggest takeaways.

Automation is everywhere, but the human layer is the differentiator.

Across sessions, AI was no longer the future, it was the framework. DoorDash’s Smart Campaigns showed a 15% lift in sales and a 20% reduction in cost after automating creative strategy for small businesse. Meta introduced its “Business Result Machine,” capable of autonomously generating ad assets and optimizing spend.

But amid the enthusiasm, a consistent caution: AI that replaces humanity doesn’t perform. TikTok reported its best ad results from hybrid campaigns that combined human and AI creativity, while 93% of advertisers said they learned something new about their audience through AI, but only when they maintained creative oversight.

For sports and attractions marketers, the takeaway is clear: AI can handle optimization, but it can’t replace the spark of fandom that sells tickets, fills arenas, or moves someone to spend a weekend in your space.

The Funnel Didn’t Collapse, It Fused.

The once-linear purchase funnel has effectively melted into one step. According to the AI and the New Rules of Connectivity panel, AI-driven searches now yield 80% higher purchase intent, merging discovery and decision in a single action.

For event marketers, this means less “build awareness now, convert later” and more “meet audiences in the moment.” Connected TV (CTV) is accelerating this shift: half of consumers have reported making a purchase after seeing a product on CTV, blurring the line between brand storytelling and transaction.

If audiences can convert the instant they’re inspired, measurement models need to evolve too, from campaign reports to conversion narratives that connect touchpoints across streaming, mobile, and real-world experiences.

Retail media is rewriting how discovery works.

Once a niche for consumer packaged goods, retail media now shapes how people find experiences, not just products. Instacart’s integration with The Trade Desk moved its ad network into the upper funnel, while its acquisition of Caper (smart shoppable carts) signals how commerce and content are merging.

For attractions and ticketed entertainment, that ecosystem already exists, it just isn’t always branded as “retail.” Think: integrating ticket sales within hospitality and travel platforms, or embedding merchandise offers into CTV moments. The takeaway? The next frontier of awareness is transactional by design.

Fandom is the new performance metric.

Sessions like Fandom to Effectiveness and From Entertainment Choice to Blockbuster reframed fandom as both a creative strategy and a business outcome.

Personalization emerged as the driving force. Studios discussed “intimate environments that scale,” using first-party data to deepen emotional connections without losing reach. Smosh’s 20-year evolution stood out as a case study: fan-first content that translated into measurable business growth through loyalty, not virality.

For live events, this signals a structural shift. The best-performing campaigns will not only sell tickets, they’ll sustain belonging. Community-led conversion isn’t a buzzword; it’s the new box office math.

Measurement is catching up to emotion.

The recurring frustration of the week: everyone wants cross-platform measurement, but no one’s cracked it yet. VideoAMP showcased tools for deduplicating reach and frequency, and clean-room data sharing is finally bridging siloed systems. Still, the message was consistent: data quality must meet creative quality.

For entertainment, that means redefining success. Awareness without action isn’t impact, and neither is conversion without connection.

The bottom line

Advertising Week 2025 painted a picture of an industry in transition, one that’s learning to automate without losing authenticity. For live event marketers, the opportunity lies in bridging what data can do with what only humans can create: emotion, urgency, and meaning.

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