#martech

Google is expanding its Preferred Sources feature into AI Overviews and AI Mode. The change allows user-selected sites to appear with a preferred badge inside AI-generated answers.

Preferred Sources originally launched to let users prioritize publications in Top Stories. The selections now extend to AI search results across Search.

Users choose eligible websites that publish fresh content through Search personalization settings.

A SaaStr AI Agent API Report Card that evaluated 152 B2B software APIs found marketing platforms averaging 63.6 out of 100 while the overall average across all categories reached 72.

The report graded APIs on six criteria scored 0-10 each for a maximum of 100 points: API design, events and streaming support, authentication, rate limits, SDK quality and documentation, and agent readiness. Scores came from independent evaluations by Claude, GPT, and Gemini models.

Many marketers missed the initial opportunity to reimagine their organizational models before implementing AI technology, according to [MarTech](https://martech.org/ai-wont-save-a-broken-organization/). They now operate at the evolving intersection of AI, data, and modern marketing strategy.

Ryan Warren, chief CRM officer at Razorfish, states that marketing teams had an opportunity to harness AI and change the way they work but many missed it.

AI is the main driver of increased martech budgets, according to MarTech. Research on martech performance finds that only 49% of martech tools are actively used and only 15% of organizations qualify as high performers who meet strategic goals and demonstrate positive ROI.

This gap has produced what MarTech describes as workslop: low-quality, generic output that results when teams are pressured to use AI for higher volume while receiving less time for quality control.

Leadership often fails to...

AI is now the main driver of increased martech budgets, according to MarTech. Research on martech performance finds that only 49% of martech tools are actively used. Only 15% of organizations qualify as high performers who meet strategic goals and demonstrate a positive ROI.

This gap produces workslop, defined as low-quality generic output that results when teams face pressure to use AI for higher volume without time for quality control.

Leadership often fails to define how to use AI and what...

AI is now the main driver of increased martech budgets, yet only 49% of martech tools are actively used and just 15% of organizations qualify as high performers who meet strategic goals and demonstrate positive ROI, according to MarTech.

Research on martech performance shows that leadership often fails to define how to use AI and what success looks like.

The average B2B organization manages between 12 and 20 martech tools, yet fewer than 10% of brands sustain strong brand cohesiveness across their product and channel portfolios, according to [MarTech](https://martech.org/build-a-martech-stack-that-makes-it-easy-to-manage-your-brand/).

Most B2B marketing teams manage between 12 and 20 martech tools yet fewer than 10% of brands sustain strong brand cohesiveness across product and channel portfolios according to [MarTech](https://martech.org/build-a-martech-stack-that-makes-it-easy-to-manage-your-brand/).

Marketers obtain stronger outputs from large language models when they treat the systems as sparring partners instead of answer machines, according to MarTech.

Tech columnist Christopher Mims described a test using prediction scenarios from Polymarket. Pure AI models outperformed human-only groups. Hybrid teams that accepted AI answers without challenge performed worse than AI alone.

At the May 2026 MarTech Conference, a panel moderated by Angela Vega, director of capabilities and operations at Expedia Group, featured marketing leaders discussing how brands can deliver personalized customer experiences without appearing invasive. The session, titled "Winning attention without losing trust: creating meaningful moments across the customer journey," included Alec Haase, general manager of AI products at High Touch; Sean Nowlin, founder and CEO of Spotlight IQ; and Ed Poppe,...

Marketing campaigns involve platforms, channels, and data flows, which can lead to alignment issues if not managed properly, according to [MarTech](https://martech.org/moving-beyond-silos-to-align-complex-customer-journeys/). Maintaining a broader operational perspective improves speed to market, conversion rates, and customer satisfaction, as martech practitioners work across organizational and technical boundaries to navigate systems, teams, and processes in silos.

In multi-channel journey...

As martech, adtech, and sales tech converge into a unified revenue stack, B2B organizations are advised to restructure their RevOps teams to break down cultural silos while preserving functional expertise, according to MarTech. The source highlights that the traditional separation of marketing, advertising, and sales teams has created barriers, but integration requires new structures to ensure technology achieves its potential.

RevOps teams are evolving from roles focused on fixing reports or...

At the May 6th MarTech Conference, a session titled "The art of doing more with less: The new marketing operations stack" will feature marketing leaders discussing how to shift operations from routine maintenance to proactive business drivers, according to [MarTech](https://martech.org/the-art-of-doing-more-with-less-the-new-marketing-operations-stack/).

At the May 6th MarTech Conference, a session titled 'The art of doing more with less: The new marketing operations stack' will feature industry leaders discussing how marketing operations teams can shift from routine maintenance to strategic roles, according to [MarTech](https://martech.org/the-art-of-doing-more-with-less-the-new-marketing-operations-stack/).

As discussions around the 'SaaSpocalypse' highlight companies replacing software vendors and IT services with AI-enabled tools, marketers are reassessing which platforms remain essential in their stacks, according to [MarTech](https://martech.org/why-affiliate-marketing-still-needs-humans-in-the-ai-era/).

This week's updates, dated April 30, 2026, demonstrate AI's rapid shift from analysis to execution in martech, with companies like adMarketplace and Braze releasing tools that integrate AI into search responses and marketing automation, according to [MarTech](https://martech.org/the-latest-ai-powered-martech-news-and-releases/).

adMarketplace released a tool that places advertisements within AI search engine responses, using a machine learning model to match commercial results with user query...

Marketers are replacing SaaS tools with AI-built alternatives, resulting in increased vendor churn, as detailed in a recent MarTech article. Mid-market firms have experienced a 35% year-over-year decline in renewals for single-function martech tools, according to Chiefmartec & MartechTribe’s 'Martech for 2026 Report.' Chris Penn, co-founder and chief data officer at TrustInsights.ai, states that vibe coding makes software a complete commodity, with about 63% of its users being non-developers,...

Marketers are replacing SaaS tools with AI-built alternatives, which is driving churn and altering where value resides in martech, as detailed in a recent analysis. Mid-market firms have experienced a 35% year-over-year decline in renewals for single-function martech tools, according to reports cited in the article.

Marketers are replacing SaaS tools with AI-built alternatives, resulting in mid-market firms experiencing a 35% year-over-year decline in renewals for single-function martech tools, as detailed in Chiefmartec & MartechTribe’s “Martech for 2026 Report.” Chris Penn, co-founder and chief data officer at TrustInsights.ai, notes that this shift commoditizes software, with about 63% of Vibe Coding users being non-developers, according to Superframeworks’ “Vibe Coding Tipping Point 2026” report.

Mid-market firms have experienced a 35% year-over-year decline in renewals for single-function martech tools, as marketers increasingly replace these with AI-built alternatives, according to data from Chiefmartec & MartechTribe’s 'Martech for 2026 Report'. Chris Penn, chief data officer at TrustInsights.ai, notes that vibe coding makes software a commodity, with about 63% of its users being non-developers, based on Superframeworks’ 'Vibe Coding Tipping Point 2026' report.

The global marketing technology market is projected to reach $2.4 trillion by 2033, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.1% from 2026, according to a report by Grand View Research as cited in Demand Gen Report. This expansion reflects the increasing reliance on digital tools for B2B marketing, with the internet, mobile devices, social media, and customer relationship management programs identified as key drivers for business growth.

The marketing technology market size is...

The 2025 MarTech Replacement Survey indicates a broad-based drop in martech replacement activity, with marketing automation falling from 31.1% in 2024 to 19.4% in 2025, CRM decreasing from 22.1% to 9.7%, and email platforms dropping from 24.3% to 13.7%. This shift marks a departure from previous years of routine replacements, as reported in the survey.

At the Spring 2026 MarTech conference's MarTech Vibe Marketing Lab, participants collaborated on hands-on projects, including creating a marketing tool for Harlem Grown, a nonprofit focused on urban farming and youth mentorship, where one team developed a "Harlem Grown story engine" to transform a single impact story into various content pieces while ensuring consistent voice, according to [MarTech](https://martech.org/if-your-ai-content-feels-generic-this-is-why/).

B2B marketers repeatedly describe data as their most valuable asset, comparing it to gold or oil, and invest heavily in tools like MAPs, CRMs, CDPs, and various martech solutions that consume a significant portion of their budgets. Despite this investment, reporting now includes analytics from digital campaigns, a shift from past practices where B2B companies advertised in trade publications with limited evidence of benefits, yet more data has not clarified decision-making as marketers fail to...