The numbers aren’t there yet, but the disruption is coming, says new survey data from Borrell Associates and analysis from the IAB Tech Lab, painting a picture of the window that local broadcasters have before AI potentially reshapes the ranks of their sales departments.
IAB Tech Lab CEO Anthony Katsur sat in on Borrell’s Local Marketing Trends podcast, where findings from three consecutive years of the firm’s SMB AI surveys were presented and put under the microscope. Katsur speculated that there are at least five years until the most disruptive scenario to how radio stations operate: one where AI handles enough of media planning that junior sales and account management roles become redundant.
“I do think there will be efficiencies recognized where you could do more with less resources,” he said. “That could involve a planner. That could involve a junior salesperson. That could involve an account manager where the AI is giving both the media company and the advertiser the answers of where to place their media budget.”
However, he was quick to carve out what AI won’t replace anytime soon. “I don’t see a world where AI is going to be good anytime soon on things like custom executions, unique placements,” Katsur said. “There needs to be a human in the loop across multiple steps of how advertising dollars are lit up in the industry.”
Borrell reported that between 66% and 71% of small businesses now use AI for some purpose, but advertising-specific use cases remain marginal. Ad optimization registered at 14%, ad planning at 8%, and ad targeting at 7%, with content creation leading all categories by a wide margin.
A separate finding adds a more immediate concern for local sellers. Fifteen percent of SMBs reported that their customers are arriving with incorrect or misleading AI-generated information, a dynamic Borrell said is “running rampant.” Katsur’s advice: push back. “If you’re skeptical of a result, challenge the AI. Ask it again. Are you sure? Is that correct?”
The conversation also turned to content revenue.
Katsur argued that AI systems scraping and surfacing publisher material displace the advertising transaction entirely, cutting media companies out of any monetization on that content. Google’s AI Overviews feature is already eroding search-driven lower-funnel attribution for local advertisers, creating an opportunity for local radio.
When Borrell raised the possibility of a retransmission-style compensation model emerging between LLMs and content providers, Katsur didn’t dismiss it. “AI licensing of media content is the new retrans for digital,” he said. Borrell noted that radio is still 100% advertising-dependent, contrasting it with television, where retransmission and content licensing now account for more than half of industry revenue, leading Katsur to ask, “If media companies are struggling because they’re effectively losing audience to AI and therefore they’re losing advertising dollars… well, who’s going to create all the great content for AI to use?”
