ATLANTA, Feb. 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Canto, the leader in AI-powered digital asset management, today released The State of Digital Content, a new research report on 2026 digital content trends developed in partnership with Ascend2 Research. The fourth-annual report examines how content and creative teams are scaling production while dealing with operational friction across disconnected tools, workflows, and repositories.
The data shows just how much measurable business impact fragmentation in content and creative operations is having right now. When digital assets are poorly managed within their organization, respondents reported employee frustration or burnout (44%), wasted or misused budget (39%), duplicated or redundant work (38%), missed revenue opportunities (35%), and delayed campaign launches (35%).
The report also identifies a strong performance divider tied to connectivity. Content and creative teams with full connectivity between product content and digital assets were over four times more likely to report significant improvements in content ROI over the past year, at 56% versus just 13% for teams without full connectivity.
Additional findings from this year’s report include:
- The AI search advantage is real. 54% of teams using AI for asset search say locating assets is “extremely easy,” compared to only 6% of teams who are not using AI.
- Multiple systems amplify the pain. Teams using two or more solutions to manage digital assets were more likely to report delayed campaign launches (40% vs 24%), missed revenue (40% vs 26%), burnout (49% vs 34%), and wasted budget (44% vs 30%) than teams using one solution.
- Governance is shaky. Only 35% of respondents feel very confident employees are always using the most up to date, approved version of brand assets.
- Speed is a competitive constraint. Only 32% can update content or product information across channels immediately (defined as real time or same day). Most teams need a few days (43%) or up to a week (19%).
- Faster content updates correlate with stronger revenue outcomes. Among teams that can make real-time updates, 65% reported significant revenue increases, versus 16% among teams with slower update timelines.
- Product content is still managed in messy ways. Respondents most often rely on a website CMS (54%) and spreadsheets (51%) for product information, followed by internally-built systems (39%). Only 38% reported using a more centralized structured approach.
- Product content consistency is breaking down. 88% of teams struggle to keep product content consistent across channels, and 56% still manage product information separately from the digital assets used to market and sell products.
- Teams know what would help most. Top improvement opportunities included making product data easier to access (38%), eliminating duplicate or outdated product data (37%), and managing product data alongside creative assets (37%).
- Budgets keep rising. Over 80% of respondents reported their brand plans to increase content and creative budgets in the year ahead.
“Content and creative teams are under so much pressure right now to move faster across more and more channels while still keeping brand and product information accurate,” said Jen Neary, Director of Content & Communications at Canto. “The State of Digital Content 2026 shows that the cost of fragmentation is concrete, and it shows up in wasted spend, duplicated work, and frustrated teams. It also shows a clear path forward. When brands centralize assets and connect them to product content, it becomes easier to govern what is current, update information quickly, and reuse work instead of recreating it. The result is better execution, stronger consistency, and more measurable ROI.”
The State of Digital Content 2026 is available now. Download the full report: https://www.canto.com/ebooks/stateofdigitalcontent/
About the Research
Canto, in partnership with Ascend2 Research, conducted an online survey of 434 professionals involved in content and creative asset production, management, or strategy. The survey was fielded in November 2025, with respondents located in the United States and United Kingdom.
About Canto
Canto is a leader in digital asset management (DAM), helping global brands maximize the value of their digital content with an intuitive, AI-powered platform. Our solutions make it easy for businesses to centralize, organize, and share digital assets, streamlining workflows and driving real business impact. From pioneering early DAM solutions to leading AI innovation and product content capabilities, Canto continues to shape how modern organizations manage and activate digital content. Backed by best-in-class support and implementation, Canto empowers industries like retail, manufacturing, technology, healthcare, and more to manage their growing content libraries. Headquartered in Atlanta, with offices in Berlin, Cork, and Sydney, Canto supports teams worldwide in optimizing their content workflows. For more information, visit www.canto.com .
Contact
Kyle Peterson
[email protected] / Clement | Peterson
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