Channel Planning Is Dead. Digitas’ Liane Nadeau on the Fluid Funnel Era.

At Cannes Lions 2026, Digitas Chief Media and Investment Officer Liane Nadeau argued that traditional channel planning is obsolete as consumers now discover, consider, and buy instantly across platforms. She advocated for networked experiences planned and optimized in real time, with programmatic as a mechanism rather than a channel, and AI enabling the shift.

The awareness-consideration-conversion funnel isn’t dead — it’s just moved faster than the org chart has. At Cannes Lions 2026, AdExchanger Editorial Director Sarah Sluis sat down with Liane Nadeau, Chief Media and Investment Officer, Digitas, to make the case that channel planning — the TV budget, the search budget, the audio budget, the programmatic line item — no longer reflects how consumers actually move through the world. People discover, consider, and buy in an instant, across platforms that don’t respect channel definitions. The fluid funnel demands a different model: networked experiences that follow consumers wherever they are, planned and optimized in real time. Nadeau breaks down what that looks like in practice, why programmatic is a mechanism not a channel, and where AI fits into making it all work. Must Read Popular - OPINION: The Sell Sider https://www.adexchanger.com/category/the-sell-sider/ Dynamic Take Rates Are A Market-Wide Squeeze Disguised As Innovation https://www.adexchanger.com/the-sell-sider/dynamic-take-rates-are-a-market-wide-squeeze-disguised-as-innovation/ The pitch for dynamic take rates is reasonable. Total volume goes up, and the publisher sees more impressions clearing. But the problem is where the extra volume comes from. - Papa Johns Can Predict When Your Fridge Is Empty https://www.adexchanger.com/tv/papa-johns-can-predict-when-your-fridge-is-empty/ Papa Johns tapped NBCUniversal, Instacart and the dentsu-owned media agency Carat for help reaching consumers when they’re low on groceries – and thus more likely to be swayed by a mouth-watering ad. - CTV Buyers Are Getting The Show-Level Performance Optimization They’ve Always Wanted https://www.adexchanger.com/tv/ctv-buyers-are-getting-the-show-level-performance-optimization-theyve-always-wanted/ A collaboration between InterMedia Advertising, Peer39 and Pontiac Intelligence provided show-level cost-per-acquisition data for 94% of CTV ad impressions. - People Don’t Trust AI – They Trust Creators, Says People Inc.’s Jonathan Roberts https://www.adexchanger.com/publishers/people-dont-trust-ai-they-trust-creators-says-people-inc-s-jonathan-roberts/ Roberts spoke to AdExchanger about finding the balance between blocking and monetizing AI. Plus, the AI backlash that no one wants to talk about. - Advertisers Await Programmatic Pause Ads https://www.adexchanger.com/streaming/advertisers-await-programmatic-pause-ads/ The IAB Tech Lab is working on standardizing programmatic signals for new streaming TV ad formats, including pause ads. Meanwhile, many brands are eager to add pause ads to their repertoire.