26. January 2026
Crossroads 2026: Navigating a new media reality
- New
The year 2025 marks a turning point, as media, technology and society become more interconnected and complex than ever before. Artificial intelligence, immersive interfaces and new platforms are changing the way content is created, distributed and used. Content is generated automatically, personalized and distributed in real time. The resulting speed sets new standards.
While platforms and formats are becoming increasingly diverse, one resource remains scarce: attention. At the same time, expectations are rising. Quality, transparency and context sensitivity are no longer optional promises. They are considered basic standards. As media use becomes more fragmented, users expect offerings that are relevant, precise and appropriate to the situation.
This dynamic requires more than a short-term response. It requires strategic navigation in a media reality that is constantly reinventing itself. Our new Momentum Map 2026 shows where the decisive shifts are taking place and how they affect organizations. It is not an abstract trend radar, but serves as a practical compass for decision-makers in the German media and technology market.
The Five Coordinates of the Future
Five macrotrends form the central coordinates of the Momentum Map. They bundle the biggest shifts in the media and technology market, act in parallel and interlock. As points of reference, they reveal where momentum is emerging. Depending on the context, they open up different levers for strategy and practice.
Artificial intelligence as co-pilot
AI Empowerment
Artificial intelligence is no longer just a tool. It takes on repetitive tasks, makes decisions based on data and opens up new scope for creativity. In editorial offices, marketing and customer service, it is becoming a co-pilot that accelerates processes and opens up new possibilities. Autonomous AI agents are already planning social media posts, generative systems are creating content in real time and interactive interfaces are improving customer dialogue. The question is no longer whether we use AI, but how we use it responsibly and strategically.
Merging commerce and media
Smart Commerce & Media
The boundaries between content, advertising and sales are dissolving. Inspiration, interaction and purchasing take place in the same experience space, without any breaks in the customer journey. Media are becoming marketplaces: immersive shopping environments are emerging in social feeds, AI accompanies the entire process as a personal shopping advisor and smart devices carry out transactions independently. Those who master this logic create proximity and conversion at the same time.
Digital and physical worlds are converging
Phygital Worlds
Digital and physical spaces are merging. Augmented reality, virtual worlds and new interfaces are creating immersive environments that generate closeness, attention and connection in new ways. Concerts can be experienced both on site and virtually, stores extend into the living room via AR and realistic avatar worlds open up new spaces for identity and interaction. Spatial AI provides the technical basis for this by capturing, understanding and intelligently linking spaces, objects and movements in real time. Those who learn early on to think in hybrid spaces will secure a competitive edge in the battle for attention.
Radical personalization
Hyper-Individualization
“Talk to me, not just anyone.” Users expect offers that are empathetic, data-driven and voluntarily tailored. Personalization is no longer an extra, but a lever for relevance and trust. Digital customer twins simulate preferences and behaviors, emotion-recognition systems respond to moods and decentralized identities give users new sovereignty. The balance between utility, data protection and trust determines whether organizations generate fleeting clicks or lasting relationships.
Trust as the new currency
Trusted Ecosystems
In a world of generative content and manipulable data, trust becomes the hardest resource to come by. Transparency, ethics and decentralized technologies create the foundation for credibility and stable relationships. Secure origin data for digital content, international standards for AI ethics and self-managed identities show how trust becomes a prerequisite for innovation. Without trust, any technology remains empty; with trust, it becomes the engine of sustainable development.
Calls to action for today
The Momentum Map is more than just an analysis; it provides concrete impetus for the everyday work of organizations:
- Gaining orientation: The map highlights which developments are truly important and where it is worthwhile to set priorities.
- Facilitate implementation: It offers clear points of reference that can be directly translated into projects and strategies.
- Initiate dialogue: It provides questions and examples that stimulate discussion and prompt organizations to take action.
The Momentum Map depicts a total of seventeen signals. They show in detail how technologies, business models and communication logics are changing and where the greatest opportunities and challenges are emerging. From intelligent agents to immersive shopping experiences to emotional AI, one thing is clear: transformation is not a pipe dream, it has long been a reality.
Those who want to delve deeper will find different approaches in the Momentum Map. For an overview, there is a separate deep dive for each macrotrend. Those who want to go straight to the application can refer to compact trend maps that make signals tangible with key statements, examples and practical possibilities. For those who want to take a closer look at specific developments, in-depth analyses of the most important signals are available, with a focus on particularly dynamic topics in the German market. And if you are looking for new perspectives, you will find them on our “What if...?” question wall: Forty provocative questions invite you to question routines, change perspectives and rethink scenarios. The result is a lively pool of knowledge that offers orientation and opens up concrete points of reference for practical application.
Invitation to dialogue
Crossroads is not a finished project, but thrives on exchange. We want to think trends through together, put them into practice in workshops or projects and develop new ideas and prototypes. The future does not happen by itself, it is shaped.
In the coming weeks, we will be publishing deep dives into our five macrotrends, including an in-depth look at the relevant signals. Finally, we will publish our ‘What if...?’ question wall, which will provide new food for thought.
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Some of the media content in this blog post was created using artificial intelligence (AI).