Despite the growing presence of artificial intelligence in marketing and operations, media sales professionals have been slow to integrate AI into their workflow, according to the 2025 Media Sales Report from the Center for Sales Strategy. The annual study, released Tuesday, surveyed more than 600 sales managers and account executives across radio, television, digital, and print organizations nationwide.
Only 14% of respondents said they use AI tools regularly in their sales process, and fewer than 4% said they rely on it heavily. Most described their use as limited to occasional support tasks, like writing emails or summarizing call notes. Even among digital-first organizations, the numbers remain modest.
Matt Sunshine, managing partner at the Center for Sales Strategy, said the results reflect both a lack of urgency and a disconnect between available tools and day-to-day selling. “There’s tremendous potential for AI in prospecting, proposal writing, and lead scoring,” he said, “but most media sellers are still doing things the way they did five or ten years ago.”
The report found that 61% of respondents had tried AI-powered tools at some point but abandoned them due to complexity, lack of training, or unclear value. Others cited concerns about data privacy and client trust. One local TV sales manager in the Midwest wrote, “We tried AI to pre-write proposals, but clients could tell—it sounded robotic. We went back to human-written pitches.”
Interestingly, the study showed no clear correlation between AI adoption and overall sales performance. Top-performing sellers were more likely to use relationship-building and consultative approaches than rely on automation. Sunshine noted this doesn’t mean AI can’t help, but suggests it’s currently more of a supplement than a replacement.
Among those who do use AI, the most common applications were content generation (43%), competitive research (28%), and meeting prep (19%). Only 8% reported using AI for forecasting or pipeline analysis.
The study also revealed that training remains a major barrier. Just 11% of respondents said their companies had provided structured AI training, and fewer than one in five managers said they felt confident guiding their teams in using it.
With AI tools evolving rapidly, Sunshine said he expects adoption to increase—but only if leadership prioritizes education and integration. “AI won’t replace good sellers,” he said, “but good sellers who use AI may replace those who don’t.”