Claude disrupts B2B and SMB workflows, not $200 million TV and digital budgets: Vikas Das, Madison Media

Anthropic recently launched 11 Claude Cowork plugins, expanding its AI assistant into workplace software used across sales, marketing, legal, finance and data teams.

The tool is designed as an agentic assistant for desk-level tasks, connecting to tools such as Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Jira, Asana, Snowflake, Linear, Ahrefs, Canva and BigQuery. The plugins can draft content and SEO briefs, prepare sales calls and pipeline reviews, write SQL queries and build dashboards, review contracts and compliance documents, and handle basic finance and support workflows.

Vivek Das, Chief Digital Officer, Madison Media, noted that the launch triggered a $300 billion sell-off across software, advertising and analytics stocks. The market reaction reflected a broader question being debated by executives and investors: if AI agents can “do marketing,” is the current advertising ecosystem at risk?

Industry data suggests the impact may be limited to a narrow segment of the market.

Global advertising spends in 2025 is estimated at $1.2 trillion, with digital accounting for more than 75%, or over $750 billion, according to multiple industry reports, cited by Das. Of that digital total, B2B advertising is projected to reach $45 billion to $50 billion in 2026, representing about 5.5% to 5.8% of total digital ad spend.

More than 94% of total ad spend is B2C, spanning YouTube, Instagram, search, television, retail media, out-of-home and influencer marketing.

Much of that consumer-driven ad revenue is supported by small and mid-sized businesses. Meta has over 10 million active advertisers and about $160 billion in annual ad revenue, with 97.5% of revenue from advertising and largely from small businesses.

Around 65% of small and mid-sized businesses run Google Ads, with more than 7 million advertisers using Google’s pay-per-click tools. In 2025, roughly 68 million small businesses advertise on Facebook, spending about $427 per month on average; 96% of SMBs use Facebook and 54% of consumers discover SMBs via social platforms.

By contrast, Claude Cowork does not connect to media buying systems such as Meta Ads Manager, Google Ads, The Trade Desk, Amazon DSP, DV360, television buying platforms, retail media networks or programmatic bidding systems. It does not run auctions, manage large ad budgets or access consumer data within major advertising platforms.

Large B2C advertisers, including consumer goods, automotive and telecommunications companies, typically operate through agency holding companies using established systems such as TV upfronts, guaranteed programmatic deals and multi-market plans. These processes are tied to inventory, procurement and brand safety protocols.

B2B marketers and smaller businesses, however, rely more heavily on content creation, CRM systems and lead-generation programs. In those environments, tools that automate writing, reporting and workflow tasks may reduce manual effort.

Das noted, “This is the key message: Claude disrupts B2B and SMB workflows, not the workflows behind a 200-million-dollar TV and digital budget.”

Channel-level data further underscores the structure of the market. In 2025, television and video account for about $357 billion in spend; retail media for $175 billion to $231 billion; social media, including Meta, about $160 billion; search, including Google, about $200 billion; out-of-home and cinema for $57 billion to $60 billion; and influencer marketing for $25 billion to $30 billion, according to multiple industry reports. These channels are driven by inventory systems, platform auctions and direct buying arrangements.

Das said, “B2B is ~6% of digital advertising; B2C is ~94%. Claude Cowork automates B2B and SMB desk work, not consumer media buying. The real risk lies in legal tech, B2B analytics, SaaS and thin margin agencies doing commoditised content and reporting, not in global ad holding companies or ad-funded consumer platforms whose revenues depend on auctions and inventory, not on who writes the brief.”