A forum for the print and
digital publishing industries

Search Spend Trends: How GenAI Is Reshaping Ad Spend

The rapid upheaval around Search — specifically with Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and other generative AI platforms producing more and more zero-click results — has been obvious to users.

Now, signs are starting to show the effect on advertising spend as well.

The recently released 2025 H2 Market Report from Mediaocean found that half of the marketers surveyed are maintaining their Search spend, up from 40% in November 2023, while only 42% are planning on increasing their Search spend, down from 55% during that same time.

 

AI Overviews Cutting Publisher Clickthrough Rates By 50%, New Report Finds

Publishers are seeing a per-query clickthrough rate loss of almost 50% when AI Overviews appears, according to a new study. The research, by AI search and SEO platform Authoritas, measures the impact of AI Overviews on UK publishers’ web traffic, assessing the clickthrough decline across both mobile and desktop.

 

OpenAI’s AI Job Impact Predictions from 2023 Were Scary Accurate, According to Microsoft

Waaay back in the ancient year of 2023, OpenAI published a list of predictions of what jobs will be the most impacted from AI. Well, Microsoft just analyzed 200K real AI conversations to see what people actually use AI for at work. Ethan Mollick pointed out this wild overlap between what experts thought would happen and what’s actually happening. The 2023 paper predicted which jobs AI would affect most, and Microsoft’s data confirms it — with correlation so high it’s almost suspicious. The punchline: Those predictions were 90% accurate.

Top jobs targeted by AI: Interpreters and translators (basically doomed), customer service reps, writers and journalists (ouch).

 

The 2025 B2B Marketing Edge: How Data-Confident Marketers Are Accelerating Growth

Data confidence and revenue growth are closely linked. Marketers who trust the data they use are 3x more likely to see revenue growth. This group also sees more desirable outcomes in pipeline growth, optimization of ROI, and time-to-market.

Bad Data Blues: The Impact Data-Quality Issues Have On CRM Functionality, Bottom Lines, And More

No matter how advanced and intuitive CRMs become, they aren’t immune to bad data or the ensuing garbage in, garbage out consequences.

New research from Validity highlights exactly how much of a negative impact bad data can have, with 37% of the CRM users surveyed saying revenue loss has been a direct consequence of poor data quality.

 

The State of Journalism 2025

77% of journalists are using AI tools. ChatGPT is the most widely adopted tool amongst journalists with 42% saying they have used it for work in the last year. Transcription and writing tools are the next most popular, pulling 40% and 35% respectively.

 

There’s Only One Way The News Industry Will Win In The AI Era: Together

Imagine if your best friend told you that he was going to chuck in his job because he’d acquired some magic beans that he was going to plant and — well you know the rest. But that has been the story of newspapers and the internet. 

 

Direct Mail Magnet: Gen Z And Millennials Especially Like It

It’s time to look at the precursor to email and just about every digital channel — good, old-fashioned direct mail. Younger consumers in particular prefer the channel, according to State of Direct Mail 2025: Consumer Insights Edition, a study from Lob. … Email is the channel most tightly integrated with direct mail.

C-Suite Caution: Is AI Adoption Giving Execs Relief … Or More ROI Pressure?

From a user-standpoint, AI tools continue to evolve into indispensable means of improving work and finding efficiencies. 

A recent survey of C-suite executives by Icertis, however, asks whether that proliferation of AI is creating “relief or more pressure,” as nearly half (46%) said a top concern of theirs is pressure to show ROI on AI investments.

 

Where Do UK ‘Decision Makers’ Get Their News? Publishers, Social Media And AI

Nearly half of UK adults have used AI tools to stay up to date with news and current affairs, according to new research by communications agency Portland. In a major survey it found that 47% of UK adults had used tools such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini to better understand current events. When it comes to ‘decision makers’ (those in senior jobs and leadership positions) the proportion using AI tools to access news rose to 81%.

 

Art Of Personal Incentives In The AI Age

Among respondents at organizations surveyed by Harvard Business Review and sponsored by Talon.One, once they started personalizing promotions and discounts, about 62% say they have seen increased sales as a result. … Forty-seven percent said [it’s] increased customer loyalty, and 44% say it has delivered a better customer experience. 

 

How High-Performing Teams Are Accelerating Marketing Cycles

Yes, marketers are stressed. But the good news? Most of those surveyed also see AI as a potential solution to alleviating that stress. Almost three-quarters of respondents believe that AI can accelerate growth by at least 10%. … While most of those surveyed see AI as a tool for efficiency (66%), just as many marketers also see it as a tool for growth (67%).

Overreach By AI Overviews? Newly Filed Publishers’ Complaint Points To ‘Significant Harm’

You really don’t need to see others’ research and reports to understand that Google’s launch of AI Overviews has had an effect on clicks.

All you need is your own two eyes, watching Google kick back search results that increasingly show less and less clickable links, with traditional organic results buried further and further down the page. Or have a quick glance at your own traffic, likely down considerably as search summaries with zero-click results directly address the matters that had once kept you at the top of the search mountain.

As smart publishers evolve their SEO strategies into GEO strategies, some are going even further, standing up en masse and filing an antitrust complaint against the Big Tech titan.

 

34% of U.S. adults have used ChatGPT, about double the share in 2023

The share of Americans who have used ChatGPT, an AI chatbot released in November 2022, has roughly doubled since summer 2023. Today, 34% of U.S. adults say they have ever used ChatGPT, according to a Pew Research Center survey. … In two years, the share of employed adults who say they use ChatGPT for work has risen by 20 percentage points to 28%.

 

The Line For Business AI: Most Firms Are Not Getting The Full Benefit

Some brands are using AI to create their email, but it is doubtful that they are getting the full benefit of the technology, judging by a study from Zeta, titled It’s Time to Get Serious About AI’s Business Value, conducted by Forrester. Of the companies polled, 62% described their AI implementation as limited or moderate. 

 

2025 State of B2C Marketing

Many brands work with too many fragmented tools, while top performers invest in unified platforms. Al and CRM adoption is on the rise, but many brands lack the integrated data infrastructure to leverage their full capabilities.

The New Age Of Publishing: How AI Tools Are Empowering Diverse Creators

Publishers have always come in all shapes and sizes, but with easily-accessible tools and powerful software platforms putting publishing prowess in the hands of so many, the look of a “publisher” has never been more diverse.

A recent URLgenius survey with the commendable goal of “shining a bright light on the hustle, heart, and high-tech savvy of today’s creators” found that 43% found AI tools to be helping them streamline their workflow. And though 30% hadn’t noticed any impact, 23% said AI makes content creation more accessible and 21% said that content “increases competition.”

 

GenAI and How It’s Impacting U.S. Publishers

Generative AI is reshaping how consumers discover and consume news. As users shift from traditional search to tools like ChatGPT, they’re seeking faster, contextual answers to complex and evolving topics — from market trends to policy developments. As a result, news-related prompts on ChatGPT and zero-click search have surged, while organic traffic to publishers has declined. AI is changing how news is accessed while redefining distribution dynamics. Publishers must now adapt their strategies to stay visible and relevant across AI-powered platforms.

 

CMOs Pursue Productivity Gains As Marketing Budgets Stagnate

Fifty-nine percent of CMOs report they have insufficient budget to execute their strategy in 2025, down by five percentage points since 2024. Although budgets have failed to grow year-on-year, marketing leaders appear to be using their funds in a more productive way. 

 

Marketers Do Better When More People Work On Email

Email is a vital channel, but marketers need to invest in it, especially in personnel, judging by The State of Email 2025, a study by Litmus from Validity. Of the companies polled, 35% see an ROI of 36.1% or more and 9% get between 1:1 and 10:1. But many firms face hurdles in tracking ROI.

AI’s Potential As Digital Ad Spending Sees YoY Decreases

Last week, I wrote about how AI is revolutionizing how strategists approach their email marketing, emphasizing personalized campaigns over social media investments. 

As the Blaze report said, “The more AI-savvy a business becomes, the more they recognize that the unique advantages of AI align perfectly with channels that historically required too much manual effort for small businesses to leverage effectively.”

Looking then at the larger, general grouping of advertisers and marketers, as Nielsen has done with its recent “From Chaos To Clarity” report, it would appear there’s a lot still to be learned from AI.

 

How Audiences Think About News Personalisation In The AI Era

As newsrooms continue to experiment with AI technologies, many are setting their sights on tools to help tackle declining news engagement and growing news avoidance, especially among younger audiences, while also cultivating loyalty among those who already rely on them.

 

The State of SMS Marketing 2025: Adoption, AI Integration, and Future Outlook

AI is affecting every aspect of the world, and SMS marketing is not an exception, with 60.4% of companies actively using AI in their SMS campaigns. This is a result of a preference for personalized content and data-driven communication strategies, from both the industry and the customers.

 

Recession-Proof Marketing: How Small Businesses Are Shifting Social Media Strategy Amid Economic Uncertainty

While less AI-sophisticated businesses are doubling down on traditional social platforms like Facebook and Instagram, those with advanced AI capabilities are increasingly prioritizing personalized email campaigns — a surprising split that reveals how AI maturity is reshaping marketing priorities during economic turbulence.

The Effects of CRM Efficiency: Team Alignment Believed To Have Biggest Revenue Impact (New Report)

AI gets all the attention for the impacts it’s making, but when it comes to making the biggest impact on revenue, don’t sleep on the trusty CRM. 

Right-sizing Your CRM, the recent research report from Insightly By Unbounce, found that 53% of sales professionals believe increasing sales efficiency will make the biggest revenue impact this year, followed by aligning sales, marketing, and customer success (50%).

 

The Fearless Future: 2025 Global AI Jobs Barometer

AI is making workers significantly more productive and creating value for companies. Industries most able to use AI have 3x higher growth in revenue generated by each employee.

 

The Loyalty Divide: What Consumers Want Marketers To Know

While it’s no surprise that personalization is a key loyalty driver, we did find that what brands see as personalized and what consumers want from personalization are different things. Translated into consumer-speak, personalization should convert to relevancy.

 

The Lead Gen Catch: B2B Brands Face Declining Metrics, Other Issues

Most B2B brands use email as a lead generation device. But there is one little problem:: 33% are struggling with declining engagement metrics, including declining email open rates and form fills, according to the State of B2B Pipeline Growth, a study from Pipeline360.

AI From The Start: Where Publishers And Content Creators Use AI In Their Process

There’s a reason AI is top of mind for so many publishers.

Because publishers know what’s working.

And for more than 80% of content creators recently surveyed by Wondercraft, AI is being used in some part of the creative process, with nearly 40% utilizing it start-to-finish, “from ideation to final delivery.”

 

SEO Still Matters For AI Search Engines

“After analyzing 25,000 real user queries across AI search platforms, I’ve discovered something crucial that contradicts the popular narrative. … If your website ranks #1 in Google’s traditional results (blue links), you have a 25% chance of being used as a source in AI Overviews.”

 

Consumers Welcome AI Agents Across The Shopping Journey

71% of consumers worldwide are interested in AI agents that can answer questions for faster customer service. … Consumers are divided on agentic AI’s role in purchase decisions—nearly two-thirds (65%) are interested in AI that can buy an item when it reaches a target price, but only 47% want AI that purchases recommended products on their behalf.

 

Data, Decisions, and Doubt: A 2025 Leadership Perspective

The proliferation of dashboards and data sources, intended to simplify decision-making has now reached an inflection point and is starting to create confusion, missed opportunities, and doubts about the integrity of insights. … Half of executives feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data and dashboards they receive daily.

Buying Local: Last Year’s Local Digital Advertising Surpassed $100 Billion (New Report)

Now that digital advertising has taken off globally, it only makes sense for it to now make its mark locally. 

The latest annual report from Borrell Associates shows just how far digital advertising has come … and how nearby and omnipresent it already is, surpassing $100 billion and accounting for approximately 70% of all local ad spending last year.

 

Q1 2025 Programmatic Transparency Benchmark Study

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) released the findings of its Q1 2025 Programmatic Transparency Benchmark Study, revealing continued progress — and persistent inefficiencies — in the programmatic advertising ecosystem. The study shows that marketers directed 41% of programmatic budgets to effective ad impressions in Q1 2025, up from 36% in the 2023 study.

 

Inroads Into The Inbox: Most Firms Have Been Hurt By Poor Deliverability

The average brand spends 26.6% of its marketing budget on email. But that doesn’t mean it is effectively using the money, judging by Email Deliverability: The Cost of Missing The Inbox In 2025, a study from Kickbox conducted by Centiment. Indeed, 64.6% of the companies polled say inboxing issues have hurt revenue or customer retention, 23.8% frequently. 

 

More Than Half Of Gen Z And Millennials Have Made A Purchase On Social Media In The Past Three Months

The report offers valuable insights into consumer behavior and generational preferences associated with brand engagement and social commerce trends. According to the report, more than half of Gen Z (53%) and Millennials (56%) have made a purchase via a social media platform in the past three months. The report findings highlight a significant shift in how younger generations engage in social commerce, making it crucial for brands to adapt to evolving consumer expectations.

Search Standards: Understanding The Rises In Search Advertising Trends

As Google users, publishers, and advertisers alike make sense of the brave new world we are all entering now that ads will be a part of AI Mode and expanding their reach in AI Overviews, it sure appears that the tech company is in no hurry to lose its search advertising crown.

And recent numbers back up why advertisers and small businesses in particular continue to pay their respects to the king, with LocaliQ finding the average click-through and conversion rates up YoY, as well as cost per click and cost per lead.

 

Study Finds Journalists Are On AI Frontline And Yet To Be Replaced By Tech

AI is already making its presence felt in newsrooms around the world but its negative impact may be less than feared, a new study has suggested. … The research found that journalists are already adopting AI tools in the newsroom, many with encouragement from their employers, but that AI has had no impact on earnings or hours recorded in journalism.

 

Reach For The Heart, Not For The Wallet: Emotions Rule Brand Loyalty

It may seem counterintuitive, but discounts are less important than emotional connections in creating brand loyalty, according to The Power of Trust and Emotions in Building Customer Loyalty, a study from Bloomreach conducted by EMarketer. Of the marketers polled, 58.4% say emotional connections — i.e., beliefs and values — are most important, while 41.6% claim that transactional incentives such as coupons, discounts and gamification rank first.  

 

The State of Personalized Marketing in 2025

Three-quarters of consumers are abandoning their carts because they feel overwhelmed by options. With growing competition and changing shopping behaviors, personalization is critical for success.