Why Advertise Where Few See the Ads? That's AI Challenge for Search Advertising

For some of you possibly old enough to remember where advertising spending used to occur, the pattern is quite different now. For example, influencer marketing gets the same amount of spending by advertisers as does print. And podcasts get more spending than print. 

And who knows what the spending pattern will look like once artificial intelligence takes hold and most people routinely can avoid clicking on links delivered to them by a search engine? By one early estimate, the introduction by Google of AI Mode caused a drop in the first organic links on a keyword by more than a third, for example. 

One can see that in the “zero click” rate, for example. 

Study	Impact on Search Traffic (%)	Zero-Click Rate (%)	Key Findings
Semrush AI Overviews Study	13.14	36.2	13.14% of queries triggered AI Overviews in March 2025; a significant share of searches now zero-click.
Ahrefs Study	34.5	—	34.5% drop in position 1 click-through rate (CTR) with AI Overviews.
Amusive Study	15.49	—	15.49% average CTR drop for affected queries.
Bain & Company Research	20 (range: 15–25)	60	80% of users rely on AI summaries; 60% of searches end without a click.
Forbes Analysis	15 (range: 15–64)	60	Up to 64% decline in organic traffic in some industries; 60% of searches are now zero-click.

But the biggest changes are search, social media and streaming, which did not exist as categories before 1995 or so. By some estimates, as much as 60 percent of tall advertising happens using search, social media and streaming video platforms. Add in e-commerce placements and as much as 70 percent of all advertising now uses those digital channels. Add YouTube and digital might claim as much as 80 percent of all activity. 

U.S. Advertising Channels
Channel	Market Share %
Search	28-30
Social Media	22-25
Streaming TV	12 to 15
E-commerce	8 to 12
Linear TV	18-22
Video (YouTube)	8 to 10
Radio	4 to 6
Outdoor	3 to 4
Print	2 to 3
Audio/podcast	3 to 4
Email marketing	1 to 2
Influencer marketing	2 to 3

On a global basis, in 1995 the leading channel was television, followed by newspapers, then magazines. Note the absence of all digital channels. 

Channel	Estimated Market Share (%)
Television	37%
Newspapers	28%
Magazines	12%
Radio	9%
Outdoor	7%
Cinema	2%
Other	5%

But get set for another huge shift, as advertisers discover it makes little sense to pay for advertising that fewer people are going to see.