2025 fundamentally reshaped the ad tech industry. If 2024 was the introduction to AI, 2025 was the year Artificial Intelligence matured, transforming how users consume information, how advertisers reach audiences, and how the digital advertising supply chain operates.
This year, we didn’t just observe these shifts. We focused on the issues that matter: supply chain efficiency, content quality, and publisher adaptation to AI. We push for an ad tech ecosystem that works for everyone, not just the largest players.
Here’s what defined 2025, and where we stand.
1. AI Reshapes the Open Internet
Artificial Intelligence defined 2025. The transformation went beyond automation, fundamentally changing how users consume information and how advertisers reach them.
1.1 Google Zero: When Search Became Answers
Google Zero dominated industry conversations throughout the year. The concept is straightforward: Google, using AI tools like AI Overviews, now delivers direct answers to search queries. No click required. Zero-Click Searches exploded in general content areas, creating immediate challenges for publishers and marketers who built their businesses on search traffic.
This isn’t just another algorithm update; it’s a structural reset. When Google transforms from a “gateway” to an “answer engine,” brands must ensure visibility and credibility within the AI environment itself.
1.2 GEO: The New SEO
The strategic response to “Google Zero” is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization). Forget optimizing for humans to click. GEO optimizes for Google’s “AI Agents.” The goal is to get the generative models to select you as the Source of Truth to be cited in AI Overviews and other AI interactions.
That means creating structured, accurate, authoritative content with clear expertise that provides answers in AI-friendly formats (like Q&A and structured data/Schema). The battle is no longer for clicks. It’s for credibility. For being the source AI trusts enough to cite.
But the shift to AI-driven search represents more than a tactical change in optimization strategy. It signals a fundamental transformation in how people consume information, with implications that extend far beyond SEO.
1.3 The Discovery Crisis: AI Shrinks Information Consumption
But AI’s impact goes deeper. In our September analysis, Rotem Shaul, CEO of Primis, identified something unprecedented: AI is the first technology in history that shrinks information consumption instead of expanding it.
The progression is stark. Pre-media: one source, one perspective. Newspapers: 2-3 viewpoints. Radio/TV: hundreds of opinions. Internet: unlimited discovery. AI reverses this, delivering one definitive answer.
Search engines drive exploration; users visit 2-3 sites per search, discovering content they weren’t looking for. AI provides one answer. No clicks. No discovery. No serendipity.
Shaul illustrated this personally: “I used to explore multiple cocktail recipe sites, discovering unique twists. Now I ask ChatGPT for one recipe. The cocktails are still great, but my learning plateaued. Discovery became passive consumption.”
For publishers, fewer discovery opportunities mean slower audience growth, reduced engagement, and declining brand recall. Mass-produced AI content floods the ecosystem, taking space from quality publishers.
We maintain strict inventory standards. Quality over volume, always. We focus on environments where discovery still happens, and audiences stay engaged.
1.4 Publishers Aren’t Fighting AI, They’re Fighting for Position
As our CRO, Toar Mekaiten wrote for AdMonsters, the real battle isn’t against AI technology. It’s for market position when things stabilize. Nearly 60% of Google searches now end without a click, compared to 26% in 2022. Everyone feels the squeeze. Think of it as musical chairs. Publishers aren’t fighting to survive this round. They’re securing guaranteed seats for when the music stops.
What works is mastering AI optimization. Structuring content so AI platforms can understand, reference, and credit it. Early movers are testing alternative content feeds, tracking AI-originated referrals, and negotiating direct partnerships. Publishers should also double down on what AI cannot replace: live events, real-time commentary, and experiential content requiring human insight while driving value back to publishers.
2. The Drive for Supply Chain Efficiancy
While AI reshaped content discovery, 2025 also brought a renewed focus on supply chain quality and efficiency. The industry moved from talk to action on transparency.
2.1 Curation: Quality Over Volume
Curation emerged as the quality control mechanism the industry needed. Instead of relying on vast, unorganized data pools, curators now sift, organize, and enhance ad inventory before it reaches advertisers, filtering out the noise.
The value proposition is straightforward. Buyers get more accurate audience segments, brand-safe environments, and transparent sourcing. Publishers get better monetization through pre-packaged, high-performing deals.
But curation matters for a bigger reason. It’s the market’s quality control mechanism against low-value content. We’ve built our publisher relationships around this principle; curation formalizes the quality-first standards we’ve maintained from day one.
2.2 Direct Path: Cutting the Middlemen
The push for supply path optimization (SPO) led major industry players, even competitors, to prioritize direct integrations with publishers, driving unprecedented efficiency through shortened supply chains.
- The Trade Desk (TTD) significantly expanded its OpenPath initiative throughout the year. OpenPath allows advertisers to connect directly with premium publishers, bypassing intermediaries (SSPs). This drives greater revenue for publishers while offering advertisers enhanced transparency.
- Yahoo strengthened its position with Yahoo Backstage, enabling publishers to integrate directly with the Yahoo DSP and drastically reducing supply chain hops. Backstage delivers curated, premium inventory (including CTV) that’s transparent and MFA-free.
Despite being fierce competitors, both companies share one goal: transparent, quality-first alternatives to walled gardens. The market is demanding it. SPO isn’t a nice-to-have anymore; it’s table stakes.
3. Programmatic Evolution: Agentic AI
Beyond transparency and supply chain reforms, 2025 marked a turning point for the technology powering programmatic transactions themselves.
3.1 Agentic AI: Autonomous Systems Transform Trading
AI didn’t stop at content and search. It hit programmatic advertising hard in 2025. Agentic technologies, autonomous AI systems that plan, execute, and verify complex tasks, went from concept to production.
The IAB Tech Lab released the Agentic RTB Framework (ARTF) v1.0, the clearest example of where this is headed. ARTF slashes response times in Real-Time Bidding by letting AI agents operate in shared virtual environments. The result: faster automation, better execution, and smarter programmatic trading at scale.
Agentic systems promise more adaptive, targeted campaigns with real-time optimization. But here’s the catch: automation must serve transparency, not kill it. These systems can’t become black boxes. Opacity kills trust. Agentic AI needs transparency by design.
Looking Ahead to 2026
2025 forced hard truths about transparency, quality, and publisher value on the ad tech industry. The transformation has only just begun.
In 2026, we’ll focus on four key areas.
First, helping publishers win in the AI era. GEO optimization becomes essential. Through our video solutions and partnerships, we’ll help structure content so AI platforms understand, reference, and credit it.
Second, pushing for transparent pricing. We’ll challenge opaque practices. The market needs fixed, predictable pricing. We’ll work with brands, agencies, and DSPs who want the same.
Third, defending quality standards. As low-quality content floods the market, we’ll maintain strict inventory standards. Discovery-oriented environments where users genuinely engage remain irreplaceable for brand building. The browsing mindset creates receptivity to brand messages that intentional, answer-seeking behavior cannot replicate. No shortcuts.
Fourth, ensuring publishers maintain control over their inventory, revenue, and relationships. Through direct publisher relationships and transparent monetization, we’ll help them get there as markets rebalance.
A vibrant open internet is the cornerstone of digital advertising. We’re committed to building it. We choose the long-term approach, always.
