Ad Tech Is Optimizing for People -- But Who's Actually Seeing the Ads?

• by Shirley Marschall , Featured Contributor, 2025

Ad tech has one obsession: personalization. More curation, more identity solutions, more signals, more AI-powered everything (creative, targeting, content).

All to deliver better ads to people.

But who’s actually seeing them?

AI as the Consumer: The Digital Shift

A recent MIT Technology Reviewarticle highlighted a seismic shift in commerce and advertising: AI itself is becoming the consumer.

• Consumers are delegating tasks to AI: shopping, research, and decision-making.
• AI filters content before humans even see it, deciding what’s relevant and what gets ignored.
• AI-powered assistants are becoming the first point of engagement with brands.

If AI is the new gatekeeper -- searching, filtering, and deciding what’s relevant before a human ever sees it -- who is digital advertising actually influencing?

And if AI is the next big consumer online, where does that leave human customers?

The Human-AI Divide: Two Customers, Two Strategies

For years, digital advertising has dominated media spend, taking budgets away from traditional channels like linear TV, print, and out-of-home (OOH).

The assumption was simple: people spend more time online, so brands should follow.

But AI is reshaping this assumption. If AI agents handle more digital interactions, browsing websites, making recommendations, and even completing purchases, then brands might no longer market to humans in the digital space.

Brands will need to adopt a dual-strategy approach:

1. AI-first advertising: optimizing for machine-driven interactions, ensuring brand messaging is discoverable, aligned with AI-driven algorithms, and favored by autonomous agents.

2. Human-first advertising: reshaping strategies to reach actual human audiences outside the AI-intermediated web, leveraging offline experiences, emotional storytelling, and environments where real people, not AI, make decisions.

The Great Rebalancing: Finding Humans Again

This is not about “going back” to traditional advertising or rejecting digital advertising. It’s about recognizing that AI is reshaping the digital audience.

It’s about adapting to a world where AI and human customers coexist, to rethink where and how brands engage with real people.

We’ve seen this trend before. As digital media expanded, traditional media shrank. But today, we’re at another shift: AI is consuming more digital content, meaning human-focused advertising must find human-first touchpoints.

That’s where channels like CTV, digital out-of-home (DOOH), programmatic audio and in-store retail media are more important than ever.

DOOH and programmatic audio don’t rely on cookies, tracking, or digital identifiers, just real humans engaging with real-world content. In physical spaces and screenless environments.

CTV, live experiences, brand activations, and community-driven marketing tap into emotional storytelling, something AI isn’t set up to experience.

Retail and commerce-based advertising can still reach people where decisions are being made by humans, not just algorithms.

This Is Not a Return to the Past -- It’s a New Dual Future

This is not about nostalgia. Linear TV isn’t making a comeback, and print isn’t the next big thing. But the rise of AI-driven consumers isn’t speculation. It’s happening.

AI might research and recommend. AI might automate purchasing. But humans still hold the emotions, experiences, and decision-making power that brands ultimately rely on.

The brands that win won’t be the ones blindly chasing AI optimization. They will be the ones mastering the art of reaching both AI and human consumers—without losing sight of the people who actually buy.

Because an AI may watch an ad -- but only a human can be moved by it.

Tariffs Are Coming - Is TV's Upfront Heading South?

Tariffs Are Coming - Is TV's Upfront Heading South?by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 31, 2025 The stock market -- and advertising markets -- are officially in scare mode. Inflation is now tipping higher, with the expected tariffs in the driver’s seat ready to cause inflation acceleration. Guess what that might mean for the TV advertising upfront market, which is set to start in a several weeks? (Do we need to spell it out for you?) Putting aside daily changes from the missives of President Trump, right now automakers should be getting hit with around a 25% tariff on imports of full cars, as well as parts starting April 2. Prices are estimated to climb around 10% to 15%, depending on whether those tariffs last for any length of time -- not counting in slight monthly adjustments or other permutations. From all of this, one can imagine that the TV upfront ad market set to start in a few months will be an interesting and perhaps volatile affair -- especially with one of the leading TV advertising categories in dramatic flux. Hard-pressed U.S. automakers already experienced some major challenges coming out of the pandemic -- resulting in a drop in TV advertising spend. Could that occur again as some car-makers look to pull back? National TV ad spend was estimated to be down 5% to $1.4 billion in 2024, according to iSpot.tv. Couple this with potential disruption from possible legal cutbacks to specific pharmaceutical advertising on TV/CTV networks and platforms. An estimated $4 billion was spent on national and local TV, according to iSpot.tv. Currently TV Watch media-buying sources say the second-quarter scatter market -- traditionally a benchmark for how things go in the upfront market -- is particularly weak at the moment. That means somewhat flat -- if not declining -- pricing. One bright spot is that 2026 has a heavier-than-usual schedule of live sports content: A Winter Olympics, a FIFA World Cup to build viewership for the usual high-viewer live sports programming from the NFL, the NBA and other live content. Add in another potential record political advertising season -- for midterm U.S congressional elections -- and media sellers see some hopes of making some growth progress. Right now? It may seem that in the near term, the steadily moving TV ad market is running out of road -- with tariffs gaining in the rear-view mirror.

Advertisers look for flexibility as they parse how Trump’s new tariffs will affect their businesses

Media Advertisers look for flexibility as they parse how Trump’s new tariffs will affect their businesses Published Wed, Apr 2 20252:52 PM EDTUpdated Wed, Apr 2 20257:00 PM EDT thumbnail Lillian Rizzo @Lilliannnn Key Points Advertisers are seeking more flexible terms as they try to parse how President Donald Trump’s new tariffs will affect their businesses. Companies often pull back on advertising and marketing spending during periods of economic uncertainty. The tariffs on imported goods into the U.S. come weeks before media companies plan to court advertisers during their annual Upfront presentations. Big brands that have in some cases sat out for years the TV advertising frenzy around the biggest US sporting event -- the Super Bowl -- are returning Sunday and spending big amid record ad prices. It's been a bumpy couple years marked by pandemic-era res Big brands that have in some cases sat out for years the TV advertising frenzy around the biggest US sporting event -- the Super Bowl -- are returning Sunday and spending big amid record ad prices. It’s been a bumpy couple years marked by pandemic-era restraint and political polarization, but the American football championship offers an increasingly unequalled viewership too big to pass up. Olivier Douliery | AFP | Getty Images Brands and advertisers are seeking flexible terms as they face uncertainty about how President Donald Trump’s new tariffs will affect their businesses. The push for more lenient agreements, in which companies could pivot budgets quickly or shift their focus to different types of marketing as they react to the duties, has been the focus of conversations between media companies and advertisers in recent weeks, according to people close to the discussions. President Donald Trump announced he would put minimum 10% tariffs on all imports into the U.S., with far steeper duties on dozens of countries including China and Vietnam. The scarcity of specifics in recent weeks, and sometimes contrasting messages coming from the White House, have fueled conversations about flexibility between chief marketing officers and media executives, the people said. “In this period of uncertainty, we’re seeing a significant shift toward more flexible, performance-based advertising models that allow brands to adjust spending quickly if conditions change,” said Jonathan Gudai, CEO of Adomni, an artificial intelligence-powered programmatic video-everywhere advertising platform. Buying ads programmatically, or through digital platforms, has taken up an increasingly large part of ad spending, and using AI tools are now often part of the process. Unsteadiness in the economy often mean companies pull back on spending for advertising and marketing. The potential hit to the ad market underscores the ripple effect of tariffs on companies that won’t directly contend with heightened costs on products. Tariffs aren’t the only factor causing advertisers to rethink their budgets, said Kate Scott-Dawkins, global president of business intelligence of GroupM, WPP’s media investment group. “We were pretty bullish in our December forecast on [ad spending] growth for the U.S. I think we’ll probably end up curbing that in the June forecast, based on the confluence of impacts,” said Scott-Dawkins. “From the rising inflation plus layoffs and unemployment plus the impact of tariffs. I think it’ll be all those things together that lead to a reduction in our expectations for the year.” GroupM forecast spending in the U.S. ad market to grow 7% in 2025, after totaling $379 billion in ad revenue in 2024, excluding political advertising, according to a recent report. For media companies, the uncertainty also comes soon after they contended with tightened ad budgets during the height of the pandemic. In some regards, advertising has stabilized for many media companies since the pandemic — especially for streaming platforms and those with live sports rights. But traditional TV networks still face lower advertising revenue as consumers shift away from the standard bundle of cable channels, and digital platforms and streaming gobble up a larger share of ad budgets. Some advertising categories such as autos haven’t rebounded, however, and companies are unsure what tariffs will mean for spending, the people said. Conversations with chief marketing officers at automakers have been frequent, they added. Trump has announced 25% tariffs on cars and some auto parts not made in the U.S. The tariffs also come weeks before Upfront presentations, when media companies make their annual pitch to advertisers. “Everything I hear about Upfronts and the state of overall trading in the ad world is that it’s cautious,” said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Integrated Media, which specializes in digital media investments. “There’s much more demands for flexibility, and while it’s not recessionary, there’s a slight holding back...meaning a couple of percentage points of overall growth. Enough that is felt.” Gudai of Adomni added that traditional TV will be one of the areas most vulnerable to ad budget cuts, but brands will also have to broaden their focus when it comes to competing for customers who could face higher prices on goods. “Tariffs potentially create a dual impact — increased costs that may squeeze advertising budgets, but also greater need for targeted advertising as brands compete on factors beyond price,” Gudai said. While media executives are open to offering flexibility, they’ve also been reminding brands that advertising during tough economic times can build brand awareness and help businesses long term, the people said. Some brands are better served not cutting back on ad spending, too, especially if they don’t have brick-and-mortar stores or ways outside of marketing to get in front of potential customers. Scott-Dawkins said for some companies it’s still worth spending on TV ad spots since it’s still considered the most effective way to reach consumers. “When every dollar is under scrutiny, brands have to do more than just sell—they have to connect. Purpose-driven marketing isn’t a ‘nice to have’ anymore; it’s how brands earn trust and build lasting relationships,” said Andre Banks, founder and CEO of NewWorld, a marketing and strategy consultancy. “In uncertain times, consumers gravitate toward companies that stand for something real. Advertisers who recognize this will be the ones who don’t just survive the downturn but come out stronger on the other side.”

 

Live TV Still Making a Mark for Linear

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 8 hours ago

The first quarter is busy and may be the strongest period for linear TV networks: award shows, college football playoffs -- and of course, the Super Bowl.

For some hard-pressed linear TV networks, the good news is that the NFL again helps to keep it viable.

But at the same time, where linear TV shines, streaming continues to rise. One major programming example could be seen as coming from the NFL’s major conference championship games.

The 2025 NFC Championship Game between the Washington Commanders and Philadelphia Eagles -- broadcast on Fox and across various streaming platforms, including Fubo, DirecTV and NFL+ -- averaged 59.8 million viewers, AdImpact says.

This was down from 72.9 million the previous year -- largely because the game was a blowout. (AdImpact’s data comes from a panel of monitored smart TVs sets, totaling 23 million.)

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The key here is that linear viewing accounted for 58% of the total viewership, showing no change from last year, while streaming made up 42%.

Looking at the big live award shows also continue to reveal strength, with linear at a 64.4% share. The “97th Academy Awards” aired on ABC Television Network, Hulu, YouTube/YouTube TV, and Fubo TV, averaging 17.8 million viewers.

“The 67th Grammys” on CBS posted a similar number, with linear comprising 65% of the audience, averaging 18 million viewers.

Another big event was The Trump Presidential inauguration, which averaged 40 million viewers. Linear viewing was at 54% share, with streaming platforms at 29% and YouTube and YouTubeTV at 17%.

Streaming is now a key part of U.S. media consumers' lives. At the same time, streaming is also maturing as a business. That gives linear some room to breathe -- at least for major live TV events. It is just declining at a slower pace than most realize presently.

While cord-cutting is still a major concern, major pay TV providers (Comcast, Charter, and DirecTV) continue to make adjustments by offering steeply discounted “skinny” TV bundles.

That overall persistent linear TV trend is then still important when it comes to the adjustment that brands and advertisers need to adjust to in the coming years.

 Get on over to your Kia client auto dealer to see how you can help boost auto sales and leasing traffic before the tariffs hit! Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D. 

Test Drive: Kia Carnival Is Practical, Whatever You Call It

• by Tanya Gazdik , Staff Writer, Yesterday

When Kia first announced its new Carnival nameplate in 2021, the company was adamant that it was not a minivan. 

Despite the sliding passenger door (which is what largely makes a minivan a minivan), the automaker insists that the vehicle is an MPV, or multi-purpose vehicle. 

At the time, I thought Kia's preoccupation with semantics was amusing, but after having spent several weeks test-driving the 2025 Kia Carnival SX Prestige edition, I’m a new convert to the vehicle, whatever it’s called. 

Never have I ever been a soccer mom, so maybe I just don’t “get” the stigma around the “minivan” designation. I am a dog mom and an animal rescue volunteer, so a vehicle that can comfortably fit a dog crate or two or three is impressive to me, no matter what it’s called. 

With the third row of seats easily tucked away with one hand via a handle on the back of the seat there is cargo space for days. I didn’t haul any dogs around, but I did move a bunch of furniture and boxes and was amazed at how much stuff I could easily fit back there. 

I would have loved it even more if I had been able to remove the second row of seats, but you can't with the 7-seat version that has VIP lounge seats in the second row. Still, there is 86.9 cubic feet of storage behind the second row.  

The attention to interior styling is quite apparent. I am a fan of the brown leather (“tuscan umber”) interior that reminds me of a baseball glove paired with the blue (“astra blue”) exterior. It strikes me as much more durable and practical than the white interiors being used by many other automakers. 

The second row would be a dream for a kid or an adult. The already comfortable bucket seats feature a "VIP" lounge seat reclining option and a huge 14.6 inch screen offering wireless capability and various streaming options for rear passengers. A friend who saw it who has a small child says she would probably never want to leave. 

The gas mileage is lacking but not unreasonable for a large three-row SUV -- um, MPV.  It gets 18 mpg city and 26 mpg highway for a combined 21 mpg. 

I did a lot of driving and I had to fill up the gas tank several times. But gas is fairly reasonably priced in Michigan at the moment, so I didn't wince much.

The biggest downside of the Carnival is its price: $55,255 including destination. And that’s before the upcoming 25% tariff that will be tacked on, since the vehicle is built in Korea. That’s an additional $13,814 additional dollars. Ouch. Time will tell how automakers are going to compensate for these huge increases and the likely decline in sales. 

 

Commentary

Ad Tech Is Optimizing for People -- But Who's Actually Seeing the Ads?

• by Shirley Marschall , Featured Contributor, March 27, 2025

Ad tech has one obsession: personalization. More curation, more identity solutions, more signals, more AI-powered everything (creative, targeting, content).

All to deliver better ads to people.

But who’s actually seeing them?

AI as the Consumer: The Digital Shift

A recent MIT Technology Reviewarticle highlighted a seismic shift in commerce and advertising: AI itself is becoming the consumer.

• Consumers are delegating tasks to AI: shopping, research, and decision-making.
• AI filters content before humans even see it, deciding what’s relevant and what gets ignored.
• AI-powered assistants are becoming the first point of engagement with brands.

If AI is the new gatekeeper -- searching, filtering, and deciding what’s relevant before a human ever sees it -- who is digital advertising actually influencing?

advertisement

advertisement

And if AI is the next big consumer online, where does that leave human customers?

The Human-AI Divide: Two Customers, Two Strategies

For years, digital advertising has dominated media spend, taking budgets away from traditional channels like linear TV, print, and out-of-home (OOH).

The assumption was simple: people spend more time online, so brands should follow.

But AI is reshaping this assumption. If AI agents handle more digital interactions, browsing websites, making recommendations, and even completing purchases, then brands might no longer market to humans in the digital space.

Brands will need to adopt a dual-strategy approach:

1. AI-first advertising: optimizing for machine-driven interactions, ensuring brand messaging is discoverable, aligned with AI-driven algorithms, and favored by autonomous agents.

2. Human-first advertising: reshaping strategies to reach actual human audiences outside the AI-intermediated web, leveraging offline experiences, emotional storytelling, and environments where real people, not AI, make decisions.

The Great Rebalancing: Finding Humans Again

This is not about “going back” to traditional advertising or rejecting digital advertising. It’s about recognizing that AI is reshaping the digital audience.

It’s about adapting to a world where AI and human customers coexist, to rethink where and how brands engage with real people.

We’ve seen this trend before. As digital media expanded, traditional media shrank. But today, we’re at another shift: AI is consuming more digital content, meaning human-focused advertising must find human-first touchpoints.

That’s where channels like CTV, digital out-of-home (DOOH), programmatic audio and in-store retail media are more important than ever.

DOOH and programmatic audio don’t rely on cookies, tracking, or digital identifiers, just real humans engaging with real-world content. In physical spaces and screenless environments.

CTV, live experiences, brand activations, and community-driven marketing tap into emotional storytelling, something AI isn’t set up to experience.

Retail and commerce-based advertising can still reach people where decisions are being made by humans, not just algorithms.

This Is Not a Return to the Past -- It’s a New Dual Future

This is not about nostalgia. Linear TV isn’t making a comeback, and print isn’t the next big thing. But the rise of AI-driven consumers isn’t speculation. It’s happening.

AI might research and recommend. AI might automate purchasing. But humans still hold the emotions, experiences, and decision-making power that brands ultimately rely on.

The brands that win won’t be the ones blindly chasing AI optimization. They will be the ones mastering the art of reaching both AI and human consumers—without losing sight of the people who actually buy.

Because an AI may watch an ad -- but only a human can be moved by it.

Self-Sufficient Selling

Good article which relates to management help in the field as well as the office: Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D

                           SMM

Sales and Marketing Management

 Self-Sufficient Selling

5 Tactics to Avoid Being Held Hostage by External Support

Oscar Collins

March 26, 2025

 

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Having to wholly rely on third-party assistance for the products and services you’re marketing seldom creates a good impression with customers. Your company’s capacity for self-sufficiency in dealing with client queries or problems displays your business acumen by demonstrating knowledge and saving people time. In turn, they’re more likely to promote your enterprise to others – growing your brand and building its reputation.

How can you maneuver into a position where your business is self-sufficient in its selling practices? With a little foresight, you can avoid being held hostage by external support structures that delay the resolution of outstanding issues.

1. Choose Team Leaders Wisely

While you are in the position to provide insight and guidance to your sales teams, you must avoid spreading your expertise too widely by encouraging your best performers to assume autonomous leadership roles within specific teams. While performance is an excellent guideline, your prospective leaders should communicate well, be able to make decisions, and be empathetic and emotionally intelligent. They should possess the drive and vision that align with your organization’s goals.

Delegating responsibilities to your leaders allows them to focus on their immediate sales forces and frees you up to resolve potential problems they make you aware of. Their ability to motivate through their methods and actions provides visible examples for other team members, inspiring them further.

2. Assign Appropriate Teams to Leaders

Choosing the best sales teams to work under a leader’s guidance is essential to getting the best out of them. Salespeople are not robotic, with each having characteristics and selling styles – from the way they dress to the language they use – that set them apart from others. By identifying which leaders and members of your sales force best suit specific accounts or clients, you can build and grow teams that best represent your organization in targeted environments.

Varying personalities will acclimatize quicker to working environments if teamed with others who possess traits that gel with them. For example, if you have a team leader who is dogmatic and confident when chasing a sale, it may be best to pair them with members who are great openers but may be slow on following up leads. In this way, the leader will ensure prompt follow-ups. Your responsibility is to find the most well-matched units to provide autonomy and harmony within your sales force.

3. Provide Training and Education Above the Essentials

With expert teams in place, you know your products and services will gain traction in the marketplace. A proper focus on essential soft skills like communication, decision-making, teamwork, influence and time management will encourage your sales teams to be more self-sufficient in their selling practices. Being adept at problem-solving shows structured thinking with logic-based reasoning, which are major assets in sales.

Alongside this soft skill education, introduce additional product and service training that will minimize the need for external support. Provide relevant documentation to fall back on, such as answers to product and service FAQs that provide enhanced understanding. This will enable your teams to answer queries and solve problems armed with information that encourages confidence and autonomy.

Give this additional education and training to your leaders first, offering incentives based on how successfully they present them to their teams. They will acknowledge your efforts with an even more concerted focus on growing their group’s performance. Due to their leadership positions, qualities and the respect they command, they will be in the position to host this training for their workers.

4. Assess Sales Staff Performances

You will rely on sales figures and feedback from team leaders to assess your sales staff’s comparative performances. There will be times when someone finds their role challenging, either through a lack of productivity, aptitude or professional achievement — often, you will find a combination of all three.

If an underperforming salesperson approaches you early on, you can make a call to provide additional assistance via additional training or a refresher course. Generally, you will find that, although weaker performers realize their underachievement, they carry on regardless until you take action against them. Your team leader will likely bring their consistent underperformance to your attention. At this point, termination is usually the only option you have. A weak link can destabilize an entire chain.

5. Encourage Innovation and Experimentation

Encourage your sales team leaders to innovate and experiment within the boundaries of your company’s mandate. Talented people should be free to introduce innovative approaches that benefit their employees’ daily processes and development. Of course, you should authorize the implementation of such approaches beforehand, but your support of noteworthy suggestions encourages a proactive and self-sufficient landscape among your leaders that filters down to their teams.

Supporting your teams with the necessary tools to implement these approaches cements your encouragement of sales force autonomy. Perhaps a leader asks to set up a direct line of communication with a specific supplier representative for quicker answers to involved and urgent client queries. Support the initiative by arranging the same with the supplier. Obviously, it’s your prerogative how much experimentation and innovation you allow, but avoid disregarding an opportunity for success point blank unless you immediately identify why the approach will fail.

Increasing Team Autonomy Reduces External Support Needs

Clearly, there will be times when specific problems or issues require the expert feedback that external support provides. By educating and training an optimal sales force, including suitable goal-oriented team leaders who possess exceptional problem-solving skills, you will reduce your company’s need for outside help.

Doing so will improve your sales levels and after-sales assistance through quicker and more efficient product and service knowledge.