Want Quality Outcomes? The Open Web Delivers

AI Search Reduces Open Web Impressions, But Increases Attentional Value

AI is changing search and reducing editorial traffic.

This is not the first time publishers have contended with large platforms changing traffic patterns. Feature and algorithm updates on search and social media platforms have dramatically shifted publisher impressions several times in the past. And each time, good quality content proves its value to advertisers.

Traffic alone is a vanity metric. What matters is whether an impression translates into business outcomes. AI is removing accidental clicks to lower-value content, while valuable audiences remain. As a result, the Open Web is becoming more intentional, more measurable, and filled with audiences that engage more deeply and consistently. That shift makes premium environments paired with strong creative more important, not less.

Intentional Attention Is Rising

Today, roughly 60% of searches end without a click, and AI-generated summaries further suppress click-through rates. However, these changes disproportionately impact SEO-dependent and MFA sites that rely on incidental discovery or pay-to-play. Premium publishers with loyal, direct audiences continue to attract users who intentionally choose to engage, even as search referrals decline.

The result is an open web defined by fewer but more intentional moments of attention. When users actively choose content, each impression becomes more valuable - and performance depends on formats that can convert attention into outcomes.

This shift matters because intentional attention is easier to measure, optimize, and convert into business outcomes and this is where Kargo differentiates. We see this shift show up directly in performance, including 75%+ viewability across premium web environments, well above standard display benchmarks.

Kargo’s high-impact formats deliver meaningful lifts versus display norms, according to Adelaide attention benchmarks:

• 5% attention lift vs. industry benchmarks
• 38% higher lift in consideration vs. industry benchmarks
• 30% higher CTRs vs. industry benchmarks

(Sources: Digital Bloom, Digital Content Next)

Open Web Delivers Incremental, Loyal Audiences

Desktop and mobile web give brands a number of unique benefits. They can reach audiences that are not fully covered by CTV or social media, deliver high-impact interactive advertising experiences, and get unique contextual relevance.

Editorial audiences in particular reflect habitual, intentional behavior. These users actively choose trusted destinations and return consistently, which makes open-web impressions both incremental and high quality, not passive or incidental.

The Open Web provides a unique value-add for multichannel advertising where unique reach is only as good as the outcomes it delivers.

Work with Kargo and:

• Reach 220M unique monthly users on the open web in the U.S., spanning desktop and mobile, representing net-new audience beyond CTV and social.
• Combine with 107M unique CTV households, enabling true cross-screen planning and deduplicated reach
• Use Cohort Intelligence to leverage contextual and behavioral signals across premium editorial environments to identify and reach high-intent audiences in moments that matter.

The result is an audience that advertisers would not fully reach through CTV or social alone, that shows up in moments of intent, making the open web a critical source of incremental reach and sustained engagement.

(Sources: Nielsen ONE, Google Cross-Media Reach)

Premium Environments Matter More

As AI reduces passive exposure and compresses scale, each impression carries more value - which means advertisers should expect higher outcomes and should have less tolerance for waste and risk.

Put simply: when impressions are harder to come by, they need to do more work. This means buyers should expect high-quality inventory, not opaque junk.

Kargo is built to deliver quality:

• 100% MFA-free inventory, verified by Jounce Media and AdExchanger, ensuring ads never appear in arbitrage or low-quality environments
• Direct integrations with 500+ premium publisher partners, including NBC, CBS, HuffPost, Variety, NewsCorp, Rolling Stone, CNN, Complex, The Weather Channel, and more
• <0.3% invalid traffic, far below industry benchmarks (~3%), and 0% potentially false information (PFI)

As impressions become more valuable, buyers want certainty — not assumptions. Kargo delivers that certainty through premium-only supply, direct publisher relationships, and independent validation, so brands know exactly where their ads run and why it matters.

Creative Is the Performance Multiplier

In an increasingly intentional web, creative quality is a critical performance driver.

When attention is chosen - not assumed - the formats that win are the ones that actively earn it. This shifts performance away from sheer volume and toward creative that captures, holds, and converts attention.

Kargo’s Creative Science® approach maximizes Open Web value:

• With Kargo Spotlight, which uses advanced algorithms to analyze user behavior and engagement on a website in real time to create ad slots at optimal moments, advertisers see 5x lift in product awareness.

Kargo’s creative-led formats are designed to earn attention in premium environments - which is why they consistently outperform standard units on both brand and performance metrics.

(Sources: IAB, Kargo Performance Benchmarks)

The Open Web is shifting toward intentional attention, incremental audiences, premium environments, and creative that earns engagement - exactly how Kargo delivers outcomes for advertisers.