How to read trend reports critically
The digital marketing industry produces trend reports prolifically: quarterly forecasts, annual predictions, real-time commentary on every algorithm update and platform announcement. Most of these reports describe what is changing in the tools and platforms available to marketers rather than what is changing in the underlying effectiveness of marketing approaches. The distinction matters: a new ad format on a major platform is a tactical development worth knowing about; a structural shift in how audiences make purchasing decisions is a strategic development worth acting on.
The trends described here are drawn from active campaign management across the Berlitz markets we run, with performance data across paid search, paid social, organic search, email, and content programmes. They represent changes that are demonstrably affecting marketing economics in the programmes we manage, rather than predictions about what might matter or commentary on what the platforms are promoting.
AI in search is restructuring information discovery
Google’s AI Overviews, the AI-generated answer summaries that now appear above organic results for an expanding proportion of queries, are producing a measurable structural shift in organic search traffic patterns. Informational queries that previously generated substantial organic traffic to "best answer" content are increasingly being resolved within the SERP through AI Overviews, with click-through to source pages declining. The content categories most affected are those where the AI Overview can give a complete answer: definitions, how-to guides, list-based content.
Which content AI Overviews take, and which they cannot
Definitions, how-to guides and list posts. Anywhere the overview can give a complete answer, the click to the source stops happening.
Content the overview cannot complete on its own. As informational traffic declines, this is the share that grows.
The content categories least affected, and increasingly advantaged relative to the declining informational traffic, are those where the AI Overview cannot give a satisfying complete answer: content with genuine first-hand expertise and original data, content that makes specific commercial claims requiring verification, content that addresses highly specific or context-dependent questions, and content from brands that have established sufficient entity authority that they are cited within AI Overviews rather than displaced by them. The strategic response is to keep producing informational content and raise the expertise and originality bar significantly.
First-party data is becoming a competitive advantage
Chrome never finished removing third-party cookies. After several delays, Google dropped the plan: in April 2025 it said Chrome would keep offering third-party cookies and would not add a separate prompt (Google Privacy Sandbox, April 2025), and in October 2025 it retired most Privacy Sandbox technologies (Google Privacy Sandbox, October 2025). Third-party audience data is still less dependable than it once was: users can block these cookies in Chrome’s settings, and consent rules limit what can be collected. Programmes that have invested in first-party data collection, consent management, and CRM integration are experiencing competitive advantage that was not as visible when third-party data was universally available.
What actually happened with third-party cookies
The practical implication is an urgent case for first-party data infrastructure investment: lead capture programmes that build owned email and phone lists, CRM integration that makes purchase and engagement history available for advertising targeting (through platforms' first-party data matching capabilities), and consent management that maximises the proportion of the audience that can be reached through first-party data-enabled programmes.
The programmes ahead are the ones that built first-party data, consent management and CRM integration before they had to.
Short-form video is the dominant discovery format for consumer audiences
TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts have collectively changed how consumer audiences discover brands, with measurable effects on how purchases begin. This section goes beyond our own campaign data. In consumer categories such as fashion, food, lifestyle, consumer electronics and personal finance, a growing share of brand discovery appears to start in short-form video rather than in search. The strategic implication is that brands in these categories that are not producing platform-native short-form video content are invisible in a growing share of brand discovery.
The production barrier to short-form video has also changed. Platform-native content (authentic, low-production-value video that demonstrates genuine expertise or behind-the-scenes brand behaviour) consistently outperforms high-production brand content in organic reach on TikTok and Reels. This is an opportunity for brands that can generate consistent authentic content, and a challenge for brands whose content production processes are designed for high-production campaigns on long timelines.
Speak to the team about how these trends are affecting your sector and marketing programme.
