Opinion: digital ads in 2025? Time to change course
We need to talk about it. Digital ads anno 2025 feel more and more like a pyramid scheme. Not because advertisers have evil intentions, but because the whole system was built for years on the wrong foundations: clicks, views and volume. And we are paying the price for that today.
How it once began: attention as currency
Advertising on the Internet began with a simple logic: whoever attracts attention can sell. But what once began with banners on the side of news websites has since degenerated into an intrusive cocktail of pop-ups, pre-rolls, cookies, trackers and content written just to please the algorithms.
Do you look at the average B2B company today? Then you see banners that no one clicks on, white papers that no one scrolls through, and sponsored content that is so generic it might as well have come from a 2019 AI copywriter. Meanwhile, users are inundated with messages but rarely feel engaged.
The real problem? Laziness disguised as strategy
Digital advertising has become lazy. The model rewards superficiality. A pageview? Good, there's your CPM. Whether someone read the piece or stayed for even a second doesn't matter. Let alone whether it had any impact.
The result: a landscape full of digital noise. And users getting better and better at ignoring that noise. Adblockers, cookie banners, skip buttons ... These are not random trends, they are self-defense mechanisms against a polluted ecosystem.
The reader is not the problem. We are.
When websites beg you to turn off your adblocker because you are "destroying" their journalism, they are mostly showing how dependent they have become on a model that no longer works. The truth is: people don't hate ads. They hate irrelevant, intrusive, slow-loading ads that add nothing.
So the problem is not the user, but the fact that we have started creating content for algorithms instead of people. We build sites for robots and measure success with numbers that say nothing about real impact.
What then? Building ownership, trust and relevance
The way forward is not easy, but it is clear. Anyone who wants to continue to exist as a brand must treat content as a product, not a marketing ploy.
Create content that helps your target audience, not disrupts them. Clear formats, segmentation by persona, valuable insights, no bullshit.
Optimize not for views but for interaction. Scroll depth, time on page, returning visitors: those numbers say something about relevance.
Use retargeting with moderation and respect. If someone showed interest, give them a reason to return. No spam.
Make sure your UX is frictionless. Users don't want a jumble of banners, sidebars, trackers and autoplay videos. They want speed, clarity, simplicity.
Invest in owned assets. Think valuable evergreen content, a strong newsletter, templates, tools, podcasts or gated hubs. Build an ecosystem where people return voluntarily.
Advertising is not dead, but it needs to be reinvented
The shift we are experiencing now is painful but necessary. Those who continue to pump budget today into generic banners and display ads without a strategy are burning more than just money: you are eroding your brand trust.
The future belongs to brands that dare to choose long-term thinking. Who bet on authority, relevance and empathy. Who understand that trust is the new reach. And that the only metric that matters is: will you come back?
So let's stop buying attention and start earning attention.
As an SME, do you want to build sustainable marketing results that do work? Then it is time for a different approach. At ClickForest , we would love to help you leave that old model behind.
Frequently asked questions about digital ads in 2025
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Because the model relies too much on superficial metrics like pageviews and impressions, rather than real impact or relevance to the user. This creates content that serves algorithms, but provides no value.
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The current system is oversaturated, slow, impersonal and often distracting. Many ads are blocked, ignored or considered irritating. Result? Lack of trust as well as conversion.
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No. They are a reaction to bad user experiences. They force marketers to come up with better, less intrusive strategies that do get appreciated by users.
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Scroll depth, time on page, returning visitors, conversion rates and engagement (such as shares or comments) are better indicators of true impact.
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Because they are rarely relevant, visually ignored and often detract from the brand experience. They create noise instead of value.
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By focusing on ownership (such as newsletters, tools, guides), thought leadership and empathetic content that starts from the needs of their target audience.
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Not if done right. Semantic SEO, structured data and content clusters that answer real questions are essential to staying visible and relevant - without falling into clickbait.
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You think about the form, distribution, target audience, timing ánd value. Just as you would with a software tool or service. Content must be usable, findable and sustainable.
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Yes, provided it is done in a respectful way. No spam or obsessive repetition, but relevant follow-up based on genuine interest or behavior.
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Audit your current ads. Invest in UX. Commit to proprietary platforms. Create educational or useful content per persona. And think long-term: building trust takes longer, but pays off much better.
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