Opinion: Digital advertising in 2025? Time to change course
We need to talk about it. Digital advertising in 2025 feels more and more like a pyramid scheme. Not because advertisers have bad intentions, but because the whole system has been built on the wrong foundations for years: clicks, views and volume. And we are paying the price for that today.
How it all started: attention as currency
Internet advertising began with a simple logic: whoever attracts attention can sell. But what once started with banners on the side of news websites has now degenerated into an intrusive cocktail of pop-ups, pre-rolls, cookies, trackers and content written solely to please the algorithms.
Look at the average B2B company today and you’ll see banner ads that no one clicks on, white papers that no one skims through, and sponsored content so generic it could have been written by an AI copywriter from 2019. Meanwhile, users are bombarded with messages but rarely feel engaged.
The Real Problem? Laziness Disguised as Strategy
Digital advertising has become lazy. The model rewards superficiality. A page view? Good, there’s your CPM. Whether someone read the piece or even stayed for a second doesn’t matter. Let alone whether it had any impact.
The result: a landscape full of digital noise. And users who are 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’re “ruining” their journalism, they’re just showing how dependent they’ve 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.
So what? Building ownership, trust and relevance
The way forward is not easy, but it is clear. If you want to survive as a brand, you need to treat content as a product, not a marketing gimmick.
Create content that helps your audience, not disrupts them. Clear formats, segmentation by persona, valuable insights, no bullshit.
Don't optimize for views, optimize for interaction. Scroll depth, time on page, returning visitors: those numbers say something about relevance.
Use retargeting sparingly and respectfully. If someone showed interest, give them a reason to come back. No spam.
Make your UX frictionless. Users don’t want the clutter of banners, sidebars, trackers, and autoplay videos. They want speed, clarity, simplicity.
Invest in owned assets. Think of 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. Anyone who continues to pump budget into generic banners and display ads without a strategy is burning more than just money: you are eroding your brand trust.
The future belongs to brands that dare to think long-term. That focus on authority, relevance and empathy. That understand that trust is the new reach. And that the only metric that counts is: will you come back?
So let's stop buying attention and start earning attention.
If you want to build sustainable marketing results that actually work as an SME, then it is time for a different approach. ClickForest we are happy to help you leave that old model behind.
Frequently Asked Questions About Digital Advertising 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 results in content that serves algorithms but provides no value.
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The current system is oversaturated, slow, impersonal and often disruptive. Many ads are blocked, ignored or experienced as annoying. Result? Lack of trust and conversion.
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No. They are a response to bad user experiences. They force marketers to come up with better, less intrusive strategies that users actually value.
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Scroll depth, time on page, returning visitors, conversion rates, and engagement (such as shares or comments) are better indicators of real impact.
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Because they are rarely relevant, are visually ignored and often detract from the brand experience, creating 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 group.
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Not if you do it 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 group, timing and value. Just like you would with a software tool or service. Content must be usable, findable and sustainable.
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Yes, as long as it is done in a respectful way. No spam or obsessive repetition, but relevant follow-up based on real interest or behavior.
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Audit your current ads. Invest in UX. Focus on your own 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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