For decades, media companies have distributed content on the open web to inform and entertain audiences, build communities and earn ad revenue. Open web equaled open access, and advertisers and third-party measurement companies could easily access this content and analyze audience data.
AI is changing this dynamic. AI-powered search and agents are becoming intermediaries between media companies and audiences. Human traffic from the open web is declining, while traffic from AI crawlers is growing more than 300% year-over-year.
In response to this shift, media companies are making fundamental changes to the way they distribute and manage content by creating separate web pages for human and AI audiences, limiting access to AI crawlers and placing more content behind paywalls. These limitations are increasing advertisers’ need for transparency into audience quality, engagement and performance.
Here are some ways media companies can strengthen audience value, protect first party data in an AI-driven environment, and provide advertisers with greater transparency.
Build audience relationships across channels
Success in digital media has often been measured by pageviews, unique visitors and referral traffic. While those metrics remain important, they only tell part of the story.
Today audiences engage with media across websites, newsletters, podcasts, social platforms, events, apps and other channels. Each channel produces its own unique first-party data, which provides an opportunity for publishers to deepen audience engagement and offer greater value to advertisers. In fact, total aggregated reach reporting of audience is encouraged.
INMA recently highlighted several examples of how media companies leverage cross-channel audience development strategies. Texas Monthly used insights from newsletter subscribers and website engagement to launch a multichannel campaign around its popular true crime content. Wired deepened its audience connections by offering subscribers exclusive content including livestream Q&As with editors and specialized newsletters.
By sharpening focus on these owned platforms, publishers can develop a deeper understanding of audiences across all channels to further strengthen audience relationships and value.
Take greater control of your content and data
Until recently, content and audience signals on the open web were widely available to search engines, measurement providers and other third parties. As AI platforms rely more on publisher content to generate responses, publishers are becoming more selective about which organizations can access and use those assets.
Some media companies are taking steps to protect their content and data by placing more content behind walls, paid or not, creating separate experiences for AI crawlers and agents and placing bots that offer value on allow lists while denying many others. This reflects a broader shift in how media companies view their content, audiences and first-party data. These are no longer freely available resources, but are strategic assets that should be protected, managed and monetized.
Greater control of open web increases the value of these assets through scarcity of access that other media channels have enjoyed. Proving the value of direct audience relationships and first-party data becomes an important differentiator in a competitive media environment.
Develop a transparent, trusted data source of truth
As publishers place stricter controls around content and audience data while limiting scraping, including third-party content verification and measurement solutions, advertisers still need visibility into audience quality, engagement and media performance. They want to understand who they are reaching, how audiences engage across channels and whether reported metrics can be trusted.
The demand for cross-channel transparency is growing. IAB’s 2026 Outlook Study found that 72% of buyers plan to increase their focus on cross-platform measurement, up from 64% in 2025, reflecting growing demand for understanding audience engagement across channels and media environments.
Independent, third-party verification helps establish a trusted source of truth by validating cross-channel audience data at its source. Rather than relying solely on signals available on the open web, advertisers gain confidence that data is being measured, reported and governed consistently across channels behind their walls.
This transparency benefits both publishers and advertisers. Publishers can demonstrate the quality and value of their audiences while protecting their intellectual property, and advertisers gain confidence in the data used to inform media investments.
As AI reshapes content discovery and audience engagement, media companies that build direct audience relationships, maintain control over their data and provide trusted, verified metrics will be best positioned to demonstrate value to advertisers.