EMARKETER’s Stephanie Paterik: AI Isn’t Cannibalizing Other Ad Channels
Internet content has felt infinite for the past two decades. Still, when generative artificial intelligence arrived nearly four years ago, that sense of infinity felt like it doubled or even tripled.
For Stephanie Paterik, VP of Insights at EMARKETER, that content explosion isn’t the threat it appears to be. But it is reshaping what actually works in digital advertising.
“We’ve hit the point where you are more likely to find something that was created by a machine online than you are to find something created by a human. There is so much AI slop. The zone has very much been flooded,” Paterik told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan. “But I actually think this can be an advantage for traditional publishers and content teams who lean into what makes them unique.”
Paterik’s comments come ahead of EMARKETER’s Future of Digital event on September 15th in New York. That’s where the company will share its 2027 digital marketing outlook with a major focus on AI visibility along with sessions exploring how brands show up in AI-driven environments.
AI is additive, not disruptive
One seemingly counterintuitive finding in EMARKETER’s recent research is that AI is not pulling time or money away from established channels. Consumers are spending an average of 16 minutes a day on AI platforms, according to EMARKETER. That still leaves plenty of attention for streaming, social, and retail media, which continue growing alongside AI, Paterik noted.
“AI is not cannibalizing or replacing other channels. It’s additive. It’s actually lengthening the amount of time we are spending online,” Paterik said. “The holistic strategies that our industry has been working toward in recent years continue — and this is a way to get smarter.”
Competitive advantage
As SEO farms fold under the weight of AI-generated content, publishers and branded content teams that lean into human perspective, original reporting, and distinctive voices are finding themselves in a stronger competitive position.
“The human perspective suddenly becomes much more valuable in this world because it undeniably stands out and it’s really hard to replicate,” Paterik said.
Intelligence defines the next era
The fourth industrial revolution, in Paterik’s framing, is the intelligence age. And it rewards brand builders over system gamers.
“It’s going to become harder to game the system. It’s not just about owning certain keywords or flooding the zone to gain traffic. AI and people together have this incredible ability to synthesize all of the information that’s out there about your brand across so many touch points,” Paterik said. “The marketers and the companies that are going to succeed are those who really dig in deep to their core values, to what we know builds trust with consumers, while also leaning into the opportunity of new tech. The future is going to be about really bringing those both together in the most symbiotic way we’ve ever seen.”
Internet content has felt infinite for the past two decades. Still, when generative artificial intelligence arrived nearly four years ago, that sense of infinity felt like it doubled or even tripled.
For Stephanie Paterik, VP of Insights at EMARKETER, that content explosion isn’t the threat it appears to be. But it is reshaping what actually works in digital advertising.
“We’ve hit the point where you are more likely to find something that was created by a machine online than you are to find something created by a human. There is so much AI slop. The zone has very much been flooded,” Paterik told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan. “But I actually think this can be an advantage for traditional publishers and content teams who lean into what makes them unique.”
Paterik’s comments come ahead of EMARKETER’s Future of Digital event on September 15th in New York. That’s where the company will share its 2027 digital marketing outlook with a major focus on AI visibility along with sessions exploring how brands show up in AI-driven environments.
AI is additive, not disruptive
One seemingly counterintuitive finding in EMARKETER’s recent research is that AI is not pulling time or money away from established channels. Consumers are spending an average of 16 minutes a day on AI platforms, according to EMARKETER. That still leaves plenty of attention for streaming, social, and retail media, which continue growing alongside AI, Paterik noted.
“AI is not cannibalizing or replacing other channels. It’s additive. It’s actually lengthening the amount of time we are spending online,” Paterik said. “The holistic strategies that our industry has been working toward in recent years continue — and this is a way to get smarter.”
Competitive advantage
As SEO farms fold under the weight of AI-generated content, publishers and branded content teams that lean into human perspective, original reporting, and distinctive voices are finding themselves in a stronger competitive position.
“The human perspective suddenly becomes much more valuable in this world because it undeniably stands out and it’s really hard to replicate,” Paterik said.
Intelligence defines the next era
The fourth industrial revolution, in Paterik’s framing, is the intelligence age. And it rewards brand builders over system gamers.
“It’s going to become harder to game the system. It’s not just about owning certain keywords or flooding the zone to gain traffic. AI and people together have this incredible ability to synthesize all of the information that’s out there about your brand across so many touch points,” Paterik said. “The marketers and the companies that are going to succeed are those who really dig in deep to their core values, to what we know builds trust with consumers, while also leaning into the opportunity of new tech. The future is going to be about really bringing those both together in the most symbiotic way we’ve ever seen.”
