MNTN’s Matt Collins: Zero-Click AI Searches are Forcing Performance Marketers to Rethink Everything
NEW YORK — Performance marketing has operated on a simple premise for 25 years. A search leads to a click, a click leads to a website, and a website leads to a conversion. AI overviews are breaking that chain.
“Eighty-three percent of searches that are directed to AI overviews result in zero clicks,” Matt Collins, vp of product marketing at MNTN, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at EMARKETER’s Future of Digital event in New York. “What happens when AI captures that next step and doesn’t send them anywhere else?”
That question is driving a new wave of performance marketers toward connected TV, where MNTN has been building the case for video as a measurable performance channel rather than a branding luxury.
CTV entry costs have fallen
The historical barrier to television advertising was financial. Broadcast and cable required six-figure commitments just to generate a meaningful signal. Connected TV has changed that math entirely.
“For roughly the cost of testing out an all new paid social ad product, you can test connected television advertising and get a meaningful signal back without risking the P&L,” Collins said.
That accessible entry point opens the door to a new wave of direct response advertisers who want search and social’s accountability from a screen that offers television’s scale and attention.
Performance questions first, brand questions follow
Marketers new to CTV arrive asking performance questions. How do I build an audience? How do I measure impact on an unclickable screen shared by multiple viewers? What does creative look like at 65 inches?
What Collins finds is that once those marketers gain confidence in the channel, a different question emerges on its own.
“A lot of those marketers then come to us and say, ‘How do I measure the brand lift of this thing?’ Twenty years ago, that might have been the first question marketers ask. They’re coming to it as a secondary question,” Collins said.
The full-funnel realization follows naturally. Performance investments made today compound into better outcomes one, three, and six months down the line.
TV carries trust that other screens don’t
Collins makes the case for CTV’s trust advantage through three observations. Television content carries the reputations of known actors, directors, and production companies. The medium has spent 85 years as a welcomed guest in living rooms, subsidized by advertising audiences have largely accepted. And there is only one screen that hangs on the wall next to family photographs.
“All of this conveys a sense of trust in the screen that’s otherwise not necessarily available to us on other devices,” Collins said.
AI-saturated environments, by contrast, face growing consumer skepticism. When AI’s imprint is obvious, Collins argues, that wariness can bleed into adjacent content and undermine the overall environment.
“The data suggests that as consumers, we’re cautious. We recognize AI’s ability to distort and mislead,” Collins said.
You’re watching Beet.TV’s coverage of EMARKETER’s 2026 The Future of Digital summit. For more videos from this summit, please visit this page.
NEW YORK — Performance marketing has operated on a simple premise for 25 years. A search leads to a click, a click leads to a website, and a website leads to a conversion. AI overviews are breaking that chain.
“Eighty-three percent of searches that are directed to AI overviews result in zero clicks,” Matt Collins, vp of product marketing at MNTN, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at EMARKETER’s Future of Digital event in New York. “What happens when AI captures that next step and doesn’t send them anywhere else?”
That question is driving a new wave of performance marketers toward connected TV, where MNTN has been building the case for video as a measurable performance channel rather than a branding luxury.
CTV entry costs have fallen
The historical barrier to television advertising was financial. Broadcast and cable required six-figure commitments just to generate a meaningful signal. Connected TV has changed that math entirely.
“For roughly the cost of testing out an all new paid social ad product, you can test connected television advertising and get a meaningful signal back without risking the P&L,” Collins said.
That accessible entry point opens the door to a new wave of direct response advertisers who want search and social’s accountability from a screen that offers television’s scale and attention.
Performance questions first, brand questions follow
Marketers new to CTV arrive asking performance questions. How do I build an audience? How do I measure impact on an unclickable screen shared by multiple viewers? What does creative look like at 65 inches?
What Collins finds is that once those marketers gain confidence in the channel, a different question emerges on its own.
“A lot of those marketers then come to us and say, ‘How do I measure the brand lift of this thing?’ Twenty years ago, that might have been the first question marketers ask. They’re coming to it as a secondary question,” Collins said.
The full-funnel realization follows naturally. Performance investments made today compound into better outcomes one, three, and six months down the line.
TV carries trust that other screens don’t
Collins makes the case for CTV’s trust advantage through three observations. Television content carries the reputations of known actors, directors, and production companies. The medium has spent 85 years as a welcomed guest in living rooms, subsidized by advertising audiences have largely accepted. And there is only one screen that hangs on the wall next to family photographs.
“All of this conveys a sense of trust in the screen that’s otherwise not necessarily available to us on other devices,” Collins said.
AI-saturated environments, by contrast, face growing consumer skepticism. When AI’s imprint is obvious, Collins argues, that wariness can bleed into adjacent content and undermine the overall environment.
“The data suggests that as consumers, we’re cautious. We recognize AI’s ability to distort and mislead,” Collins said.
You’re watching Beet.TV’s coverage of EMARKETER’s 2026 The Future of Digital summit. For more videos from this summit, please visit this page.
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