Clicks were never the goal, just the easiest thing to measure. As AI changes how people discover content, it’s time to rethink what real success looks like.
Traditional performance metrics like CTR are no longer fit for purpose. As AI transforms how people search and discover, contextual relevance and attention are becoming the metrics that matter in this new era of advertising.
The Age Of The Click Is Ending
For over two decades, the advertising industry has been obsessed with the click. CTRs, CPCs, and impressions have shaped how campaigns are run, measured, and optimised. But in 2025, those metrics are starting to look like relics of a simpler, less intelligent web.
Today’s digital landscape is driven by AI-powered discovery, not linear funnels. Users now don’t just scroll and click. They ask, explore, and expect relevant, intuitive answers. And as the algorithms evolve, so must the way we think about ad performance.
The Problem with Clicks
Let’s be honest: the click has always been a crude signal. It tells us someone interacted, but not why, or whether it actually mattered. As more platforms evolve beyond clickable formats (think voice assistants, AI summaries, and in-game environments), the value of a click as a proxy for engagement continues to erode.
Even where clicks still happen, they rarely tell the full story. Take video ads: data from recent campaigns shows that on average, 20% of viewers drop off within the first 10 seconds of a video, long before any meaningful engagement, let alone a click, can take place. Yet we still treat CTR as the headline metric.
The bigger issue? Clicks reward the wrong creative behaviour. Loud, interruptive, and often misleading ads can outperform more relevant ones on CTR, while doing little to build a genuine connection or long-term impact.
So, if clicks are no longer the compass, what’s guiding today’s digital exploration? The answer lies in how we discover content.
The Shift: AI, Search, and Context
The emergence of AI-driven platforms like Google’s Search Generative Experience, ChatGPT, and Perplexity is reshaping how we discover information. Users aren’t clicking on blue links anymore, they’re asking natural language questions and receiving conversational, summarised answers. As of early 2025, approximately 50% of Google searches now result in AI-generated content rather than traditional web links.
That means the value chain of advertising is changing. It’s no longer about ranking high on a list of clickable results, it’s about showing up in the right context at the right moment.
This shift mirrors what’s happening across digital media. Relevance is being redefined. Instead of chasing interactions, smart brands are focusing on where and how their message is delivered and whether it aligns with the user’s intent and mindset.
What This Means for Advertisers
“We confuse what people have clicked on for what they’ve read. We mistake sharing for reading. We race towards new trends like native advertising without fixing what was wrong with the old ones and make the same mistakes all over again.” — Tony Haile, former CEO of the content intelligence platform Chartbeat.
In advertising, we’ve fallen into this trap repeatedly. But with the rise of contextual formats, could we finally be moving beyond our obsession with the click?
To stay relevant, advertisers need to break free from the tyranny of the click and rethink what success looks like. Metrics like:
- Attention (was the ad seen and absorbed?
- Contextual fit (did it make sense in the environment?)
- Brand recall (was it remembered?
- Viewability (was it actually in view?)
....are becoming more valuable than a tap on a screen.
Just as importantly, this shift encourages a more respectful, less disruptive approach to creative. When ads become part of the experience, rather than interruptions to it, users engage more naturally, even if they never “click.”
Why In-Game Ads Are Ahead of the Curve
Gaming is one of the few environments where advertisers have already embraced this new model. Intrinsic in-game ads are seamlessly integrated into the game world, think trackside billboards, branded posters, or dynamic screens.
They can’t be clicked, and that’s the point. Instead, they deliver high-impact presence in a way that aligns perfectly with how users consume media in-game: immersed, focused, and undistracted by second screens.
With viewability standards, attention tracking, and advanced contextual targeting built in, in-game ads offer a glimpse of what modern advertising should look like: immersive, measurable, and native to the experience.
“When ads become part of the world players are already immersed in, the need to interrupt them disappears. We consistently see higher brand recall and engagement without ever asking the player to click.” — Darren Walsh, Head of Demand & Marketplace, Anzu.
To show how IIGA is more than just an awareness play, with help from Happydemics, we analyzed 110 campaigns and found that IIGA outperformed video, display, and CTV in driving purchase consideration.
Campaigns from brands like Tommy Hilfiger and EMPIRE saw double-digit lifts in intent, while Samsung and 7-Eleven used the format to significantly increase brand recall and awareness. Meanwhile, brands like Sony and Vodafone leveraged IIGA to improve brand image and consideration, proving that non-clickable ads can be both memorable and measurable.
What Marketers Should Do Next
The future will not be won by the loudest ads but by the ones that fit and are remembered when it counts.
To prepare for the future, shift your mindset and toolkit:
Reframe success — Move beyond CTR. Use attention heatmaps, brand lift surveys, and viewability scores to understand if your message landed and stuck.
Prioritise context — Choose placements where your brand feels natural. Think billboards in racing games or ads alongside relevant AI-generated content, rather than forcing visibility in the wrong environments.
Rethink creative — Design for presence, not action. Use bold visuals, clear branding, and native formats that resonate without needing interaction.
Explore emerging formats — Test in-game ads, voice-based interfaces, and AI-powered search results where clicks don’t apply, but visibility and relevance matter more than ever.
From Performance to Presence
Clicks aren’t dead, but they’re not the metric that will guide the next decade of advertising. As platforms evolve and discovery becomes more intelligent, the brands that thrive will be those that think beyond performance marketing and embrace contextual presence.
At Anzu, we’re helping brands lead this shift with in-game advertising solutions that are built for what comes next.
Want to learn more about how in-game ads are measured in this new landscape? Download our Measurement Guide or check out our post on Google's AI update and what it means for marketers.