The next stage of growth will be shaped not by those who command the most attention, but by those who generate the greatest value from it
Having spent years across print, television, radio, and eventually digital, I’ve seen the media landscape evolve through multiple phases. But one of the most defining shifts in my career was moving into digital during its early days. Back then, the digital world was still taking shape. Today it has been fundamentally redefined.
India’s digital growth story is no longer just about scale; it's about structural change.
With users spending close to 3 hours a day on mobile devices and are expected to devote upwards of 3.5 hours on digital platforms by 2028, the opportunity for brands and publishers is massive. But alongside this growth, the rules of the ecosystem are changing rapidly for both advertisers and publishers.
The Shift For the Advertiser
Digital advertising has evolved through multiple phases. In the early years, brands experimented across formats, search, display, social media, and native advertising, each playing a distinct role in the funnel. Social platforms became powerful mediums for engagement and discovery, while keyword-based search advertising helped brands capture consumers actively researching products or services, driving high-intent conversions. Formats like native advertising helped brands blend storytelling with performance.
Over time, however, a large share of ad spends became concentrated within “walled gardens”, because of their scale, data, and ease of measurement. These platforms offered efficiency and predictable outcomes, making them a default choice for many advertisers. Walled gardens are closed advertising ecosystems such as Google, Meta, and Amazon that control their own audience data, inventory, and measurement tools.
But today, we are seeing the beginnings of a shift.
The emergence of AI-powered interfaces, including conversational platforms and generative search, is changing how users discover information. Instead of browsing multiple websites, users are increasingly relying on summarised, direct answers. This fundamentally alters the traditional customer journey and the way advertising fits into that journey. At the same time, advertisers are facing rising user acquisition costs. Over-reliance on performance marketing has led to intense competition, pushing Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) higher, thus making it harder to sustain efficiency at scale.
AI is now playing a dual role here. First, it is enabling better optimisation, helping brands fine-tune campaigns, improve targeting, and drive efficiency. Second, it is helping advertisers control costs and protect performance through automation and predictive insights.
At MGID, we’ve seen this firsthand through innovations like CTR Guard, which uses AI to detect early signs of creative fatigue and automatically refresh underperforming ads. Additionally, CPA Tune dynamically optimises bidding in real time to focus on high-converting traffic. These advancements are helping advertisers improve engagement while bringing greater control to rising acquisition costs.
As technology makes advertising more efficient, it also makes meaningful storytelling more important than ever. This is why advertisers are beginning to rethink their approach, moving beyond pure performance to a more balanced strategy that combines reach, relevance, and engagement.
The Shift For the Publisher
If advertisers are rethinking strategy, publishers are navigating an equally complex transformation.
There was a time when scaling traffic was relatively straightforward. With strong SEO, AMP pages, and favourable platform algorithms, publishers could rapidly grow their audiences. Hitting 50-100 million page views was ambitious, but achievable. Today, that reality has changed.
Frequent search algorithm updates, stricter policies around user experience (such as back-button behaviour), and ongoing crackdowns on low-quality or spam content have made traffic growth more challenging. The same scale that was once easier to achieve is now significantly harder to sustain.
At the same time, the rise of AI-generated summaries and conversational search is reshaping how content is consumed. Users no longer need to click through multiple links to get information. They can access curated responses instantly. This creates a new challenge for publishers: how to stay relevant when discovery itself is changing.
Technology, especially AI, is becoming central to this transition. Publishers are increasingly leveraging AI for content creation, personalisation, and optimisation. However, the real opportunity lies not just in adopting AI, but in using it to enhance credibility, depth, and user experience -- areas where human insight still plays a critical role.
The Road ahead
What we are witnessing today is not just a shift in platforms or formats, it is a rebalancing of the entire digital ecosystem.
For advertisers, the focus is on transitioning from scale-driven performance to quality-driven engagement. For publishers, the challenge is evolving from traffic acquisition to sustainable audience value.
In this new landscape, the intersection of content, context, and technology becomes critical. Advertising that integrates seamlessly into the user experience, rather than interrupting it, will play a key role in bridging the gap between brands and consumers.
This is where formats like native advertising naturally fit into the evolving ecosystem. By aligning with content and user intent, native advertising enables a more organic connection between advertisers and audiences without compromising the user experience that publishers are striving to protect. Ultimately, India’s digital surge presents a massive opportunity but also demands a mindset shift. The next stage of growth will be shaped not by those who command the most attention, but by those who generate the greatest value from it.
The author is CEO & Director, MGID India. Views expressed are personal.