WHY DISCOVERY IS BECOMING ADVERTISING’S NEXT BATTLEGROUND
As search, social and AI converge, the way brands are found, recommended and trusted is being reshaped at unprecedented speed. For advertisers, this marks a move from familiar performance models towards a more complex discovery ecosystem, with significant implications for budgets, visibility and influence over the next decade.
The New Age of Discovery
The way people discover information is changing at a pace rarely seen previously in media or marketing. What began as a gradual shift away from traditional search has accelerated into something more profound, with social platforms, video ecosystems and generative AI redefining how curiosity is sparked and satisfied. 66% of Gen-Z users now report asking AI models like ChatGPT for brand or product recommendations. This change has the potential to become the most significant disruption to advertising. In Ireland, the stakes are particularly high.
Google and Meta now account for more than 50% of total advertising spend, reflecting their dominance in how audiences are reached and discovery is monetised. That position has been built on scale, intent and performance. Yet the behaviours underpinning this dominance are beginning to shift as audiences move away from actively “searching” towards more assisted, feed-led and conversational forms of discovery.
This shift is happening at phenomenal speed. Generative AI platforms have moved from novelty to utility in a remarkably short time. Core Research shows that 25% of people in Ireland now use ChatGPT weekly, rising to 33% among younger audiences. These are not fringe behaviours; they signal early mainstream adoption. Rapid product updates, including Google’s latest Gemini developments, have triggered visible reactions across the market, underlining how fluid and competitive the discovery landscape has become.
This is not simply a question of new platforms, but of where influence now sits. When discovery happens inside AI interfaces, social feeds or video environments, traditional signals such as clicks, rankings and referrals matter less. Increasingly, answers are delivered, recommendations are surfaced and decisions are shaped without users ever visiting a brand’s website. This is driving the rise of “zero-click” behaviour and elevating the importance of Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), ensuring brands are present, referenced and trusted within AI-generated responses, not just ranked in search results.
Despite this disruption, history suggests the winners are unlikely to be smaller players. Periods of rapid change tend to reinforce scale. Established tech giants, alongside newer platforms such as ChatGPT, are best positioned to control the discovery layer and attract investment. Advertising budgets may be under threat, but they are more likely to be reallocated than removed, flowing towards the platforms that own attention at the point of decision.
The immediate priority is preparedness rather than precision. This means stress-testing reliance on search and social, broadening discovery strategies, and investing in content and partnerships that build credibility across AI, video and recommendation-led environments. Brands that adapt early will be better placed to protect reach, influence and effectiveness as discovery continues to evolve at speed.
This is not the end of search or social, but it is the beginning of a new hierarchy. Those who recognise the shift early, and plan for it deliberately, will be best positioned as discovery continues to reshape the advertising landscape.
Advertising in the Age of AI Discovery
For all the disruption generative AI has introduced to how people discover information, its impact on advertising has so far been limited. Ads remain largely confined to familiar environments, with Google the only major player actively testing advertising formats within AI-driven search experiences. Even there, these placements are cautious, clearly labelled and still very much in trial mode.
That restraint is unlikely to last. As platforms such as ChatGPT scale rapidly and normalise weekly usage, commercial pressure is intensifying. Subscription revenue alone is unlikely to sustain long-term growth, particularly as operating costs rise. Advertising, in some form, will become unavoidable. The question is not whether ads will appear, but how they will be designed and funded.
Early signals suggest that advertising in AI environments will look vastly different from traditional display or search formats. Rather than banners or links, brand messages are more likely to be embedded within responses, recommendations or actions. Sponsored citations, endorsed suggestions or brand-inclusive answers could become the dominant model, placing advertising closer to decision-making moments than ever before. This raises both opportunity and risk: relevance and trust will be paramount, and poorly integrated messaging could undermine user confidence.
The more complex question is where the money will come from. To date, AI-driven discovery has changed behaviour without materially changing budget allocation. Search and social continue to absorb the majority of performance spend. If discovery increasingly bypasses traditional search, pressure will grow to reallocate budgets away from established channels. In that scenario, AI platforms do not simply add another line to the plan; they compete directly with Google, Meta and other incumbents for existing investment.
This marks a shift from behavioural disruption to commercial disruption. As advertising formats mature and measurement improves, we may see spend migrate from search and social into AI-led discovery environments. The platforms that control the point of answer, recommendation or action will be best positioned to capture value.
For advertisers, the challenge will be navigating this transition carefully. Early experimentation will be essential, but so too will caution. Trust, transparency and user experience will determine if advertising in AI environments becomes a sustainable channel, or a short-lived experiment.
Understanding Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)
Generative Engine Optimisation, or GEO, is emerging as a natural response to the rapid rise of AI-driven discovery. As consumers increasingly turn to tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and other generative platforms to find information, the mechanics of visibility are changing. Instead of presenting lists of links, these systems synthesise answers, recommendations and summaries, often without directing users to a single destination. GEO is about ensuring brands remain present and influential within those AI-generated responses.
At its core, GEO shifts the focus from ranking to relevance. Traditional search optimisation has centred on keywords, backlinks and page performance. In generative environments, visibility depends on credibility, clarity and context. AI systems draw on a wide range of sources to generate responses, prioritising content that is authoritative, well-structured and consistently referenced across the web. Brands that communicate clearly and consistently, and that are recognised as reliable sources within their category, are more likely to be cited or reflected in AI outputs.
GEO also places greater emphasis on brand signals beyond owned websites. Coverage in trusted media, expert commentary, structured data and coherent messaging across platforms all contribute to how generative systems interpret and represent a brand. In this sense, GEO blurs the line between search, PR and content strategy, rewarding brands that invest in long-term credibility, rather than short-term optimisation tactics.
For advertisers, GEO is not a replacement for SEO or paid media, but an extension of them. As discovery increasingly happens inside AI interfaces, being absent from generative responses carries real risk. The opportunity lies in adapting early: auditing how brands appear in AI outputs, refining content to answer real questions, and aligning messaging across channels. GEO reflects a broader truth about modern discovery: influence is earned not only by being found, but by being trusted at the moment an answer is formed.
