Are You Advertising to People or Machines?

Dave Casper, SVP of Digital Services, and I are the “tech geeks” of RAB. Last Friday, Dave sent me an email that made me stop scrolling. “Breaking News:”

In short, the startling claim: 57% of internet activity is now generated by NONHUMAN bots while only 43% comes from humans.

Whether that exact percentage holds up over time isn’t really the point. The bigger question for advertisers is this:

How confident are you that your advertising is reaching real people?

Management guru Peter Drucker famously said:

“What gets measured gets managed.”

The Cloudflare report serves as an important reminder that activity and outcomes are not the same thing.

The challenge today is making sure we’re measuring the things that actually matter. For years, much of the advertising conversation has centered around scale. More impressions. More clicks. More page views. More traffic. The assumption has often been that bigger numbers automatically mean better results.

Not necessarily.

Artificial intelligence, automated crawlers, bots, scrapers and other forms of nonhuman activity are becoming a larger part of the digital ecosystem. In fact, advertisers may need to start asking a different set of questions:

• How many humans?
• How many local humans?
• How many engaged humans?
• How many likely buyers?

Those questions shift the conversation away from activity and toward outcomes.

This is where many salespeople make a mistake.

Some immediately see a report like this and conclude it is an opportunity to attack digital advertising and position traditional media as the alternative. That would be shortsighted.

Most local media companies today are not simply radio companies. They are marketing companies. They help clients grow using a combination of radio, streaming audio, social media, search, websites, email marketing, video, events and other digital solutions.

The goal isn’t to choose sides. It’s to help advertisers reach real people and produce business outcomes. The conversation should be human engagement versus artificial activity.

A million impressions sound impressive until someone asks how many came from actual humans. A website traffic report looks great until someone asks how many of those visitors are qualified buyers. The metric itself isn’t the goal. The business result is.

Ironically, reports like this may strengthen the value proposition of local media. Think about the assets local media companies possess:

• Loyal listeners
• Streaming audiences
• Newsletter subscribers
• Event attendees
• Mobile app users
• Community relationships

Those are real people. They live in the market. They attend local events. They shop at local businesses. They make purchasing decisions. In a world increasingly populated by artificial activity, authentic human attention becomes more valuable.

That doesn’t mean digital advertising is ineffective. Far from it. Digital remains one of the most powerful tools available to advertisers when used strategically. Search captures intent. Social media creates engagement. Email marketing nurtures relationships. Retargeting keeps brands visible. Streaming audio extends reach.

The smartest marketers don’t choose between traditional and digital media. They integrate them.

• Radio and audio build awareness and trust.
• Digital captures interest and drives action.

Radio creates demand. Digital helps harvest it.

As sales professionals, perhaps the most important lesson from the Cloudflare report is that we should spend less time discussing media channels and more time discussing outcomes.

The next time a client asks about impressions, clicks or traffic, consider asking a different question:

“At the end of the day, what matters more to your business: activity or results?”

We may be entering an era where advertisers increasingly value what could be called “human-verified media”—platforms, audiences and relationships that demonstrate authentic human engagement.

The platforms may change. The algorithms may change. The technology may change. But business owners still wake up every morning asking the same question:

“How do I get more customers?”

That’s a very human problem.

Think Big, Make Big Things Happen!

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@RAB.com. You can also connect with him on X, YouTube, and LinkedIn.