Observed Signal · Dec 1, 2025 · Interview · Source: Adzine · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
AI Fuels Walled Gardens, Sparks Open Web Revival
The interview discusses how generative AI and large language models are accelerating offerings from walled gardens while prompting renewed emphasis on an open web for online advertising. Paysen notes that major players—amazon.com, google.com, meta.com, and microsoft.com—are strengthening their market positions through data dominance and AI-enabled, end-to-end solutions, raising concerns about transparency for advertisers. In response, the open web is being actively promoted, with the OWM Summit highlighting a push to invest more in premium publishers and to explore cross-application ID solutions to better address the open web across channels. The conversation underscores privacy challenges: browser makers like firefox.org have privacy-first stances and roughly half of the open web’s net reach is said to be lost due to outdated approaches. Paysen’s own firm positions as an independent open-web actor, using 30 AI models, and champions neuro-contextual targeting that blends context, emotion, and intent to improve campaign performance. Standards gaps and a MRC-style model are called for to accelerate interoperability.
Industry analysis of AI in Open Web and the call for open standards and cross-channel interoperability
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Generative AI models strengthen the market position of major Walled Garden players (Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft) via data dominance and AI-powered solutions.
- Advertisers demand transparency and the Open Web is being promoted; at the OWM summit there is a call to invest more in premium publishers and to consider deploying ID solutions across Walled Gardens.
- Firefox and other browsers have privacy-first stances, and about 50% of the Open Web's net reach is lost due to outdated approaches.
- Paysen's company positions itself as an independent Open Web actor, uses 30 AI models, and advocates neuro-contextual targeting that goes beyond traditional age/gender clustering.
- There is a push for open standards; the MRC in the USA is cited as a model, Germany lacks a similar body, and major market players should collaborate to develop standards for contextual solutions.
Connected Companies & Entities
5 Entities mappedRelated Market Signals & Shifts
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Open Web: The Future of Ad Spend and Targeting
The discussion contrasts the Open Web with Walled Gardens, arguing that Google, Meta, and Amazon control about half of German ad spend while the Open Web offers simplicity, scalability, performance, and quality through programmatic advertising. With the end of third-party cookies, addressability now relies on deterministic identifiers and publisher-provided audiences, supported by multi-device strategies and technologies like FedCM. Publishers gain a growing role in audience offerings via DSPs, Data Marketplaces, and SSPs, aided by AI and ML for targeting. Standardization remains essential, driven by privacy and addressability frameworks (DSGVO, TDDDG, TCF), while new AI-related challenges prompt discussion around model data usage and monetization (e.g., MCP). Advertisers should engage in standards-building to sustain a pluralistic media landscape. The OVK Universe highlights about 1,000 high-quality sites that enable selective targeting.
Advertisers See Agentic AI Potential in Open Web
A Taboola study surveying 200 senior performance marketing decision‑makers in the USA and UK (May 2026) finds strong advertiser interest in applying agentic AI outside major walled gardens. Respondents — responsible for monthly ad budgets up to $4.9M — reported measurable performance gains from AI but said those gains are concentrated on Search and Social. Many advertisers signalled willingness to reallocate budgets to the Open Web if comparable agentic‑AI solutions existed: 86% would move up to a quarter of performance budgets, 80% would immediately increase spend given suitable solutions, and 82% see AI-driven goal‑based buying in the Open Web as a growth opportunity. Integration into existing workflows is cited as a primary barrier, disproportionately affecting larger spenders. Taboola CEO Adam Singolda is quoted describing demand for autonomous, continuously learning systems for Open Web performance.
OpenAI’s Ad Model: Feeds, Not Leads
The article analyzes OpenAI’s evolving ad monetization strategy, arguing that initial monetization will focus on feed-based advertising rather than direct lead generation. It highlights market dynamics for Retail Media Networks (RMNs), citing Bain and eMarketer findings that RMNs are prioritizing first‑party data expansion for targeting (44%) and off-site ad offerings (35%). The piece notes external signals and partnerships, including Walmart’s collaboration with OpenAI on Instant Checkout, and cites Skai data showing Walmart Connect’s spend rising ~30% year over year with a 22% lift in clicks and a 6% increase in CPC. It also discusses OpenAI’s data‑driven initiatives (e.g., Sora, ChatGPT Pulse, Atlas browser) as signals toward near-term ad monetization and frames the broader data arms race among tech platforms. The discussion touches implications for RMNs’ data ownership and potential disintermediation as AI-enabled commerce advances.
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