Marketers count on paid search and social to work exactly like they always have. The problem is, in the era of AI, they don’t.

Take search. It built its reputation as a reliable lower-funnel converter: as awareness builds, search catches the intent when a customer is ready to act. But a Bain-Dynata study shows that 83% of search queries that trigger an AI Overview now end without a click. If people aren’t clicking, a core part of search’s value as a performance channel starts to break down.

Search isn’t the only place where AI is creating challenges. Trust is becoming an issue, too. According to a June 2026 Gallup survey, 39% of US adults said the use of AI would reduce their trust in the information they receive. Brands aren’t just dealing with changes to how consumers discover information. They also have to contend with growing skepticism about the content consumers encounter online.

None of this is a “you did something wrong” problem. Right now it’s incredibly difficult to predict what shows up in an AI Overview or why. Results may shift from query to query, even on identical searches. You can’t strategize around that. The smarter move is building demand beyond the traditional channels now being impacted by AI.

This is where performance TV comes in. If the click can’t be trusted to bring someone to a site, you need a channel that reaches the right audience and moves them toward a visit, a conversion, or revenue you can actually measure, without depending on that same unreliable click.performance TV puts brands in premium, high-attention environments designed to drive action, with the audience targeting and measurement tools that show what happens next.

And unlike linear TV, performance TV can also support every stage of the funnel. Brands can run prospecting, retargeting, and conversion-focused campaigns in the same platform that's building broad awareness, picking up bottom-funnel value that used to belong to search alone.

Performance TV can also help brands address growing concerns around consumer trust. TV already carries high levels of trust, with 46% of adults calling it the most trustworthy type of advertising, tied with print. When someone’s already seen a brand in a premium, credible environment before they ever run a search, that credibility can transfer to the brand itself. So if their name later shows up, or gets contradicted, in an AI Overview, that brand doesn't have to build trust from the ground up. It’s already been introduced on the biggest screen in the home.

Even though AI is impacting discovery and trust on some of the most used performance channels, it still has a place in the modern marketer’s tech stack. AI-powered targeting tools can connect real-time, high-intent signals to the right households, while creative AI tools can help smaller teams produce premium video ads faster than traditional production methods.

So AI itself isn’t the issue. The challenge is how it’s changing discovery and complicating trust across established performance channels. Performance TV gives marketers another way to build demand, establish credibility, and drive measurable outcomes without depending on the click.