Publishers facing declining traffic due to artificial intelligence-powered search summaries may have one attractive tool to combat this.
“You can't simply replace video with AI summarization. Even if you can convert video to text and summarize it, it doesn't replace the experience of watching the video.” Shachar Orenco-founder, CRO and CMO of EX.CO, told Beet.TV contributors. david kaplan. “Publishers that invest in video can actually increase engagement on their pages and create a better experience.”
This positions video as both a defensive strategy against zero-click content discovery and an offensive strategy to increase on-page engagement when users visit your site.
Scale and intelligence will define your 2026 strategy
A solid video strategy requires two elements, Oren said, pointing to a combination of scaling streams and the application of metrics and insights to determine audience relevance.
“Scale is really how you scale the video across all the pages of your website. It goes back to the fight against AI and zero clicks,” Orren says. “The intelligence part is to see if the video is relevant to the user or page.”
EX.CO uses machine learning to power video and page matching and programmatic auction predictions that help determine revenue strategies. EX.CO, formerly known as Playbuzz, is touted as a smarter video technology built to maximize revenue across every screen, including web, mobile, CTV, and DOOH. Trusted by leading media groups around the world, including Advance Local, Hearst Newspapers, Motorsport Network, The Arena Group, and Ziff Davis, EX.CO delivers industry-leading monetization through its online video platform and machine learning revenue engine.
No publisher is likely to include a video on every page, but EX.CO aims for complete coverage through a three-pronged approach. The first is diversifying content sources to include AI-generated and automated solutions. Extend the format beyond horizontal units to include vertical video. We're introducing a matching engine that scans your page's content and automatically pairs related videos.
“There are a lot of publishers who make great editorial videos, but it costs money,” Oren points out. “This is very time-consuming. Typically, if you're lucky, you'll cover 20-30% of the page. But now, with AI-generated video and automated video solutions, there are other ways to extend your video content.”
CTV faces challenges from the web's past
Connected TV companies are facing the same fragmentation problem that web publishers grappled with five to 10 years ago, with 80 to 85 percent of impressions set to be traded programmatically by 2026, despite traditionally focusing on direct campaigns, Oren said.
With the rise of CTV, advertisers and publishers are once again dealing with a highly fragmented ecosystem and broken pipes. The signal is unreliable and a lot of premium demand could be lost,” Oren said.
EX.CO seeks to address these issues by fixing the CTV infrastructure with the promise of ensuring smooth data flow without metadata mismatches. Oren also said that EX.CO applies a machine learning revenue engine that generates billions of auction predictions every day.
Programmatic prediction
The company's machine learning engine identifies which demand partners to call and how to fill ad slots. For example, you can find a 60-second slot with one 60-second ad or two 30-second ads to make “video-first decisions” that increase your CPM and fill rate.
“Our machine learning yield engine creates billions of predictions every day for programmatic auctions, and it really helps make auctions smarter,” Oren said.
EX.CO's team combines technology solutions with human oversight to optimize the demand side and prevent revenue loss.
Adaptation promotes survival
From Facebook's traffic limits to Google's algorithm changes to current AI challenges, industry threats that occur each year force an evolution in content consumption and creation and create opportunities for adaptation.
“Every year something new happens,” Oren said. “This industry is always evolving, and there are always new threats. Every threat is an opportunity. After 12 years in the industry, we are constantly striving to adapt and innovate to these challenges to help our partners find their next path.”
