The media already has the key resource. They're not monetizing it yet

The media are still evolving in a logic of diffusion, while the market has already begun to change

The market has learned to spread better. He hasn't yet learned to convince...

Historically, advertising has been built around a simple logic: to spread a message to as many people as possible. Television has industrialized this promise of power. Digital then amplified it, adding new targeting, distribution and measurement capabilities.

Even today, despite technological developments, the dominant model remains largely structured around the same pillars: inventory, scope, frequency and optimization. Even recent advances — CTV, programmatic, addressable TV — extend this logic. They allow better targeting, better distribution, better measurement. But they remain, basically, within the same framework: that of dissemination.

But while the industry continues to optimize the way it displays messages, another transformation is underway on the consumer side. They are no longer just exposed to advertising. They check, they compare, they look for real experiences, they look for credibility signals. In other words, attention alone is no longer enough. The proof becomes central.

This is what recent market developments show: the explosion of UGC, the rise of customer testimonials, the growing role of creators and the increased importance of social evidence in decision-making processes. But these developments also point to a new tension.

As the evidence becomes more widespread, it loses some of its value. Consumers are now exposed to thousands of reviews, sponsored content, sometimes biased testimonials, recommendations amplified by algorithms. The result: the evidence is everywhere, but trust no longer always follows. A new question then emerges, much more structuring than it seems: what distinguishes a marketing proof from a credible proof?

It is precisely in this disconnect that the media hold an underestimated asset. For if the next advertising battle is not about exposure alone, but about the quality of the relationship and credibility, then the value of the media may no longer rest solely on its ability to broadcast, but on its ability to activate identified audiences within a framework of trust.

The media already have a strategic asset: their first-party communities

If the logic of broadcasting today shows its limits, it is not only because of the saturation of messages. It is also because another asset, more discreet, has emerged in recent years at the heart of media strategies: the direct relationship with the audience.

Over the past decade, most media groups around the world have embarked on a profound transformation of their model. Behind login initiatives, paywalls, proprietary platforms or connected environments, a common goal is emerging: regain control of the user relationship.

This movement is not anecdotal. It responds to a structural change in the advertising market. With the gradual disappearance of third-party cookies and the increasing constraints related to privacy, first-party data has become a central asset. But even more than the data itself, it is the ability to maintain a direct, identified and recurring link with the user that gains value.

In this context, the media are not late. In some cases, they are even ahead of the curve. They already have:

• of logged-in users,

• proprietary behavioral data,

• controlled editorial environments,

• and especially a regular relationship with their audiences.

In other words, they have built the foundation for what other industries have already begun to monetize.

The development of retail media is a particularly enlightening illustration of this. In just a few years, commercial players have transformed their transactional relationship with their customers into a real advertising asset. According to McKinsey, these media networks are growing by more than 20% annually, driven by their ability to combine data first-party, usage context and proximity to the act of purchase.

This success is not only linked to performance. It is based on a deeper mechanism: the ability to activate an audience in a context where the relationship is already established.

The same phenomenon can be observed in the influence. Long perceived as a lever of amplification, it has gradually structured itself around another asset: the relationship between a creator and his community. What creates value is no longer just the reach of a creator, but the level of trust, commitment and authenticity perceived by his audience.

It is precisely this combination — relationship + context + credibility — that brands are looking for today. And that's where the media are uniquely positioned.

Unlike platforms, they operate in editorial environments. Unlike creators, they have a scale and structure. Unlike retail players, they are not limited to a transactional moment. They are potentially at the crossroads of the three.

However, this position is still largely underexploited.

Because in most cases, this first-party relationship is still used as an optimization lever — improving targeting, refining segmentation, increasing the value of inventory — rather than as a full-fledged monetization asset.

This is the paradox: the media have already built what the market values most — a direct relationship with their audiences — but still often continue to translate it into the logic of the past.

If we accept that advertising enters a phase where credibility becomes as important as visibility, then this relationship changes in nature.

It no longer becomes only a tool for addressing, it becomes a potential lever for trust, commitment and, tomorrow, proof.

The question is no longer whether the media have a relational asset but why this asset is still mostly monetized as broadcasting.

The next frontier: monetizing the relationship, not just diffusion

If the media have already built up logged environments, first-party bases and engaged audiences, then a question becomes inevitable: why does this asset still remain predominantly monetized as broadcasting?

Today, even when a user is identified, engaged, and registered in a quality editorial environment, the value that is extracted from it often remains reduced to known logics: CPM, reach, frequency, targeting, optimization. In other words, valuation models designed for a dissemination asset are applied to a relational asset.

This shift is becoming more and more visible.

On the one hand, brands are looking for levers that can strengthen the credibility of their messages. They invest heavily in influence, customer testimonials, UGC content, recommendation devices. They are shifting some of their budgets to environments where perceived evidence is already embedded.

On the other hand, the vast majority of media continue to sell optimized visibility. It's not a mistake. It's inertia.

Because historically, media value has been built on the ability to expose a message on a large scale. And the entire industry – from business models to measurement tools – is still largely organized around this logic.

But as trust becomes a differentiating factor, this approach shows its limits.

• An exhibition no longer guarantees membership.

• A repetition no longer ensures credibility.

• Optimization does not necessarily increase confidence.

This changeover is no longer only theoretical.

He has been at the center of recent industry discussions, including the French edition of "The Future of TV Advertising" organized by The Media Leader in Paris, which we visited with BuyTryShare and Televaluateurs. The program itself gave a clear reading, putting CTV at the center of the day, the activation of audiences between linear and digital, cross-media measurement, the creator economy, the authenticity of content and the transformation of TV models.

Through the various keynotes, panels and studies presented, a common point was clearly emerging: performance is no longer only about the ability to broadcast, but increasingly about the ability to engage, credibility and activate audiences. And thus to give meaning and credibility to this dissemination.

It talks about streaming as a driver of discovery and fandom, authenticity as a new standard — especially with the Gen Z —, convergence between creators, platforms and media, but also the transformation of TV models towards more relational and more data-driven logic.

In other words, the entire ecosystem is already exploring a major evolution: moving from an exposure logic to an activation logic.

In other words, the entire ecosystem is already exploring a major evolution: moving from an exposure logic to an activation logic.

• Retail media does not only monetize impressions: it monetizes a transactional, contextualized relationship, close to the act of purchase.

• Influence is not based solely on reach; it is based on the relationship between a creator and his community.

• Platforms, finally, don't just sell audience: they sell engagement environments.

In each of these cases, the value comes not only from the volume, but from the quality of the link. This is where the media have a lever that is still under-exploited, because they are potentially capable of doing something rarer: activating an audience in a credible editorial environment, with a relationship built over time, and in a setting where trust can be mobilized.

In other words, they might no longer just sell visibility: they might start monetizing the relationship itself.

This shift is still emerging. It is not fully structured, standardized or fully measured. But it already appears to be in the dark in market developments: the rise of formats incorporating proof, the search for authenticity, the hybridization between content, recommendation and advertising.

This is probably where the next frontier lies: not in a new optimization of inventory, but in a new way of creating value from what the media has already built.

In a message-saturated environment, the ability to reach an audience will remain important, but the ability to activate that audience in a trusted environment could become decisive.

The media has learned to capture attention. The next step may be to learn how to activate trust... It remains to structure these evolutions into truly activatable and measurable devices.

Conclusion: a trend towards power/confidence convergence

What we are seeing today is not a simple evolution of formats or channels. This is a deeper transformation.

For decades, the value of media has been built on its ability to capture and distribute attention. Television has industrialized it. Digital has amplified it. Data has optimized it. But in a saturated environment, this logic reaches its limits.

Because when everything catches attention, attention loses its value. What is becoming rare is no longer exposure, it is credibility.

In this context, brands are already shifting their investments to environments where perceived evidence is integrated: creators, communities, embodied content. They are no longer just looking to be seen. They seek to be believed.

And that is precisely where the next step lies. The media have a unique asset:.

👉 a direct relationship with their audiences,

👉 built in time,

👉 in credible editorial environments.

But as long as this relationship remains exploited as a mere diffusion lever, much of its value remains untapped. The real challenge may no longer be to optimize the distribution but to transform this relationship into an activatable lever of trust.

In other words: moving from an attention-centered model to one that can integrate evidence.

For tomorrow, the question will no longer be only "how many people have seen this message?" but "why has this message been believed?"

And in this shift, a new strategic space appears. A space that is still largely untapped, a space where value comes not only from visibility, but from the ability to reduce uncertainty.

A space where advertising is no longer content to promise, but begins to demonstrate.