Search is where intent becomes visible. Not where it starts.
Here’s a more useful way to think about it:
Intent Timeline:
- Passive content consumption
- Pattern formation
- Trigger event
- Search
- Purchase
Most of our industry operates on steps 4 and 5.
Which means:
We’re competing after demand already exists
What’s been surprising to me:
When you look at video consumption at scale, you see patterns forming days or weeks before search behavior changes
- interests cluster early
- “unexpected audiences” show up consistently
- context matters more than category
Example:
Someone watching:
- meal prep
- morning routines
- fitness transformations
Is often closer to a Nike purchase moment than someone watching basketball highlights.
That’s not demographic.
That’s behavior.
If AI is going to drive media decisions (it will), then the real question becomes:
What signal is it learning from?
Because whoever owns the earliest signal of intent……controls what happens next.
