Chicago, June 30, 2026 - Awin, the global marketing technology platform, announced a partnership with AI measurement firm ScalePost and two new platform capabilities - AI Visibility and Smart Search - designed to help marketers connect brand visibility inside zero-click AI experiences to real business outcomes. The move addresses a growing blind spot as roughly two-thirds of Google searches now end without a click, fragmenting customer journeys across AI chatbots, publisher content, and social feeds.
The shift leaves marketers with only a partial view of what truly influences purchase decisions. Adam Ross, CEO at Awin, said, "When AI-driven discovery and trusted publisher influence are measured alongside clicks, the economics start to shift. The problem was never a shortage of data. It's that most of what the market offers is modelled from sampled prompts, so it tells you what an AI might say, not what it actually cited and surfaced."
First-party data replaces modeled AI insights
ScalePost captures AI agent fetches in real time using first-party CDN data from providers like Fastly, Cloudflare, and Akamai. Instead of relying on synthetic prompt-based models, it gives brands a verified view of which publishers drive visibility in AI-generated answers. Awin will combine that citation data with conversion signals already flowing through its network, with additional collaborations from Peec.ai and Profound to build a fuller picture of influence across the customer journey.
He added, "We've grounded our approach in real, first-party citation data and connected it to the conversion signals already running through our network. Awin data shows that accounting for AI interactions can increase observed engagement by three to six times. That gives marketers a more honest view of what drives customer decisions, and the confidence to invest and grow on their own terms."
New platform features for advertisers and publishers
- AI Visibility: Shows advertisers when and how their brands surface in AI-driven experiences, including where publisher content contributes to that visibility. Publishers gain insight into how their content influences discovery, supporting greater recognition of their role across the customer journey.
- Smart Search: Uses natural language prompts to help marketers find relevant publisher partners faster. Advertisers using Smart Search are twice as likely to invite a partner than those using traditional directory search, reducing manual effort and accelerating program growth.
Full details on the strategy and features are available at awin.link/summer2026.
Why this matters for marketing professionals
Zero-click discovery hides the majority of consumer influence from traditional last-click attribution. When marketers can measure what AI actually cites and link that citation data to conversions, they uncover three to six times more engagement than previously tracked. This changes how publisher partnerships are valued and gives brands the evidence to invest in content-driven visibility with confidence. For marketing managers, building the skills to interpret AI-influence data is becoming a practical step - resources like the AI Learning Path for Marketing Managers offer structured training to keep strategies aligned with how discovery really works today.
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