Beyond the AI disruption:
Bombora’s Data Cooperative continues to fuel the future

Everywhere we turn, there’s a staggering statistic about the impact of generative AI on digital research and media consumption patterns. From the rapid adoption of gen-AI tools by B2B professionals, to the compression of research timelines, to the erosion of organic traffic by AI-powered search, and the potential for rapid declines in brand and publisher site visits, the projected transformation is profound.

At Bombora we have a unique view on these trends as the creator and the steward of our one-of-a-kind B2B Data Cooperative. We see traffic patterns across publishers and B2B brands and continually monitor media consumption patterns for tens of thousands of research topics. More importantly, we talk with our publisher and brand partners on the front line every day. Spoiler alert – the hype is real – traffic patterns are changing. But the change is not uniform. And the very AI technology changing consumption patterns is also creating opportunities.

Despite the provocative pronouncements about the end of B2B research as we know it, traffic across our Data Co-op is holding up remarkably well. 2025 YTD:

• Overall direct page views (not including a search engine) across our members (brands and publishers) are down slightly (less than 1%); however, Q2 traffic (compared to 2024 Q2) has grown over 5%.
• Google-originated page views are 18% higher YTD and in Q2 alone.

Further, our tracking data shows that our Co-op remains representative of the B2B internet. On average, our 18,000+ topic categories had coverage from 150,000 URLs in 2025. And 22% of our 18,000 topics had coverage from more than 150,000 URLs over the same time period.

This said, when we peel back the layers, our publisher members are experiencing traffic declines attributed to the impact of gen-AI, especially more narrowly focused specialty publishers where both normal page views and Google search originated views have declined across every month following March. And we are not naive – we know that many of the statistics will become reality. No doubt, AI summaries and alternative gen-AI search tools are changing research behaviors, and the traffic landscape will likely change over time.

Evolving our one-of-a-kind Co-op

People often ask us, “With AI, is the Data Co-op model dead?” Nope! We believe in our one-of-a-kind asset and will continue to invest in growing and strengthening it, just as we have for the past 10 years. AI-driven changes are an opportunity to work harder and an inspiration to be more innovative.

For example, we are continually adding new traditional B2B publishers and brands to our Co-op. In 2024 we added over 1700 new sites. Recent expansion suggests we could add an even greater number in 2025. Further, we are actively exploring bringing in new, highly predictive research signal types from non-traditional media companies and data sources we believe will strengthen our models overall and are highly durable through AI transformation. The Bombora Co-op is alive and well.

In addition, the very same AI technologies that are reshaping how content is consumed are also unlocking powerful new capabilities on the back end—especially around content classification and modeling. With more advanced NLP and machine learning models. Bombora can now classify content with greater nuance and precision at even greater scale. Soon we will be refreshing our taxonomy at 2X the frequency, while growing our absolute topic coverage.

Powering our Co-op members into the future

Bombora and our Data Co-op were founded for the benefit of the B2B ecosystem. We remain committed to that mission. We are actively partnering with publishers to employ data solutions we derive from the Data Co-op to drive audience engagement and mitigate the impact of traffic declines.

We are supporting publishers in four key ways:

Knowing the whole audience, better

Bombora’s identity resolution and enrichment suite give publishers the power to identify previously unknown site traffic and to enrich this expanded audience with rich understanding of content interest areas and preferences from visitor behavior, owned (both on and off site), and broader B2B internet consumption behaviors. Our extensive content topic taxonomy allows our members to create unified views of content engagement across traditionally siloed sources and identify strengths and opportunities for new content. Together these powerful insights give publishers the fuel they need to create content strategies that resonate, engage, and keep their audience returning for more.

Realizing quality premiums

Enriching audience data with firmographic, interest, and intent attributes—such as job title, company size, and purchase intent—transforms ordinary audiences identified by context into higher-value inventory, allowing publishers to command significantly higher ad rates (upwards of 2X). Further through our Data Co-op we can give publishers metrics that position their audience reach relative to the Co-op as a whole to demonstrate targeting efficiency and effectiveness. Helping publishers identify, target, and measure their premium audiences, combined with real-time first impression targeting, is a powerful counter punch to declining page views and referral traffic.

Quantifying campaign results to win the “second RFP”

Bombora gives publishers measurement tools and visualization dashboards that bring advertising campaign results to life. Brands are pushing for measurement beyond impressions and clicks. Demonstrating quality of audience reached, including business domains reached and intent to purchase is a core capability enabled for all Co-op publishers. In today’s ‘quality over quantity’ advertising paradigm, it’s more crucial than ever to retain ad business and earn premiums for outstanding campaign performance.

Engaging new audiences

Bombora’s premium digital audiences enable publishers to reach highly qualified “look-alike” audiences via paid media to drive qualified volume to their content. Bombora’s data solutions power a virtuous cycle of expansion: insights from enriched audience engagement shapes effective content strategies, and our B2B audiences (e.g., Intent or B2B Interest area) ensure that a publisher can promote their valuable content to high potential future audiences.

And perhaps most importantly, we are always pushing ourselves to bring more value to our Co-op members. For example, we are actively exploring how we can leverage our unique Co-op vantage point to match brand demand for high quality targetable audiences with premium direct audiences and inventory from our publisher members. We believe we are uniquely positioned to deliver this offering because our members trust us as the steward of their data.

Bombora was founded on the fundamental belief that a collaborative B2B ecosystem benefits all. As we navigate the profound transformation brought about by generative AI, this mission remains our guiding star. The Data Co-operative, our unique and invaluable asset, is not merely weathering this shift; it is actively evolving, strengthening, and innovating. We are committed to expanding our data sources, investing in cutting-edge technologies, and deepening our partnerships to ensure our Co-op members are not just surviving, but thriving. By empowering publishers with the insights to understand, engage, and monetize their audiences more effectively, we are collectively building a more resilient and prosperous future for the B2B landscape. We stand with our Co-op members.