On a summer season evening way back, we had an concept: if we bought sufficient content material entrepreneurs to take a survey, we may reply some huge, unanswered questions on advertising.
Yearly since then, we’ve repeated the survey, and the information retains getting extra attention-grabbing. The dataset reveals 12 years of tendencies in content material advertising. You may see the rise and fall of promotion channels, the word-count arms race and the breathtaking adoption price of AI.
You might be about to find:
- How are entrepreneurs utilizing AI?
- Which AI strategies correlate with success?
- How lengthy does content material take to create?
- How has the size of articles modified over time?
- Are bloggers publishing roughly typically?
- Which content material methods drive ends in 2025?
On the finish of this report, you’ll see precisely which actions and components are most probably to drive outcomes and, mockingly, how these are sometimes the least frequent approaches to content material advertising.
Sit again, scan by means of and use any of the charts in your subsequent assembly or article. All we ask is that you simply cite this unique supply. We hope these insights set off concepts for changes in your content material technique.
How efficient is content material advertising in 2025?
We’ll begin with effectiveness. 21% of our 808 respondents reported “sturdy outcomes” and we use that quantity as a benchmark for evaluation all through the report. We’ll discover the correlations and uncover what’s working effectively for content material entrepreneurs.
The effectiveness of content material advertising has shifted over time. 12 months after 12 months, round 80% of entrepreneurs report success, however for the final seven years, we see a development of fewer entrepreneurs reporting huge outcomes. Content material advertising is resilient and efficient, however not simple.
Producing and selling content material is a giant job and a long-term dedication. Content material feeds the e-mail program and social streams, it connects the model to influencers, it builds consciousness, belief and loyalty. Content material additionally trains the AI language fashions.
How a lot content material does it take?
Listed here are the tendencies for content material size and frequency. Over the past 12 years, content material has gotten a little bit shorter and rather less frequent. First, we’ll take a look at phrase depend.
The battle of phrase depend could lastly be over. The development towards final guides tremendous lengthy posts, lengthy pushed by SEOs and their skyscraper approach, is reversing. How lengthy is the typical article in 2025? The reply is 1333 phrases.
That doesn’t imply that longer content material isn’t driving higher efficiency. It’s. Content material advertising packages that prioritize detailed articles are much more more likely to drive outcomes. The correlation between content material size and “sturdy outcomes” is without doubt one of the strongest within the report.
The opposite strategy to put extra phrases on the internet is to publish extra typically. How has publishing frequency modified over time? It has come down. Excessive-volume publishing was as soon as very fashionable, however right now about half of all entrepreneurs publish 2-4 occasions per thirty days.
Once more, extra content material correlates with higher outcomes. The entrepreneurs who publish extra typically usually tend to report “sturdy outcomes.” These aren’t the identical entrepreneurs who publish 2000+ phrase articles, however the information is evident: the most effective bloggers go huge in a method or one other.
 |
Joe Pulizzi, The Tilt“Running a blog could also be coming into an identical interval to the place electronic mail was in 2007. Many companies dropped electronic mail in favor of social media as a result of they thought electronic mail was going away (what a nasty choice that was). Right this moment, increasingly appear to be discounting running a blog due to AI. These individuals who resolve to drop running a blog due to AI will likely be making a poor strategic choice. When extra companies take into account dropping running a blog, it creates a possibility for individuals who proceed. The outcomes, nevertheless outlined, appear to indicate this. And running a blog may very well be the computer virus for getting present in AI outcomes.” |
All of this content material takes time to provide and promote. We ask respondents how a lot time they spend on a typical article. After we common the solutions, we will calculate the typical time spent per piece and reply this query: How lengthy does it take to put in writing a weblog submit in 2025? The reply is just below three and a half hours.
The time spent on every article has come down in the previous couple of years, presumably due to AI.
Let’s take a look at how AI has impacted content material advertising. Entrepreneurs are utilizing AI in all types of how. First, discover that the share of entrepreneurs who don’t use AI has fallen from 65% to only 5% over the past 24 months. AI has reworked the work of content material advertising quick and ceaselessly.
The methods we use AI has modified dramatically over the past 24 months. Few entrepreneurs use it for every thing (only one in ten use AI to put in writing full articles) however extra entrepreneurs are constructing AI into their workflows. Final 12 months “generate concepts” was the most well-liked use case. This 12 months it’s tied with “recommend edits.”
However extra AI doesn’t essentially imply extra success. In actual fact, the AI-enabled entrepreneurs who use it to put in writing full articles are the least more likely to report “sturdy outcomes.” Not one of the different AI use instances actually correlates a lot with content material efficiency.
Some entrepreneurs use AI for every thing. Others use it for nothing. These teams are the least just like the drive outcomes. The reply is someplace within the center. Not an excessive amount of AI, not too little.
The AI hold-outs are the least more likely to report “sturdy outcomes.” Why don’t content material entrepreneurs use AI extra? You may see what the highest issues in our AI content material advertising report.
 |
Henneke Duistermaat, Enchanting Advertising“These are attention-grabbing occasions for bloggers. With zero-click social platforms, drops in search visitors, and experimentation with AI, every thing feels in flux. However the primary premise of fine content material advertising stays true: To deal with creating helpful content material for our viewers. The survey outcomes recommend that utilizing AI as an assistant may very well be barely helpful however outsourcing all content material creation to AI may very well be detrimental to running a blog outcomes. It’s nonetheless early days and the outcomes aren’t statistically vital but as a result of the group not utilizing A.I. may be very small. We have to experiment extra however for now it stays true: Human content material wins.” |
 |
Mark Schaefer, Speaker, Creator, Advertising Strategist“That is the primary 12 months we’ve seen the influence of AI in a major manner however there hasn’t been an enchancment in outcomes. Too many content material entrepreneurs are specializing in utilizing AI to chop some corners as an alternative of doubling down on high quality.” |
Subsequent, we look at what entrepreneurs are placing into their content material. “Content material” is a giant phrase and contains many issues. Listed here are among the components that seem in articles and their relative recognition.
Practically everybody provides photos. However a minority are including contributor quotes and movies. A small share add audio or publish podcasts. The much less frequent the aspect, the extra possible it’s to correlate with efficiency. Better efforts drive better influence.
Some content material is extra visible than others. The vast majority of bloggers embrace just a few photos, however a tiny minority of bloggers add a number of visuals to every article. These entrepreneurs are much more more likely to report sturdy efficiency.
Subsequent we’ll take a look at the content material codecs extra broadly. Right here is the relative recognition of varied sorts of content material. Unsurprising, most content material packages are anchored in utility content material. Most of us publish how-to articles. Among the different codecs are far much less common.
Which content material codecs correlate with efficiency? It’s the lengthy codecs (guides and ebooks) and the collaborative codecs (interviews and roundups). Webinars are additionally efficient and are sometimes one other instance of collaborative content material (interviews with specialists and influencers).
 |
Jay Schwedelson, Final result Media“The key phrase right here is ‘efficient’. Usually the content material that generates the ‘most leads’ just isn’t the simplest. For instance – if somebody attends a full webinar they’re extra helpful than somebody who downloads a listicle.” |
 |
Lars Lofgren, larslofgren.com“Write a submit that’s so good that folks will need to share it of their skilled communities: Slack chats, paid membership teams, speak about it on their socials, and so on. The standard bar comes first. As for the submit sort, use no matter sort will get you to that high quality bar for that piece.” |
Unique analysis is a type of content material codecs that correlate with efficiency. This wasn’t a typical technique seven years in the past, however the phrase is out. Entrepreneurs who conduct and publish new unique information (like this report) are driving outcomes. Right this moment, virtually half of content material packages publish unique analysis and 25% of those that do report “sturdy outcomes.”
Are content material entrepreneurs working with editors in 2025? Sure, extra bloggers are getting modifying assist. The casual approaches to modifying have been on the decline for 12 years. However now, the assistance isn’t simply coming from people. AI is out of the blue doing the job of editors.
And it appears to be efficient. Entrepreneurs who use AI as an editor are simply as more likely to report “sturdy outcomes” as those that use a group of human editors.
 |
Chima Mmeje, Moz“Enhancing was one of many first AI use instances I adopted. I spotted that it lower modifying time in half, and all I needed to do was create an editorial guideline, feed it some pattern information, and information it on my most popular tone of voice. ChatGPT is a wonderful editor, but it surely solely works if an awesome author guides it. I particularly use it to enhance storytelling, repurpose content material for a first-person narrative, and tighten sentences for stream and engagement. It’s nice to see so many content material of us adopting AI for modifying.” |
Now let’s take a look at content material promotion. Promotion channels have modified through the years. In fact, nearly all content material entrepreneurs share their content material on social media. Round a 3rd of entrepreneurs promote content material utilizing search engine optimization and electronic mail advertising. Paid channels and influencer collaboration are far much less frequent.
 |
Ross Simmonds, Basis Advertising“The analysis factors out a HARD FACT which is that content material promotion is less complicated now than it was once. With instruments like Distribution.AI, Opus, Riverside, HubSpot, and others, the heavy lifting of repurposing and distributing content material is now not a multi-hour, handbook grind. It used to take a marketer a complete afternoon to show a single submit right into a set of LinkedIn updates, electronic mail snippets, and social posts… Now, you’ll be able to paste in a URL, run it by means of instruments like these, and inside seconds have a bundle of ready-to-publish content material tailor-made for a number of channels—natural, paid, electronic mail, and extra. It’s WAY much less difficult.” |
Once more, the much less frequent the strategy, the extra possible it’s to correlate with content material efficiency. One in three entrepreneurs who pay to make their content material extra seen report “sturdy outcomes.” Influencer collaboration is equally unusual and equally efficient.
Influencer collaborations typically embrace interviews and roundups. However there’s additionally the straightforward apply of together with contributor quotes in articles, as we’ve carried out on this report. However most content material entrepreneurs don’t constantly embrace influencers of their content material. Only some of us do it each time.
Content material entrepreneurs who collaborate with influencers extra typically are much more more likely to report “sturdy outcomes.” Collaboration with specialists improves the standard of the content material but additionally its attain. An ally in content material creation is an ally in content material promotion.
 |
Ashley Zeckman, CEO, Onalytica“Incorporating influencers into weblog content material isn’t nearly attain; it’s about credibility and depth. When skilled voices are woven into articles, manufacturers elevate belief, spark richer conversations, and create content material that resonates far past their very own channels. Influencer collaboration turns good blogs into must-reads.” |
 |
Goldie Chan, Company proprietor and Creator of Private Branding for Introverts“In 2026, essentially the most profitable content material isn’t a solo masterpiece, however a collaborative ecosystem. Bloggers who develop their audiences and platforms will likely be those that have constructed and nurtured frequent, significant partnerships with influencers to increase their attain. This technique creates a robust community of belief, the place a single submit can construct a model much more successfully than any solo effort.” |
 |
Alexandra Rynne, LinkedIn“The codecs that carry out greatest—unique analysis, webinars, complete guides—are precisely the sorts of content material that construct credibility and set up thought management. This aligns completely with our LinkedIn analysis displaying that decision-makers are extra receptive to content material from trusted voices and skilled sources. But most content material creators are defaulting to primary cookie-cutter how-to articles that don’t set up the form of credibility these consumers demand. This represents an enormous alternative for B2B entrepreneurs prepared to spend money on higher-value content material codecs. Whereas everybody else is creating how-to articles, good entrepreneurs can differentiate themselves with unique analysis and complete guides that truly affect shopping for choices. Video will rework these classes totally. The 27% progress in video creation we’re seeing on LinkedIn means that static content material codecs might want to evolve. How-to articles will grow to be how-to video sequence, and webinars will shift towards interactive, AI-enhanced experiences.” |
The disruption to natural search visitors is without doubt one of the largest advertising tales of 2025. Clickthrough charges to content material have fallen for the final 5 years. Now with AI, visitors to content material from Google is dropping quick.
After we requested content material entrepreneurs about their challenges, “attracting guests from search” has spiked. Actually, nothing is getting simpler.
Amongst SEOs, there’s broad settlement on the issue, and plenty of factors of view on methods to adapt.
 |
Cyrus Shepard, Zyppy“Yearly, as the information reveals, attracting guests from search engines like google and yahoo turns into a much bigger content material advertising problem. As AI drives down the fee and time of manufacturing, entrepreneurs ought to deal with what AI can’t simply reproduce (and what Google needs to reward): unique analysis, proprietary information, video, podcasts, user-generated content material, and first-person views. The largest mistake you may make is utilizing AI to provide what everybody else is making.” |
 |
Noah Learner, Sterling Sky“2025 feels just like the 12 months the place as an trade all see that the good decoupling is actual. Natural clicks from search are down between 10-20% whereas LLM visitors is contributing 1% internet new visitors and leads. The message is evident: our outdated mannequin for producing visitors and leads is damaged. We now have to go the place our perfect match clients are hanging out and share our distinctive factors of view on the issues they face. These locations embrace non-public communities on Slack and WhatsApp, help boards, Reddit, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok. And producing Video + Podcast content material in numerous lengths and codecs is extra necessary now greater than ever.“ |
 |
Brendan Hufford, Development Sprints“It’s getting tougher and tougher to get individuals to our web site and, to me, it’s by no means been extra apparent that content material advertising = zero click on advertising and now we’ve the information to show it. Each platform is doing every thing they’ll to maintain customers on it, together with Google. If you wish to grow to be your viewers’s favourite, it’s important to meet them the place they’re at. Solely ask them to come back to your web site when you’ve gotten one thing actually distinctive that you may’t share anyplace else.” |
Are content material entrepreneurs giving up on search engine optimization? No, we aren’t. Google continues to be 370x extra common than ChatGPT and there are methods to get AI to suggest your model. Most entrepreneurs are nonetheless doing their key phrase analysis and aligning pages and phrases.
Entrepreneurs who perceive search engine optimization are nonetheless driving visibility to their content material. At the same time as clickthrough charges decline, search-savvy content material execs know which subjects are in demand and the way content material discovery works. They know that some key phrases stay undisrupted. These entrepreneurs usually tend to report “sturdy outcomes.”
 |
Karine Abbou – karineabbou.com“Since 2022, AI has fueled the “every thing is useless” advertising hype. search engine optimization? Lifeless. Content material Advertising? Lifeless. The fact? It’s not dying, it’s evolution. search engine optimization is now not a race for rating; it’s a sport of discoverability in an answer-engine world. Content material Advertising pivoted from generic TOFU fluff to sharp, opinionated MOFU that converts. The weblog is following this actual path. The “lexicon” weblog—that soulless catalog of search engine optimization articles? Sure, that’s useless. For good. However the weblog as a automobile in your opinion, unique analysis, and story has a vivid future. It’s the last word instrument for constructing human authority and for networking.“ |
One of many few shortcuts in content material advertising is to easily write for locations the place your viewers spends time. One of these digital PR, or simply “visitor running a blog” in its easiest kind, continues to be a robust strategy to promote your tales and develop your area authority. It’s additionally an efficient strategy to practice AI language fashions.
However most content material entrepreneurs don’t write for different web sites. Those who do are most probably to drive outcomes.
 |
Marisa Lather, Advertising and Branding Marketing consultant“Visitor running a blog has a number of strategic advantages and is without doubt one of the lowest-cost, but most impactful ways to construct belief and increase model consciousness. Bloggers who publish by means of exterior shops faucet into a brand new viewers, place themselves as specialists, and construct lasting digital authority. And since solely 37% of bloggers leverage exterior sources, those that embrace visitor posting early usually tend to be seen for his or her thought management. Publishing by means of revered platforms validates each the creator as a reputable human supply, making a sooner path to belief.“ |
One other distinction throughout content material entrepreneurs is using information. Most entrepreneurs nonetheless don’t constantly measure efficiency with analytics. Solely a 3rd of us test the efficiency of every revealed article.
Much less information means fewer alternatives to regulate for the following submit and optimize the earlier submit. These content material entrepreneurs possible be taught extra slowly. These content material methods possible adapt extra slowly. The distinction is evident within the information. The extra the marketer makes use of analytics, the extra possible they’re to report “sturdy outcomes.”
 |
Pete Caputa, Databox“It amazes me that in 2025, individuals are publishing content material with out monitoring efficiency after they press publish. A lot is measurable now: attain, resonance, conversions. And it’s the one strategy to know which content material to advertise extra and which subjects to put in writing extra about.” |
Within the closing evaluation, we put all the facets of a content material program that correlate essentially the most with efficiency right into a single chart.
Here’s a abstract of the efficiency information.
The simplest entrepreneurs publish long-form, extremely visible content material in collaboration with influencers, together with unique analysis. They align content material with key phrases and aren’t afraid to spend some cash to drive visibility. They report movies, write for a lot of web sites and watch their analytics.
 |
Ann Handley, MarketingProfs“These outcomes inform a narrative of how running a blog is each maturing and fragmenting. Running a blog (and content material) works… but it surely’s tougher than ever to interrupt by means of. Success now requires extra deliberate decisions. The entrepreneurs seeing sturdy outcomes are those leaning into the “tougher” performs: long-form content material, visuals, wonderful modifying, influencer collaborations, unique analysis. In the meantime, shortcuts like “AI writes every thing” or skipping analytics aren’t paying off. “Consider it like a health club membership: Outcomes come to those that present up and sweat (through long-form, visuals, analysis, influencer collabs). Discover how I didn’t add AI to that record? It’s as a result of everybody’s utilizing it. (Apart from a tiny share–who ARE they?!) The winners deal with AI like a exercise buddy. The losers hand AI their Fitbit and go wait within the automotive.” |
And but, these are the least frequent approaches to content material advertising. Listed here are the best gaps. These are the least used, only approaches to content material advertising.
Gratitude
First, a giant due to the 12,971 bloggers who responded to the survey over the past 12 years. By far, the largest problem of this annual undertaking is getting individuals to reply to the 2-minute survey. We use electronic mail and social media, but it surely at all times comes right down to a number of one-to-one messages and shares by influential buddies. We all know it’s no enjoyable to be the goal of direct outreach. We sincerely admire everybody who responded. So grateful.
Subsequent, we have to thank our contributors. We principally outsource the evaluation to among the smartest minds in advertising. Thanks to all the subject material specialists who have been a part of this.
And eventually, to the Orbiteers who accomplish that a lot to help this undertaking, from the primary steps to the final. That’s you Amanda and Jantzen! So so grateful in your assist.
Methodology and Knowledge
The dataset contains 808 content material entrepreneurs. The respondents to this survey are principally entrepreneurs with whom we linked over a few years on social media and from the advertising group. Knowledge was captured utilizing a easy one-page survey of 24 questions.
- Nobody was incentivized to take the survey in any manner
- The dataset is closely populated with my private community, which skews towards LinkedIn customers, B2B entrepreneurs and US-based entrepreneurs
- Responses have been gathered in August of 2025
- It is a survey of bloggers (people), not corporations or manufacturers (teams)
- AI was used to assist discover correlations within the dataset. Every thing else was carried out by hand.
- “Sturdy outcomes” is intentionally left imprecise as a result of respondents’ targets are numerous. We requested respondents how they outline success. Right here is one closing chart with that information…
