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The idealized vision of the open internet as a space for free speech and community-driven expression is under threat, along with its unique environment for brand engagement. This environment, where marketers can create their own opportunities for customer interaction, requires reliable revenue streams to sustain its diverse content. However, walled gardens are increasingly capturing a disproportionate share of advertising spend.
Brands need to recognize what’s at stake if the open internet fades away and the rich opportunities that can arise from investing in it. As major tech platforms become more detached from public interests, how can brands contribute to supporting the open internet while also uncovering unique, data-driven consumer insights?
What’s at risk if the open internet is lost?
The open internet is more than just a technological framework; it’s a societal cornerstone. It provides unlimited access to information, empowering people globally with the knowledge and resources essential for education, research, and personal growth.
By erasing geographical boundaries, the open internet fosters global communication and collaboration, creating a fertile ground for innovation where groundbreaking technologies and cultural movements emerge. It upholds freedom of expression and strengthens social connections, allowing people to maintain relationships and build communities online—spaces where they can express opinions and engage in discourse without fear of censorship.
Walled gardens, in contrast, present a different vision. These closed ecosystems restrict access to content and services, limiting users’ exposure to diverse perspectives and stifling innovation by constraining developers’ ability to create interoperable applications. The monopolistic nature of walled gardens allows a few players to exert significant control over available content and services, often leading to anti-competitive behavior that reduces choice and innovation, ultimately harming consumers.
The open internet as fertile ground for brand growth
For brands, the open internet offers unparalleled advantages. Nowhere else can new markets be discovered or created so easily, connecting businesses to a global customer base with operational efficiency that seemed impossible just decades ago. These customers can be engaged across various online channels, such as social media, websites, search engines, and digital advertising networks.
Brands have more direct control over their reputation, as they can monitor and respond to customer feedback and discussions, building trust and credibility with a human touch. By engaging directly with their target audience in real-time, brands can establish meaningful relationships and gather valuable feedback through review pages, blogs, and forums.
While the fragmentation caused by walled gardens hinders communication and collaboration across different platforms, the open internet encourages innovation and collaboration among brands, developers, and third-party service providers. It also offers unique first-party data from various online touchpoints, helping brands understand consumer preferences and trends that define effective marketing strategies.
The open internet’s potential loss is walled gardens’ gain
The open internet remains “free” due to its diverse revenue models. Advertising plays a significant role—websites offer free access to content in exchange for displaying ads—while subscription models have proven to be a steady revenue stream, sustaining platforms and supporting content creation.
Concentrating all advertising spend within walled gardens poses severe risks, as 66% of global ad spend is expected to be concentrated there. The diversity of content becomes subject to big tech gatekeepers, who prioritize content aligned with their commercial interests, leading to a homogenized online experience. Reduced competition allows these platforms to dominate the advertising market, limiting options for advertisers and publishers. Additionally, the unequal balance of power in data exchanges between platforms and advertisers hampers effective campaign optimization.
It’s even worse for publishers. Increased dependence on walled gardens makes publishers vulnerable to algorithm changes, policies, or revenue-sharing terms, potentially compromising their independence and sustainability. This situation is exacerbated by walled gardens’ use of AI innovations, which further restrict publishers’ access to consumers.
Big tech is disconnected from both brand and public interests
Brands dependent on walled gardens risk limiting their reach, reducing options for ad placement, and facing heightened competition within these ecosystems, which inflates advertising costs and reduces return on investment. Years of audience growth can be undone overnight through algorithm changes or pricing models imposed by walled gardens, which hold user data as leverage against brands that might seek alternatives.
Walled gardens also stand at the center of privacy concerns and are responsible for creating information filter bubbles that lead to social isolation and content feedback loops that can spiral toward extremism.
On the open internet, brands and publishers can set their own terms
The vast audience data that walled gardens possess has always been their key advantage, but it’s not the only valuable data available. Brands and publishers on the open web can uncover rich consumer insights by embracing a collaborative approach to their owned data assets without surrendering their independence.
A collective effort towards greater interoperability—achieved through collaboration on standards and protocols—can establish pathways to share permissioned data on mutually beneficial terms, rather than allowing one party to hoard it and sell it back to the other. Brands that engage in equal collaboration can ensure they uphold data privacy and security through robust protection measures over which they have full control.
We know the direction big tech is heading, and it’s not in anyone’s interest but their own. However, on the open internet, brands have the opportunity to carve their own path and support a rich, diverse, and innovative ecosystem.
By embracing the open internet, advertisers can drive growth and success instead of getting trapped in a race to the bottom against other brands confined within walled gardens.