Media Trends
The Internet has crossed a significant threshold: according to Imperva’s 2026 Bad Bot Report, automated bot traffic accounted for more than 53% of all web traffic in 2025, while human traffic dropped to 47%.
In other words, many online clicks, visits, and interactions may not represent real people at all.
At the same time, AI agents, content scrapers, and automated systems are rapidly increasing the volume of activity happening online. As digital environments become more crowded and complex, organizations are facing a new challenge: understanding which engagement is genuine and which is simply noise.
This trend doesn’t diminish the value of digital media, but it does raise important questions about how we measure success and where we build meaningful connections.
Why It Matters
For nonprofits, surface-level metrics like impressions, clicks, website traffic, and views don’t always tell the full story.
A campaign may appear to be reaching thousands of people, but the more important question is whether those interactions represent genuine human attention and engagement.
This is one reason legacy media channels continue to play an important role. Radio and television audiences are built around intentional listening and viewing habits, often through stations, programs, and personalities that have earned trust over many years.
These platforms offer more than reach. They provide consistency, familiarity, and credibility. A message heard on a valued Christian radio station or experienced through a broadcast program often carries a level of trust that can be difficult to replicate in increasingly fragmented digital environments.
The strongest strategies today recognize that digital and broadcast media each play a unique role in reaching and serving audiences.
Next Steps
The path forward is to become more intentional about how success is measured and where trust is built.
As you evaluate your communications strategy, consider questions like:
- Are we measuring meaningful engagement or simply activity?
- Where are we building long-term trust with our audience?
- Which channels consistently connect us with real people?
- How are our digital and broadcast efforts working together?
As online spaces become harder to verify, trusted media channels may become even more valuable since authentic human connection is becoming increasingly rare.
The Internet may be becoming less human, but ministry cannot afford to.
What signals do you look for to determine whether you’re building genuine audience engagement, versus simply generating activity?
Shauna Goodison
Director of Communications | shauna@eaglecom.ca