# New Research: What’s Really Happening with Search, Dark Social, and AI

## Key Takeaways

- **Increased focus on social video**: Media companies are finding new opportunities through social video platforms. 2025 is projected to be a pivotal year for social video.
- **Global audience insights**: The reports highlight audience behavior trends, revealing shifts in engagement across different platforms during 2025 and 2026.
- **Referral sources**: Research indicates that a specific traffic source is responsible for driving 40% of pageviews for many media companies, emphasizing the need to optimize for visibility.
- **KPIs for optimizing conversion rates**: Essential engagement KPIs have been identified to guide companies in enhancing their conversion strategies.
- **Traffic, engagement, and device trends**: An analysis spanning several years provides insight into how device types and engagement levels have changed, helping inform future content strategies.

## Report Links

1. [Traffic, Engagement, and Device Trends from 2022](/content/resources/white-paper/traffic-engagement-and-device-trends-from-2022/index.html)

2. [The Essential Engagement KPIs for Optimizing Conversion Rates](/content/resources/white-paper/the-essential-engagement-kpis-for-optimizing-conversion-rates/index.html)

3. [Traffic, Engagement, and Loyalty Trends from 2019-2021](/content/resources/white-paper/traffic-engagement-and-loyalty-trends-from-2019-2021/index.html)

4. [Get free insights each month](/content/resources/white-paper/index.html)

### Summary
This research emphasizes the evolving landscape of audience engagement, particularly through the lens of social video and data-driven insights on traffic and conversion strategies.