I live in Austin, Texas and ride a bike almost every day. When I bought a new one a couple years ago, I did what most of us still reflexively do: I searched. A lot. I compared geometry charts, read reviews, clicked through forums, toggled between tabs, and basically explored the web until I felt confident.

While I love the custom bike that I created, this year I decided that I needed a second bike with electronic assist to help me arrive at meetings less sweaty on hot Texas days. This time, the process was different. I uploaded my custom measurements and requirements into ChatGPT, asked it for the best option, and bought the bike it recommended. One conversation, one decision. 

At the heart of my experience is a once–in-a-generation shift in consumer behavior that is creating new opportunities, putting some businesses at risk, and shifting the work that we do as marketers.  

The Disruption Is Real, and It's Accelerating

At Moloco, we see these behavioral shifts in our data more and more every day. But we wanted to dig deeper: How does AI disruption affect different verticals? Which industries are most exposed? What should marketing leaders prioritize?

So we partnered with Boston Consulting Group to conduct extensive research across the consumer landscape. We surveyed 283 marketing leaders across 17 verticals and 5 regions, interviewed executives from leading companies, and analyzed first-party performance data from 3,000+ apps representing 200 billion downloads. The result is The AI Disruption Index: the-first-of-its-kind deep dive in AI-driven disruption by industry vertical, and you can explore it in depth here.

One of the first things we found is that 67% of surveyed senior marketing leaders expect a high level of AI-driven disruption to their vertical's consumer journey, with nearly all bracing for meaningful shifts ahead. 

And they’re right to do so. Looking just at the customer journey, a Cordial study found that 14% of people now start their shopping journeys with a chatbot, the largest shift to discovery we've seen in decades. When people search with Google, 80% of searches now end without a click when an AI overview is present, according to Similarweb.

The result is that many brands risk losing direct access to customers – and their fundamental visibility as digital businesses. In our research, we found that 87% of senior leaders are at least moderately concerned about AI agents reducing brand visibility, but only 50% feel somewhat prepared for this future.

Not All Disruption Is Created Equal: A Vertical-Level Look

AI-driven impact varies dramatically by vertical. To help marketers understand their exposure, we assessed verticals along two dimensions:

1. AI-driven disruption: How easily can AI replace discovery channels and service workflows?
2. Customer relationship strength: How transactional vs. loyal are customers?

The AI Disruption Index reveals four distinct archetypes:

• Breached verticals like travel and e-commerce face high disruption and weak customer ties—they need to fundamentally rebuild the relationship layer.
• Undefended verticals like gaming and dating have time to strengthen bonds before disruption accelerates.
• Contested verticals like productivity tools benefit from loyalty but must defend against service disruption.
• Secured verticals like fintech can use their advantage to embed AI as a differentiator.

The Strategic Imperative? Own the Relationship

While implications vary by quadrant, one strategic principle remains consistent: customer relationships are the durable asset of the AI future. Because while journeys shift, relationships endure. That’s why creating a strong, differentiated brand and offering excellent digital experiences on owned surfaces is more important than ever. 

Many top brands like DoorDash and Uber are investing in mobile apps. Apps don't always sit at the heart of marketing, but at a time when brands are getting disintermediated every which way, surfaces where you own direct relationships become a primary competitive advantage. 

Great apps are the best digital experience for customers, and a key strategy for marketers. . First-party data and end-to-end control of the logged-in app experience allows brands to offer flat-out better digital experiences, including personalized content and discovery, engaging community ecosystems, bespoke assistance, and AI-driven product comparisons.  

First-party data will continue to be the critical enabler for brands to be able to create these engaging, helpful experiences. And leading marketers are taking action: 77% of senior leaders in our research prioritizing first-party data capture, the highest of any response action to disruption.

Apps also offer diversified models for acquisition, opening new channels that can compensate for disrupted ones. The vast majority of senior leaders in our survey (80%) see search as highly likely to be disrupted by AI, yet still plan to increase their budgets there. In reality, the highly disrupted channels like paid search, organic search, and programmatic display need to be balanced with more resilient channels where you own the relationship, including in-app marketing, email and CRM, and retail media.

What's Next

We're making the AI Disruption Index available to marketing leaders who want to understand their exposure and build defensibility before disruption accelerates. You can dive deep with:

• The interactive report from Moloco
• The whitepaper from BCG 

Explore vertical-specific insights, strategic recommendations, and tactical playbooks for each quadrant. 

Because the question isn't whether AI will disrupt how you reach, connect, and keep customers. It's whether you'll build the relationships and strategies that endure when it does.

Methodology

About the Research

This report leverages insights from multiple research methodologies conducted with Boston Consulting Group from June to October 2025:

Quantitative Survey: 283 marketing leaders (VP/C-level) across 17 verticals and 5 regions, representing companies from $50M to $10B+ in annual revenue

Expert Deep Dive Interviews: 15 senior executives (VP/C-level) from leading companies across key verticals

Performance Analysis: Moloco app performance data from 3000+ apps representing 200B+ downloads, analyzing retention rates, engagement patterns, and acquisition channels (Moloco/Sensor Tower/Semrush).

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