Real-world example of how an async function would be put into practice

I’m looking for information. I want to be able to explain how async functions are put into practice with regard to websites. I know how they work. I now how to compare it to situations like baking cookies and doing something while they’re baking. I know how to write an async function (JavaScript) and demonstrate it using setTimeout and console.logs.

But how are websites actually using async functions with regard to rest API callouts? What I mean is, what is the real world need for a website to make the rest API call asynchronously? I’m having trouble thinking of an example of something a website would need to do which would require it to continue executing code immediately as opposed to simply awaiting the return from the callout synchronously.

My goal is to build a small example of a website calling out to get info from a public Rest API and to demonstrate that the code is still executing during the time it takes to return, but I would like to be doing something a website would actually do, not just some console.logging to prove it happens.