1. Digital ad spend is on par with TV now. The balance shifted faster than expected and digital spend will likely exceed TV next year. Spend isn’t moving away from TV to digital, but rather from Print and Local media, according to eMarketer. For the digital space, we’re seeing a consolidation of tech and publishing vendors as we reach market maturity.
2. Two thirds of digital spend will be Mobile next year. In fact, Mobile ad spend will exceed spend on Print and Radio combined in 2016 and for the next few years. As buyers, we’re not necessarily choosing to spend on Mobile or allocating dollars to Mobile; however, it’s where our ads end up, largely due to search and social, as we buy platforms agnostically and auto-optimize.
Mobile wallets are increasingly popular especially with the 18-34 year old audience, which could change how people interact with brands in-store and in-app. This Mobile shift is largely due to the Google and Facebook duopoly. Google’s search and Facebook’s ad revenues combined will total $32.31 billion this year, or almost half of total US digital advertising revenue. 86% of Facebook users are Mobile, and there’s room for further growth.
3. In terms of Social media, Instagram is second to Facebook for 25 to 34-year-olds. But Snapchat is second to Facebook for 18-24 year olds. Influencer programs will continue to be important for advertisers, as Gen Z and Millennials seek authentic, seamless experiences with brands.
4. The TV/Video landscape continues to grow and shift. Hulu and YouTube are launching live TV. Facebook continues to prioritize video ads in its algorithm. We see increasing Connected and Smart TV adoption. There are still cord cutters, but mostly people are stacking (i.e. combining cable with Netflix and Hulu subscriptions). Addressable TV, showing different ads to different households during the same program, is still in its infancy but a trend to watch.
5. Programmatic buying, especially for Mobile and Digital Video. Over the next year or two, we’ll stop talking about programmatic so much because it will be a standard practice. But the real work starts as we integrate first-party data, and we’ll start to see automation and data coordinated better in the coming years.
6. On Measurement, we’ll continue to see more complex online/offline attribution solutions. Data sources will be integrated into more of pools versus siloes. Additionally, marketers will be held to business goals instead of “vanity” metrics as the industry continues to evolve. Key Performance Indicators will be chosen based on what correlates to revenue or sales.
7. As technology for measurement and buying advances, we’ll see the industry commit to personalized creative and better–orchestrated experiences. This could mean more dynamic ads that adjust automatically based on who’s viewing. Native content ads, if helpful and targeted, are a better user experience and are likely here to stay. We’ll rethink one-size-fits-all concepting for creative. Consumers expect quality and relevancy over quantity and mass appeal.
Honorable mention – we’re still a few years away from immersive tech and AI, but we’ll keep using the buzzwords.
The marketing future is clearly based on smarter use of data, but it’s not a road well traveled. It requires hard work and strong partnerships between agencies, brands, publishers and technology vendors. Marketing is more complex than ever, despite machine learning. CMO’s need business partners, something Mindgruve strives to be for all of our clients.
