November 30, 2022
Just Another Manic Media Day
Reaching a customer has never been easier but holding their attention has never been harder. Consumption of media is in a constant state of change. All in all, the world of media is wild, deranged, and full of excitement: the definition of manic. So, what are the top 5 trends keeping our digital buyers up at night?
- Privacy comes at a cost.
The walls are closing in on privacy, and while the changes are for the betterment of the digital landscape, they’re quickly making the status quo obsolete. Big players like Google & Apple have ramped up their attempts at proactively addressing privacy concerns in hopes of showing legislators that they are capable of self-regulation. As a result, the immediate future brings the death of the cookie and a default of ‘opt-out’ for privacy settings. For advertisers, that means dependance on third-party data and tracking is no longer as effective as it once was and ownership of your own data is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.
- Race to programmatic
The programmatic method of buying inventory (in real-time through an auction environment via algorithms and AI) started out as a way to buy up banner ads at scale. But other media sellers quickly realized the benefit of automation and, with the digitization of traditional channels, programmatic is on its way to becoming the most accessible and scalable buying methodology for everything from connected television to streaming radio to place-based, digital outdoor.
- Digital first
The Covid-19 pandemic rapidly and permanently altered the retail landscape, speeding up a trend that was already plodding toward a similar future. Lunch meeting or happy hour? Check to make sure there isn’t a Zoom link before you go through the effort of putting on real pants. Selling jewelry from a small B&M boutique? The customer expects to be able to shop your real-time inventory online, make a purchase, then opt to have it shipped, delivered to their doorstep via gig economy couriers (Instacart, Uber, etc.), or have a curbside hand-off.
- Walking a fine automation line
Automation continues to improve year-over-year, closing the loop on inefficiencies within marketing. But the machines haven’t fully taken over. We, as marketers, must bridge the gap between the consumer and the computer, using automation’s ability to scale tactical efficiencies and our own strategic expertise to make decisions best suited for reaching the consumer. Marrying a human/computer strategy together uses the best of both, while covering the limitations of each.
- Fractured ecosystem
Remember when Cable first launched and fractured the TV viewership? Consumers went from viewing content on just four channels to 40, then 400+. This is like that, times a million. The barriers to entry are virtually zero in the digital space. Due to an abundance of tools to build websites with little to no coding knowledge, no need for sizable startup funds, and limited regulatory oversight, anyone can spin up a website overnight and start monetizing it almost instantly.