2017 was a big year for tech and digital marketing as a whole. Programmatic turned 10 years old, and not without celebration – according to Marketing Dive, by the end of 2017, programmatic display spending will reach nearly $33 billion accounting for 78% of total display ad spending.
With 2017 being a year full of advancements, 2018 will be a year to step back and refine. Below, hear from the marketing and executive teams at Choozle about how we’re preparing for the year ahead.
Big Data + Real Humans
Big data is being used to detect human behaviors and how we interact online, which directly correlates to the use of machine learning. Accessing this data in 2018 and making sure it’s correct for your needs will be especially important for giving customers real-time responses while keeping “the human touch” intact. This practice spans across generations, as well – in Facebook’s recent study on the evolution of communication, an equal 65% of Gen X and 65% of Millenials prefer to chat over call or email, closely trailed by Baby Boomers at 63%.
“Alongside the shift to mobile, we’ve seen people shift their preferred method of communication toward messaging — a communication style that is instant, direct, and personal,” said Amy Cole, head of brand development EMEA at Instagram. Speaking of…
Mobile. Yeah, We Know…
Hear us out. It’s been drilled into marketers brains for the past couple of years that mobile is king, but we simply must be more diligent about the mobile experience, especially in digital advertising. Mobile ads are expected to account for half of internet advertising by 2018, surpassing desktop for the first time ever. This growth means acceleration for the development of mobile targeting capabilities. Beyond mobile ids and latitude/longitude targeting, mobile phone numbers will become a unique identifier, similar to an email address, for digital advertising targeting.
Programmatic specifically has a big play in mobile, as well. eMarketer predicts that by 2019, an already staggering amount (8 in 10) of mobile digital display ads being purchased programmatically will rise to 85.2%.
Decrease of Programmatic Native
While native ads promise a better consumer experience, publishers have been struggling to adopt universal native ad specs to drive higher usage for advertisers. Alas, there will always be a reach problem with programmatic native advertising, which will lead to an overall decrease. We are already seeing it with the shakeup at BuzzFeed, whose primary business model is native advertising or sponsored content is shifting to programmatic advertising strategies to increase their reach.
The Duopoly Will be Broken
The rising Google-Facebook duopoly only accounts for 40 percent of the average user’s online experience. Marketers have been right to worry about this paradox, particularly in the context of asking, “Are we getting what we are paying for?” and, “Where is the accountability?” This is why we’ve now seen some of the biggest advertisers in the world like AT&T, J&J, and Verizon pull back their investment with Google in the wake of brand safety concerns. While both of these titans are and will continue to be effective tools, marketers will begin to shift their focus on advertising strategies for the other 60% of users’ online experience.
Rejection of the % of Media Revenue Model
As advertisers continue to evolve and demand more transparency from vendors, we can expect new business models to emerge and that, in turn, will continue to shape how media is bought and sold. With typical management fees running between 15% and 50%, usually depending on campaign budget, advertisers (and their agencies) are wanting more of the media budgets to go towards actual impressions. To ensure campaign budgets are being leveraged towards usable media, we could see an emergence of purely SaSS-based digital advertising providers that would reject the long-standing percentage of media revenue model.
If you’re thinking about gaining more control over you and/or your client’s digital advertising in 2018, we’ve heard of this sweet tool that makes it really easy. (Cough cough Choozle) feel free to drop us a line!
