Members of the Emodo team recently attended Advertising Week NY, and spent four days discussing advertising trends, networking with industry colleagues, and participating in special events. Across all of the learning and conversations, there were four key themes that seemed to resonate throughout the conference: CTV, ID deprecation, retail media networks, and AI.

CTV

Connected TV (CTV) is certainly on the minds of all advertisers and many media owners, as it is set to grow faster than any other programmatic channel over the next few years. Perhaps that’s why there was a dedicated stage for the topic “While You Were Streaming.” While CTV has seen explosive growth, there are still a number of areas that could use innovation and improvement that were discussed such as: measurement, especially solving for cross-device measurement in light of ID-deprecation, reach & frequency solutions, and creative ad innovation as CTV shifts to become more of a full-funnel opportunity. One area to watch in the coming months: AVOD (advertising-based video on demand) and FAST (free ad supported TV) which have gained significant growth, as evidenced by Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon announcing their ad-supported tiers. The growth continued this fall because of continued inflation and the strikes in Hollywood, which left consumers searching for additional content without a high price tag. What does the increase in AVOD and FAST adoption mean for advertisers? Additional CTV inventory!

ID Deprecation

ID deprecation is fresh on everyone’s minds, with Google’s deadline to eliminate cookies looming in Q1 2024. While there are expected challenges that will come with this change, especially as many do not feel ready even in the eleventh hour, discussions highlighted some optimism too. There was much agreement from advertisers and publishers that first-party data is a promising third-party cookie alternative. The problem with reliance on first-party data as a solution is that many struggle with scale. As for discussion around other ID-alternatives, the conversation didn’t sound much different from prior years, though perhaps a bit more urgent. It will be interesting to see how the identity discussion evolves in 2024, once Google begins deprecating cookies in Chrome and the industry is left with no choice but to explore alternative methods of targeting.

Retail Media

Retailers must stay attuned to essential trends as they enhance customer experiences and fine-tune their offerings to meet the growing demands of their customers. In the same vein, advertisers need to secure their businesses against shifts in consumer behavior and evolving privacy regulations, ensuring they can consistently deliver precisely targeted messages to their audience at the opportune moment. Enter Retail Media Networks. With an expected 36.6% growth in ad spend next year (Source: Insider Intelligence), it’s something advertisers need to start paying attention to. Speakers from Target’s Roundel, Albertsons Media Collective, Kroger Precision Marketing and 7-Eleven’s Gulp Media shared their strategies around leveraging first-party data and shopping behavior insights to effectively target loyal customers or introduce new products to customers with a propensity to buy.

Generative AI

AI is pervading conversations everywhere, from technology and science, to pop culture. Advertising Week did not shy away, highlighting how generative AI can help aid in true one-to-one personalization of campaigns at scale, catering to each individual’s unique needs and circumstances. Thoughtful discussion centered on the evolution of audience connections beyond segmentation, as well as how AI provides insight into the environment advertisers’ ads exist in.

Furthermore, sessions like “Data, Trust and AI: What’s Powering the Future of Marketing” and “Leveraging AI & Machine Learning to Elevate the Consumer Experience” focused on how AI will help optimize the future of programmatic trading and creative delivery through evolving technologies, changing privacy dynamics and rising consumer expectations. Advertisers need to become strategic with AI to build foundations for their businesses to prevent falling behind to competition.

Our time at Advertising Week NY 2023 gave us confirmation that with our current product offerings and strategies around future-proofed audience targeting and AI optimization, as well as our future roadmap focused on CTV innovation, Emodo will have a significant impact on the industry in 2024 and beyond. Want to learn more or meet up with us at another industry event? Contact us!