Signal loss is having a significant impact on digital advertising, with third-party cookie deprecation, frequency capping, and attribution concerns as regulatory bodies, browser developers, operating system owners, and consumers increase their focus on user data.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) estimates that signal loss stemming from existing third-party cookie deprecation in Safari and Firefox and Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) has already curbed advertisers’ ability to target and track 50-60% of internet users.
But the biggest hammer is about to drop, as Google intends to deprecate third-party cookies in its wildly popular Chrome browser by the end of 2024, ushering in a new age of cookieless advertising where alternative identity solutions are critical to digital advertising success.
On the brink of this type of transformational moment, how is the advertising industry preparing (or not preparing) for increased signal loss and a cookieless world? What do industry professionals they think of the leading alternative identity solutions? And how do marketers and advertisers feel about privacy and its place in the larger identity conversation?
For this report, Basis surveyed over 200 marketing and advertising professionals from top agencies, brands, non-profits, and publishers to see how they are reacting to third-party cookie deprecation and signal loss, and to gauge their feelings about privacy and user data as we head into a pivotal year for the advertising industry.
Findings include:
Take a moment and pause. As you read this, consider the environment you’re in right now. How many tabs do you have open on your browser? If you’re on your phone, take note of how many apps you have running, the notifications pinging for your attention, the subtle pull of the endless stream of tasks vying for your focus. Perhaps you’re reading this while listening to music or a podcast? Maybe you’re skimming as you walk on an under-desk treadmill, or (perhaps most likely of all) you’re switching back and forth between reading this post and working on a project you need to complete by end of day.
In today’s digital world, we live in a near-constant state of distraction and multitasking. We are ever connected and our attention often divided, dispersed across screens and responsibilities. Given this inundation of content, it’s no surprise our attention spans are shrinking.
For digital advertisers, then, seeking and capturing attention is critical. After all, attention matters for memorability: If audiences can’t remember what they’re seeing from an advertising standpoint, it’s going to be difficult for them to remember the messages being served to them and the brands and advertisers connected to those messages. And if they can’t remember the brands connected to those messages, it’s unlikely they will use or purchase the products or services they offer.
So, how can advertisers better capture attention in the year ahead? By taking an audience-centered approach, crafting creative that captivates, and focusing on high-quality ad placements. Read on to learn key considerations for capturing audience attention, cutting through the clutter, and crafting winning campaigns in 2024 (and beyond).
We live in an age of endless distractions fueled by a desire for instant gratification. Bored by the video that popped up on TikTok? Just scroll. Underwhelmed by the show you’re watching on Netflix? Hop over to Hulu. Not a fan of the playlist you originally picked for your workout? Here’s an AI-generated one based on the songs you listen to most!
How can advertisers break through this noise to both capture attention and sustain it?
It starts with having strong creative. With a literally endless supply of other content available at all times, advertising teams need to ensure their creative is standout so that their audiences don’t tune out, scroll by, switch apps, or simply forget about it.
In 2024, audiences will consume more than 12 hours of digital media per day. In this context, it’s not simply enough to get a message in front of audiences. Advertisers can do every single thing right with their tech and targeting—getting in front of the perfect person at the perfect time—but if the creative is a miss, then they’re not going to capture that individual’s attention or make the most of that opportunity.
Instead, advertisers need to produce thoughtful creative that tells their client or brand’s unique story in a way that resonates and drives action. To do so, advertising teams can embrace a host of strategies and tactics, including:
Beyond investing in standout creative, digital advertisers looking to capture attention must focus on the quality of their ad placements. There’s a big difference between delivering 100 impressions on a low-quality site (or with low-quality targeting) that lead to zero conversions vs. 10 high-quality impressions that lead to two conversions. This focus on quality is especially important given the rise of made-for-advertising sites (MFAs) and the steady increase in low-quality AI-generated content, both of which can syphon ad spend away from higher-quality inventory.
Advertisers should actively seek to avoid bidding on this inventory in their campaigns, leveraging tools like a dynamic MFA blocklist and taking advantage of buying methods like programmatic guaranteed and private marketplace (PMP) deals to secure high-quality and premium placements. Additionally, advertising teams will benefit from leaning into KPIs that gauge the quality of impressions to determine not only if their ads are being seen but also if they’re sticking with audiences.
The final consideration for capturing audience attention in 2024? Focusing on identifying, getting to know, and targeting ideal audiences with precision.
Marketers should re-double their efforts to familiarize themselves with their target audience, conducting (or investing in) thorough market research to grasp their demographics and behaviors. From there, advertisers will want to tailor content to those distinct audiences by creating personalized ads addressing their specific needs, desires, and pain points—and, of course, to make sure those ads are reaching those audiences on the channels where they’re spending time.
Advertising teams can leverage pre-bid segments and custom PMP deals, and tools like custom bidding algorithms and pixel-based verification, to both capture and measure users’ attention, helping marketers answer the questions: What have people actually seen, and what’s stuck with them? They can then use the data and insights they gather to make optimizations responsive to their audience’s wants and needs. By putting audiences front and center, advertisers can maximize outcomes and craft campaigns that inspire action.
In digital advertising, seeking and capturing audience attention is not simply a strategy—it’s a necessity. As consumers gain access to an increasing amount of captivating content, advertising teams that focus on getting a compelling story in front of the right audience on the right channel will find success.
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Want to learn even more about how to make the most of your campaigns this year? Check out our webinar, Future in Focus: 2024 Digital Advertising Trends. In it, Basis Technologies’ VP of Media Innovations and Technology Noor Naseer shares insights and strategies to help advertisers tune out the noise and instead focus their attention (see what we did there?) on the most important, proven trends in 2024.
Basis has been named Ad Age's #1 Best Places to Work in its 2024 rankings, leading all companies with over 200 employees. The annual list honors companies that are "quantifiably ahead of the pack", factoring in everything from pay, to benefits, to corporate culture and leadership.
The list for 2024 is particularly notable, showcasing 50 companies after a year in which advertising businesses faced the joint challenges of an unsettled economy, a changing media market, and a tight talent pool.
In its story, Ad Age recognized Basis for its industry-leading benefits and culture, including its popular Flex Friday initiative:
"Throughout 2023," it notes, "Basis offered a program of flexible Fridays, during which employees were allowed a respite from the normal wheelspin to take time as they saw fit, such as completing personal errands, learning new professional skills or getting a head start on the weekend. Basis tinkered with the format, alternating each week between a full day and half day of flexibility in order to find the right balance of productivity and relaxation. The program became a win-win for employer and employees...and the company is continuing it in the form of weekly half-days of flexibility through 2024."
To find out more about what this recognition means to Basis, we spoke with Michelle Michael (VP, Talent Acquisition) about the honor and what makes Basis such a special place to work.
Michelle Michael: Everyone always says, “It’s the people.” And even though it sounds cliché, it’s true. We treat people like human beings, and we encourage everyone to be their whole selves at Basis.
I’ve been here for 10 years, and I’ve never seen an attitude of “This isn’t my problem,” or “I'm too busy to help you,” or “I don't care what's going on with you”. In my experience, it's been the opposite of a toxic culture, and people feel cared for. They feel supported. And that's true regardless of whether it's about work or in your personal life.
MM: I think people really value Basis’ emphasis on flexibility and support.
Our flexible paid time off policy, Flex Fridays, and the ability to work remotely allow our people to work and use their time in ways that are best for them. Basis’ contributions to employees’ health savings accounts, 401k accounts, and student loan payments allow for financial freedom and for employees to accomplish more with their money. Flexibility with time and money is always going to be a top benefit for people!
When it comes to support, Basis offers amazing resources like access to mental health apps such as Ginger and Headspace, an annual wellness and benefits event called Wellnesspalooza, and custom training and education programming. We always try to take the extra step at every opportunity to support our people.
Support at Basis also goes beyond traditional “benefits”. It’s a part of our culture: It’s getting a gift in the mail after you have a baby with your partner, it’s getting flowers if you're going through a challenging time in your life, it’s a virtual party thrown by your coworkers for your 10-year anniversary—that’s the kind of culture we have here at Basis.
MM: It’s very validating. So many people here work really hard to make Basis special. From the tech teams making a product that is changing the industry for the better, to the services teams that put clients’ needs first, to the Talent & Development team that is constantly curating a wonderful experience for our employees. It definitely feels validating to have that sort of work, care, and culture recognized and celebrated.
Basis subscribes to the belief that the happier our employees are, the better we can service our clients, and the happier they're going to be, too.
It's all connected. Our founder, Shawn, knew this from day one, when he said that happy employees lead to better ROI, meaning happier clients and more success. Because you're not going to have a successful company or a successful product (at least, not for long!) if you have miserable people working for you. This type of recognition and celebration only motivates us to do more—to be more innovative, to be more supportive, and to continue to listen closely to our employees so that we can continue to create the type of environment that makes Basis so special.
At Basis Technologies, we believe we're most successful when our employees feel like the best version of themselves. To celebrate this recognition, we asked a few members of our incredible team to share what working at Basis means to them:
What’s happened recently in the realms of paid search and social media? Basis Technologies’ Robert Kurtz (Group VP, Search Media Solutions), Jenny Lewis (Director, Social Media Investment), Sofia Petrovsky (Director, Search Media Investment), and Mitch Wills (Director, Social Media Investment) have compiled all the latest news, trends, and resources for easy access.
Google has officially begun phasing out third-party cookies in Chrome. A new feature called Tracking Protection rolled out in January to roughly 1% of users globally, blocking cookies that track users’ browsing history across websites. While this is a small step toward Google's eventual removal of cookies, it is also a reminder for publishers and marketers to move swiftly toward adopting strategies for cookieless advertising. (Want to look into the cookieless future? Our guide to privacy-friendly advertising can be found here.)
An Adalytics report last December claimed some search ads appearing on the Google Search Partner Network (SPN) may have ended up alongside unsuitable content and on websites that violate Google policies. While advertisers are automatically opted into the SPN, they now have the option to opt out on Search and Shopping ad campaigns. Google is also temporarily allowing brands to opt out of the SPN on artificial intelligence-powered Performance Max (Pmax) and App Campaigns, though sources told AdWeek that could end March 1.
A recent study by Authoritas found that Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE) displays links that are significantly different from the top organic search results for most search queries. The AI-generated summaries rarely overlap with traditional search results, with only 4.5% of links matching exactly. This means SGE is potentially surfacing lesser-known websites that might struggle to reach the top 10 organically while bypassing established top-ranking pages, which could impact organic traffic for some businesses.
The TikTok Marketing Partners Program announced new measurement partners: Cross-Channel (for attribution) and Lift (for incrementality). Cross-Channel partners will analyze the impact of TikTok ads across marketing touchpoints before users make a purchase, including multi-touch attribution and post-purchase survey. Lift partners measure the incremental impact of TikTok advertising, focusing on brand lift, sales lift, store visit lift, and tune-in lift.
TikTok and Ticketmaster are expanding their ticketing partnership into more than 20 new markets following a successful beta launch in the US in 2022. Certified artists on TikTok in participating countries can use an in-app ticketing feature to allow fans to buy tickets to their events directly within the platform. No news yet as to if or when this ticketing feature will be accessible to advertisers, but the successful integration could bode well for future event discovery and in-app purchase options for event-based advertisers on TikTok.
In the run-up to the 2024 elections, Meta has shared some of the steps it says it’s taking toward protecting elections online—not just during election periods, but at all times. In recent years, Meta has developed an approach it claims will ensure the integrity of elections on its platforms, that gives people a voice, helps support participation in the civic process, and combats voter interference and foreign influence.
Pinterest has released its annual trend report, Pinterest Predicts, harnessing the power of Pinterest’s predictive trend data to give consumers and advertisers a head start on what it believes will be the biggest and hottest trends for 2024.
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Want a monthly digest of all the best digital marketing articles, POVs, and reports delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for the Basis Scout newsletter!
Pharmaceutical marketers today have their work cut out for them. On the one hand, technological developments like digital healthcare, personalized medicine, and artificial intelligence are reshaping how consumers take care of their health. On the other, signal loss in digital advertising, created by factors like Apple’s App Tracking Transparency, digital advertising regulation, and the loss of third-party cookies, is changing how advertisers can target consumers and assess campaign performance.
Amidst all this technological transformation, however, a key marketing tenet remains true: To market effectively, you must know your consumers. Pharmaceutical advertisers who take the time to understand the various segments they want to reach will create a level of relevance that cuts through the noise and builds trust and memorability with their target audiences.
To that end, let’s get to know how five key pharmaceutical consumer personas look, sound, and feel as they shop for these critical medicines.
“There’s almost too much information to sift through, but I’ll do whatever it takes to improve my health.”
More than 116 million US adults live with chronic conditions, some of the most common including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. These consumers are often aged 45 and older, are married, and have college degrees and annual household incomes less than $100,000. They visit their doctors often and are mindful of what they have to say. This professional advice is particularly valuable because, between the media's coverage of this industry and pharma's large ad spend, this group is constantly bombarded with information about their conditions and available treatments. Because their health negatively impacts important things like family time, they’re willing to do what it takes to manage their symptoms.
Industry advertisers can prepare this group with the right questions to ask during their frequent doctor visits by leveraging messaging that relates to their experience and sharing how their brand can help. For high relevance, marketers can use contextual targeting to align ads with content about conditions, and take over ad inventory of resource-focused websites known as “condition centers.” At the same time, advertisers can tap into data providers who create custom models based on anonymized patient diagnosis and treatment information to reach target audiences wherever they are in the digital world, whether researching or simply relaxing.
“I have to trust my doctor and my medications if I’m going to maintain my quality of life.”
There are just over 102 million US adults in this segment, and they’re typically aged 50 and older, married, college educated, and bringing in less than $100,000 per year. These folks see their healthcare professionals regularly for check-ups, screenings, and the like, and take their recommendations seriously when it comes to medications and lifestyle. They use the drug brands their doctors recommend, and stick to the brands they know even if their favored brand is a little more expensive, unless a change is deemed necessary. Therefore, it’s important to approach this audience with a mix of emotional appeal and hard evidence that they can bring to conversations with their doctor.
That loyalty only leaves a bit of room for new brands to enter a patient’s consideration set, but this audience does stay up to date on alternatives, so the window is slightly open. Given the broad nature of this segment, search advertising can help people who are looking for answers to their health-related questions when they are in the discovery stage, while contextual targeting can reach those who are researching specific ailments. For awareness, a mix of CTV and radio is a great way to bridge the gap between traditional media and digital for this audience.
“This is stressful. I still work when I’m sick AND I have to search for OTC drugs I can afford and trust.”
Forty-eight million plus younger US adults rely on over-the-counter medicine to manage symptoms of illness. Typically aged 18 to 44, they were born and have come into adulthood in an age of two economic crises and a pandemic… and, understandably, they’re stressed. Between career (where they earn $50,000-$250,000 per year) and family (they’re mostly unmarried but in some cases living with a partner and with kids in the home), they’re stretched thin—sometimes so thin that they don’t care for their health issues as well as they should.
Because of this constant state of stress, it may take a while for pharma advertisers to get their attention, but this group is always looking for ways to improve their health. And given their level of digital savvy, they know how to seek out answers. Once they find what they’re looking for, they would rather try out OTC options and skip the visit to the doctor. So, it’s important to be there when they are doing research around their condition, making search a top channel for this audience. Point-of-care platforms focused on telehealth are also a great option, as the younger audience continues to utilize these platforms over in-person visits.
“I’m trying not to worry—I just had surgery, and I don’t want my recovery to be hard and expensive.”
This key audience segment is made up of the more than 46 million US adults who go “under the knife” each year. They’re usually aged 55 and older, either married or not married, have some college education, and tend to earn $100,000-$250,000 annually. Surgical patients tend to do what their doctors tell them, only using or switching drug brands as recommended by their physicians. These folks are all too familiar with the healthcare system as they navigate procedures that require more care than just a standard visit. It’s important to focus on information using high-impact placements that can help establish trust with the brand.
While they may not be easily swayed by pharmaceutical ads, they do their due diligence, taking care to perform research about health and wellness on trusted websites and ensuring their health insurance covers all prescriptions. Industry advertisers should consider sponsored content with top healthcare publishers paired with condition center takeovers to appear during that investigation. For a broader approach, CTV and streaming audio can communicate in-depth messages more effectively than channels where space to include information can be limited, such as display.
“My job is already demanding, but I can’t let my patients down by not doing my research or recommending costly drugs.”
It’s hard to discuss the pharmaceutical industry without looking at the 7.4 million healthcare workers who diagnose patients and prescribe their medications. They are generally women, aged 25 to 54, who are married with children, have graduated college, and are earning $75,000 or more per year. Their passion for their career leads to a lot of positives for their patients: Healthcare workers are typically very analytical in their decision-making process, looking for the best options for their patients and the most efficient way to deliver results. Pharma advertisers should reach them on the platforms where they actively engage with other professionals, like Doximity and Sermo, or LinkedIn for those on the administrative side.
Because this segment tends to be strapped for time, they often stick with what’s already working for their patients. However, advertising that’s adjacent to their research can bring forth new options for consideration. Marketers should align ads contextually with this group’s favored content, like trade publications and discussion sites, by setting up custom private marketplaces and using programmatic guaranteed for preferred rates and direct deals. Point-of-care platforms can also help reach doctors when they are in the process of making treatment decisions. Last, ads should include compelling, informative messages that highlight the benefits of the product.
Industry advertisers have much to weigh as they look to fuel business growth by targeting key groups of consumers. By incorporating the personas outlined above into their planning, marketers can ensure that their approaches are suited to the pharmaceutical consumers of today. Strategic targeting and messaging based on the characteristics of these personas will be just what the doctor ordered for brands to maintain or grow market share and consumer trust.
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If you’re looking to connect with pharmaceutical consumers in a meaningful way, advertising automation can help. It empowers your team to get more granular and efficient when reaching audiences on the channels they prefer and to deploy impactful, personalized messaging. Download our guide to learn more about how advertising automation can help you create intentional, omnichannel experiences for key audiences.
What do working out, putting money in a 401(k), and running an advertising campaign have in common?
They all require an investment—whether that be time, effort, or money (or all three!). And, like with any investment, people expect a return. Avid gym goers expect to get stronger. Folks investing through their 401(k) accounts expect those funds to grow. And brands spending money on advertising campaigns? They expect for that money to drive revenue.
Today, we’re digging into how marketing teams can maximize their return on ad spend (ROAS) by adjusting their target ROAS bidding strategy. We’ll explore what a target ROAS strategy is, when to use one, and how to fine-tune your target ROAS in different scenarios to maximize returns. Ready to become an ROAS rockstar? Read on!
Before we dive into what target ROAS is, let’s review the basics. ROAS is a metric that tells advertising teams how much revenue they are generating relative to their advertising spend.
How do advertisers calculate ROAS? Easy—they use the following formula:
ROAS = (Revenue ÷ Ad Spend) x 100
So, if you spend $100 on a campaign and it generates $200 in revenue, your ROAS = (200/100) x 100, or 200%.
Target ROAS is an automated bidding strategy offered by many programmatic advertising platforms. As the name suggests, it optimizes campaigns towards a “target” ROAS value, which is set by an advertising team based on historical conversion values.
For instance, if you are using a target ROAS strategy and set a target of 300%, machine learning will automatically optimize your bids towards the placements that are most likely to generate $3 of revenue for every $1 of ad spend. To be clear, this doesn’t mean the technology will only bid on placements that will generate $3 in revenue, but rather that $3 per every $1 of ad spend is the average revenue target it will optimize towards.
Target cost per action (otherwise known as cost per acquisition or CPA) is also an automated bidding strategy, but it optimizes bids towards a different goal than target ROAS. Target CPA takes the amount you’re willing to spend per a specific conversion or consumer action, and bids with the goal of achieving the highest number of conversions or consumer actions based on that amount. For example, you might set a target CPA of $20 per new customer. Machine learning will then automatically optimize bids towards gaining as many conversions as possible at or near that target cost.
Target CPA is often used in lead generation campaigns and is best suited for teams who want to acquire customers at a predetermined cost. Target ROAS, on the other hand, is best for those who want to generate the most revenue possible for a specific amount of ad spend, and it can provide more flexibility amidst market changes. For example, an e-commerce brand might benefit from using a target ROAS strategy to maximize their ROAS leading up to the holidays. A B2B startup, on the other hand, might benefit from using a target CPA strategy, to ensure they’re acquiring customers within their set budget.
Both target ROAS and target CPA strategies rely on conversion data, but they use it in different ways. With target CPA, machine learning optimizes towards a specific conversion value. With target ROAS, on the other hand, machine learning uses historical conversion values to try to achieve your target ROAS. For example, if your online store historically saw $6 worth of sales for every $1 of ad spend, you might use that information to set a target ROAS of 600% ($6 in sales ÷ $1 in ad spend x 100%) to continue to make the same return on ad investment.
Advertisers should use a target ROAS strategy when they have a specific ROI (return on investment) goal for their advertising efforts. It’s also important they have a clear understanding of the value associated with different conversions, so that the bidding strategy can use those values to optimize for desired returns.
Beyond having sufficient data to inform this strategy, there are specific scenarios when advertisers might benefit from using target ROAS:
To set up a target ROAS strategy, advertisers must first define their conversion values based on historical data. In other words: They need to have a clear understanding of how much revenue can be generated by different customer actions. Once those values are defined, advertisers can select a target ROAS bidding strategy based on existing data and set a target ROAS value based on their unique objectives.
This target ROAS value then guides the bidding system as it makes optimizations. But just like any strategy, it’s important to monitor and adjust based on performance metrics (more on this shortly!).
Often, teams will set an ROAS target based on a known value of doing business, likely due to an understanding of what margin of revenue is required on ad spend to ensure profit.
But remember that the goal of this bidding strategy is to maximize revenue—and simply setting a target ROAS and forgetting about it is not guaranteed to result in the best returns. In fact, with a bit of testing and optimization, teams can make adjustments that result in a greater ROAS.
So, how can advertising teams go about determining what ROAS target will result in the most profit? Even if a target ROAS metric is being met, that’s not a guarantee that you’re capturing the maximum amount of profit available. A higher ROAS target may result in similar revenue, with lower spend. A lower ROAS target may conversely result in increased revenue, with similar spend.
To determine if performance is short of what it could be, here are a few things to consider:
By observing the interactions between these components over time, teams can figure out whether their target ROAS is too low, too high, or just right. Let’s dig into a few scenarios to see what this looks like in action.
In this scenario, your target ROAS is likely too low. Though you’re getting closer to your target ROAS, you’re losing out on profits because you’re spending more on ads even though your revenue is the same.
Let’s dig into an example of what this might look like:
Imagine a team’s target ROAS is set to 200% (i.e., make $2 in revenue for every $1 of ad spend). In the past, they were spending $25 on ads and bringing in a revenue of $100, with an ROAS of 400%. But, since their target ROAS is 200%, their ad spend is being shifted in a way that spends more on ads without an increase in revenue. If they’re now generating a revenue of $100 at a cost of $40 in ad spend, they are technically getting closer to their target ROAS with their new ROAS of 250%. But, they’re spending more to do so! In other words, they’re getting less bang for their buck.
That’s why the recommendation here is to increase your ROAS target based on the higher historical ROAS your account had. In other words, if you were spending $25 on ads and generating $100 in revenue, set your target ROAS to 400% and monitor.
In this instance, your target ROAS is too high. The optimization strategy is reducing spend in an attempt to hit a potentially unattainable ROAS target at an “acceptable” revenue volume.
Here’s what this might look like and how a team could adjust their target ROAS in such a scenario:
Let’s say a team sets their target ROAS to 500%. In the past, they generated $100 in revenue at a cost of $50 in ad spending, meaning their past ROAS value was 200%. Now that their target is set to 500%, they are currently generating $75 in revenue at a cost of $25, putting their current ROAS at 300%.
Like scenario 1, this team’s ROAS is getting closer to the target ROAS, but they are missing out on revenue—only, this time, it’s because their target ROAS is too high, which means the platform is lowering spending in an attempt to hit a higher ROAS. In this scenario, the best thing the team could do would be to lower the target ROAS and monitor campaign performance.
This is a great situation to be in! In this instance, you’re spending a bit more, but making a bit more at the same time. Here’s an example of what this might look like:
Imagine your target ROAS is set to 200%. In the past, you generated $100 in revenue at an ad spend of $50, meaning you were hitting your target at an ROAS of 200%. Now, you’re generating $200 in revenue at a cost of $100 in ad spend. Your ROAS is the same—200%—but you’re generating more revenue than you were in the past.
Teams have a few options here, depending on what their business goals are:
This is another beneficial situation to be in! Your team is consistently hitting its target ROAS, but they might be able to increase profits and/or revenue—either by spending less for the same revenue, or by spending a bit more in advertising to generate additional revenue.
Here’s what this might look like:
Similar to the last example, let’s say the target ROAS is 200%. In the past, your team generated $100 in revenue at an ad spend of $50, making your ROAS 200%. Now, your team is still generating $100 in revenue at the same spend of $50, and your ROAS has stayed consistent at 200%. Since you’re hitting your target, this is good—but, it’s possible you could make slight adjustments to your target ROAS that would make your campaign even more profitable.
Teams in this situation have similar options to scenario 3, but with a slight twist: It’s difficult to know if you are hitting the limits of available revenue, or if there is more out there to obtain. As such, here are a few options to explore:
Fine-tuning your target ROAS is both an art and a science: It takes time and experimentation to figure out what the ideal ROAS target should be in any given scenario. In complementing that experimentation with the insights and advice outlined above, advertisers will be well on their way to making the most of target ROAS bidding strategies.
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Interested in more expert insights on how to make the most of your campaigns? Connect with us and learn how our media strategy and activation services can help you further fine-tune your digital campaigns to meaningfully connect with audiences.
Stay ahead of the curve with these key trends set to shape the programmatic advertising landscape in 2024.
2024 is shaping up to be a dynamic year in programmatic advertising.
Signal loss is top of mind throughout the industry as third-party cookie deprecation in Google’s Chrome browser becomes a reality: Cookies will be disabled for 1% of users in Q1 of 2024, and the rest appear set to be disabled by year’s end.
Then, there are all the mixed economic indicators and similarly complex consumer behaviors. The US is not in a recession, despite several years of warnings that one was imminent, and unemployment remains low. Still, consumers’ sentiments about the economy and their own financial outlook are souring, federal student loan payments resumed in October, and consumer spending has begun to slow. It’s all increasing advertisers’ need to be more nimble, agile, and creative as they strive to reach consumers on the channels where they’re spending time—and to do so with messages that resonate within the larger economic context.
As if that wasn't enough, there’s also the fact that 2024 is a presidential election year in the US, with forecasts calling for record-setting political ad spend that will have significant impacts on programmatic inventory in the months ahead for political and non-political advertisers alike.
All this to say that 2024 will likely be a wild ride for digital advertisers. And though many things are uncertain in advertising, there’s one constant that has proven reliable year in and year out for the past decade: programmatic advertising. Programmatic digital display ad spending is forecast to grow by 15.9% YoY in 2024, and programmatic digital video by a whopping 20.9% (outpacing the projected 13.6% anticipated for digital ad spending overall).
To take advantage of this growth, especially in context of all the aforementioned complexity, digital advertisers will need to have a pulse on key trends within the programmatic landscape. To that end, we’re digging into how advertisers can make the most of seven key programmatic advertising trends to level up their campaigns in the year ahead.
For the last 20 years, much of programmatic advertising—specifically, cross-domain tracking, targeting, and attribution—has relied upon third-party cookies. But cookies are soon to be a relic of history: Browsers like Firefox and Safari have long since bid them adieu, and Google Chrome’s gradual phase-out has begun. Couple this with data privacy regulations such as CPRA, CCPA, and GDPR, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency on iPhone, and increased privacy demands from consumers, and it’s clear that adapting to signal loss and embracing privacy-friendly alternatives will be key for programmatic advertisers in 2024.
Unfortunately, as of mid-2023, most industries had not embraced cookieless alternatives for programmatic buying. As advertisers adapt to signal loss in 2024, they will have to implement and fine-tune privacy-friendly targeting and attribution strategies within their programmatic campaigns. These tactics could include leaning more heavily on first-party data, leveraging contextual targeting and geotargeting, bidding on premium inventory, using anonymized data sources, targeting using individual platforms’ proprietary data (ex. on social platforms like LinkedIn or through retail media networks), embracing alternative identifiers such as LiveRamp’s RampID, and using audience profiling to create lookalike audience segments.
Since its dramatic public debut in late 2022, generative AI has made waves in the world of digital advertising, and it will continue to shape the programmatic landscape in 2024. The emerging technology will all but certainly present new opportunities as well as pose key challenges—and advertisers will need to navigate its usage with care.
Generative AI could exacerbate problems like made-for-advertising sites (MFAs), since it allows users to produce content rapidly and with minimal human oversight. In other words: Generative AI could end up leading to a lot more low-quality ad inventory. To avoid bidding on this inventory in their campaigns, programmatic media buyers should seek out solutions that allow them to use dynamic MFA blocklists to avoid serving ads on those sites, thus ensuring ad spend isn’t being wasted on low-quality inventory.
GenAI will also continue to transform the paid search landscape, as more and more people turn to AI-powered search engines or simply chat with bots instead of searching at all. Though search ads will continue to be an effective way to connect with consumers in 2024, advertisers should keep an eye on audience behaviors to ensure they’re placing ads where people are searching for information and taking advantage of new opportunities that AI presents as it evolves.
Despite these challenges, advertisers also shouldn’t simply ignore generative AI or the ways it can simplify certain aspects of their programmatic campaigns. For instance, AI can help streamline parts of the content creation process, so long as a human is always reviewing for accuracy and brand voice alignment. In particular, it can help with generating variations of creative for specific audiences, to create more personalized advertising experiences.
We live in an age of instant gratification and sensory overload. Engaging content and entertainment live right at our fingertips, a single scroll or swipe away. And marketing teams? They’re all vying for that precious, and increasingly fleeting, attention.
To better capture attention in the year ahead, advertisers will benefit from focusing less on the quantity of people viewing their ads and instead selecting KPIs that gauge the quality of those views. By focusing on the quality of their ad impressions, teams can determine not only if their ads are being seen, but more importantly, if they’re garnering enough attention to be remembered.
Additionally, advertisers should take the time to prioritize crafting compelling creative and to focus on placing that creative in front of the right audiences to capture attention, build broad awareness, and drive action. By obsessively seeking their target audiences’ attention—rather than chasing cheap impressions that may or may not drive action—advertising teams can break through the noise and build successful campaigns that resonate in the year ahead.
Awareness-building and fundraising efforts for the 2024 election cycle are already underway. But as advertisers head into 2024, teams in all industries—political and non-political alike—should prepare to adapt to the complexities of the election year itself.
With a landmark $12 billion in ad spend projected for the campaign season ahead, it’s important for advertising teams to be aware and plan in advance for times when programmatic inventory becomes more limited and CPMs skyrocket as political advertisers make major ad buys during the most critical stretches of their campaigns. Key days to keep in mind are those leading up to primaries, as well as the weeks and days right before Election Day (especially in swing states).
For advertisers outside of the political realm, one way to approach this challenge is to focus on channels like programmatic digital out-of-home and audio, which political advertisers have been slower to adopt. Another is to focus on environments that don’t allow political ads, including streaming video services like Disney+ and Netflix.
Beyond the 2024 election cycle’s impact to inventory and budgets, there’s another layer of complexity for advertisers to contend with: the inevitable spike in mis- and disinformation. Thanks to generative AI, it’s easier than ever for false information to be created and circulated. This is especially pressing given the contentious presidential race at the top of the ticket, as well as a highly partisan and emotionally charged electorate.
To break through the noise, advertisers should keep brand safety at the forefront as they build and execute their programmatic campaigns in 2024. By leveraging tools like alllowlists and blocklists, leaning on offerings from partners like NOBL, Comscore, Grapeshot, and Peer39, and steering clear of low-quality inventory, advertisers across industries can ensure their ads are appearing in suitable environments that align with their values and voice.
In 2023, more than two in every five new programmatic ad dollars went to connected TV (CTV). And this year, US CTV programmatic video ad spend is projected to grow by nearly 18%—with programmatic accounting for 88% of total CTV video ad spending.
Given viewership trends, digital video’s popularity amongst advertisers makes plenty of sense: Traditional TV viewership is plummeting, and the number of people tuning into ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) content is skyrocketing. Platforms like Netflix, Disney+, and Max have ad-supported tiers in place that are demonstrating consistent growth, and new opportunities are on the horizon with Amazon’s plan to launch an ad tier for Prime Video.
Additionally, CTV is a particularly appealing channel for advertisers in the context of third-party cookie deprecation, since it is already cookieless. As such, teams will be able to continue to utilize it as they have in the past to reach engaged audiences.
By leveraging different video channels and placements—social media, CTV and streaming, DOOH, display—digital video advertisers can make the most of their digital video advertising efforts by crafting an omnichannel experience and connecting with people when and where they’re consuming content.
From the rise of #deinfluencing, to the shift towards smaller and simpler homes (buh-bye, McMansions), the past few years have seen a push towards cutting down on waste. And with advertisers concerned about made-for-advertising sites (MFAs), bot traffic, ad fraud, domain spoofing and more—not to mention the increased focus on digital advertising’s carbon impact—it feels like an appropriate time for the programmatic ecosystem to prioritize minimizing waste as well.
In 2024, teams should focus on value over volume and proactively steer clear of low-quality inventory like MFAs. Exploring inventory opportunities beyond the open marketplace—such as programmatic guaranteed and private marketplace (PMP) deals—can help ensure high quality placements and access to premium inventory. Further, teams can better capture their audiences’ attention by focusing on placing the right creative on the right channels by removing impressions below set thresholds.
By taking these steps, advertising teams can make the most of their ad spend and reduce the amount of their campaign budget that gets wasted on low-quality placements and/or impressions. And as if that wasn’t enough, it’s also good for the environment: A recent study found that an ad viewed for twice as long produces two-thirds fewer emissions. And given that programmatic advertising produces more than 215,000 tons of carbon emissions in a single month, minimizing the number of low-quality impressions served will have positive impacts that extend far beyond a campaign itself.
In the realm of social media advertising, the last several years have been more than a bit turbulent—and 2024 is shaping up to be yet another chapter in that seemingly unending book.
The latest: X is proving itself to be an environment unsuitable and unsafe for many brands, with many major brands pulling their ads from the channel as a result. Reddit, on the other hand, is seeing new levels of interest, TikTok is wildly popular and continuing to gain traction (especially since threats of a ban are still on pause), and old standby Meta is slowly evolving and has a lot of targeting opportunities despite ongoing regulatory threats.
Advertisers also have to contend with the stagnating social media growth in the US, as users are joining platforms at a much slower pace than in recent years. Amidst these shifts, advertisers will have to be nimble and adaptable with their social campaigns this year. The focus on attention that will help teams minimize waste and maximize impact will also prove useful for these channels, where users tend to have particularly short attention spans, and using new formats (such as social search ads) will help advertisers bolster impressions.
As new opportunities arise, marketers should look to their audiences to identify the social platform(s) where they can forge the most meaningful connections.
Digital advertisers will be awfully busy this year as they navigate the complexities of Google’s third-party cookie deprecation, the 2024 election cycle, heightened consumer privacy demands, economic turbulence, and more. By leaning into key programmatic trends, advertisers can ensure they are meeting consumers where they’re at and making the most of their programmatic ad investment.
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Looking for even more insights into the trends that will shape digital advertising in 2024? Our report, Future in Focus: 2024 Digital Advertising Trends, covers the most critical trends advertisers should have top-of-mind as they plan and execute their campaigns.
With 2024 fast approaching and 2023 slowly fading in the rearview, we’re taking a look back at some of our favorite blog posts from the year that was. Read on to get a taste of our advertising and marketing industry coverage from 2023—and check out the Basis blog for all the rest (including our most-read posts of the year).
Who doesn’t love love? On Valentine’s Day, we decided to give our readers a little gift: Three tips to help digital advertisers show their customers how much they care. Check it out to peruse a few strategies that will have your customers crushing on you like it’s night one of The Bachelor.
Basis Technologies:
Hey, ChatGPT? Why should people read this blog post about how AI is set to transform SEM?
ChatGPT:
“Advertisers should read this blog post because it provides a comprehensive overview of how analytical, action-oriented, and generative AI are already shaping search engine marketing. The post delves into real-world applications, from enhancing ad targeting to automating campaign tasks. By understanding current AI use cases, advertisers gain insights into future developments and can proactively prepare for the evolving landscape. Practical tips, such as staying informed on AI developments, fostering a data-driven culture, and anticipating chatbot-driven search engines, offer a roadmap for marketers to navigate and capitalize on the transformative impact of AI in SEM.”
While Swifties are enjoying their hero’s recent anointment as Time’s Person of the Year, digital advertisers are busy grappling with signal loss. And though many marketers undoubtedly wish they could just shake it off, the need for new, privacy-friendly advertising solutions isn’t going anywhere.
If, like TSwift, you know this challenge all too well, then this post is for you. It dives into all the ways automation can help advertisers overcome the identity crisis—as told through a collection of Taylor Swift lyrics, song titles, and gifs.
It can produce music, create digital art, and even compose text in the style of famous writers. But since its public debut back in late 2022, generative AI has been (understandably) met with skepticism from both within and outside of the digital advertising world.
However, with 86.6% of marketing and advertising professionals believing AI will radically transform the industry in the next three to five years, the one thing we can’t afford to do with generative AI is ignore it.
This post digs into everything an AI skeptic should know about the emerging tech’s impact on advertising: What the risks are, how to address them, and how advertisers can embrace (or at least dip their toes into) its possibilities.
Remember when Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg were going to fight each other in a cage match? Yeah, 2023 was weird…
Anyway, the feud got us thinking about what social media marketers are currently in the ring with—namely, a dizzying and ceaseless swarm of brand safety threats, including hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation. This post explores the ongoing cage match between advertisers and social media’s brand safety risks, as well as the tips and tricks marketers will need to emerge victorious.
Just like brewing an award-winning beer, crafting a standout digital marketing campaign takes quality ingredients, tons of creativity, and a test-and-learn approach. Inspired by Munich’s 200-year-old annual celebration of beer, this post lifts the lid on how advertisers can stand out from the pack with gold-medal digital advertising campaigns.
Prost!
Oh, agencies. What hasn’t the world thrown at you lately? After a three-year stretch with seemingly non-stop changes—from a pandemic, to the Great Resignation, to new regulations, new technology and signal loss, to name just a few—running an agency can feel like a never-ending game of Whac-A-Mole.
How can agency leaders approach these rapid-fire changes thoughtfully and strategically? To find out, we spoke with five industry veterans to gather their insights into what agencies need to know about this moment and identify how they can situate their organizations to not only adapt as the industry transforms, but to lead the way towards positive change.
For much of its history, the digital advertising world has been something of an iceberg: its surface shiny and bright, lighting up internet users’ screens and powering both organizational growth and the digital economy, while the adtech that supports it all ran largely out of the public’s sight. However, in recent years, new demands for data privacy, coupled with a new batch of lawsuits targeting many of the digital ad world’s biggest players, has pulled digital advertising into the spotlight.
But with change comes opportunity, and this piece explores how the new focus on our industry could be a catalyst for advertisers to take a step back and ensure their practices are aligned with consumers’ expectations and support marketing goals—and how it could potentially even usher in a new era of innovation.
2024 is shaping up to be one of the most hotly contested US election cycles in recent memory—and the most expensive in history. Led by a presidential race at the top of the ticket, the combination of high-profile races, major cultural and economic questions, motivated cause-based outside groups, and emotionally invested voters is likely to fuel high turnout and even higher ad budgets.
With so many political (and non-political) advertisers looking to grab their share of voice and motivate their audiences to action, having the latest and greatest tips, tactics, insights, and strategies will be essential to ensuring a successful campaign. This post is the perfect place to start (and is worth bookmarking, as we’ll be updating it regularly in the months leading up to Election Day on November 5.)
The emergence and growth of made-for-advertising websites (aka MFAs) was one of 2023’s biggest digital advertising controversies. One study earlier this year even found that advertisers were spending an average of 15% of their programmatic ad budgets on MFAs. But do these sites help advertisers reach their business goals and hit campaign KPIs, or are they simply generating revenue for the people who build and manage them and wasting valuable ad dollars in the process?
To help advertisers sift through all the MFA messiness, we spoke with an expert to break down how MFAs work and gain insights on how to avoid low-quality inventory before a campaign starts.
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Want to check out more digital advertising content to keep you at the top of your game, but don’t know where to start? Discover the perfect read for you with this fun (and helpful!) quiz.
There were a lot of things to obsess over this past year, from “Barbie” to “Oppenheimer” to Pope Francis and Snoopy wearing (or not wearing) puffer jackets. And don’t get us started on Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour or Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, both of which were as in as #GirlDinner on TikTok.
Practically equal in their popularity: The following Basis blog posts, which, thanks to your viewership, proved they have a ton of rizz. You were particularly interested in data privacy, artificial intelligence, and convergent and connected TV—all topics that will undoubtedly maintain their relevance in the new year. So, set yourself up for success by joining us for this walk down memory lane:
Staying up to date on digital advertising regulations and their implications for advertisers isn’t easy, so when you found information on privacy-first marketing, you opted in.
New regulations on digital advertising continue to pop up in the US and around the world, moving the digital advertising industry in the direction of privacy-friendly advertising. Here, learn the latest on these regulations and their impact on the advertising industry.
Since passing the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) in 2018, California has established itself as a leader in consumer privacy and data protection in the US. And with the recent passage of the California Privacy Rights Act, those protections have expanded. Learn how these laws protect consumer data and how advertisers can stay compliant in this piece.
Noor Naseer, Basis’ VP of Media Innovations and Technology, traveled to the hub of all things digital, South by Southwest, in Spring 2023. There, she shared insights on cookie deprecation, identity solutions, and consumer expectations. Find the video of Naseer’s presentation—as well as a download of her jam-packed slides—right here.
Artificial intelligence was as hot as UGG slippers in 2023, as more and more advertisers began to adopt generative AI. Your favorite posts focused on the technology’s potential impacts to the future of digital advertising as a whole, as well as on search engine marketing specifically.
This Q&A with three AI thought leaders addresses recent developments in the industry and explores AI’s potential impact on media, marketing, and digital advertising.
Search engines are awfully smart, and that intelligence—artificial or otherwise—will only continue to evolve. Here, an expert on paid search discusses how AI impacts search engine analysis, results, and generative content—and outlines how advertisers can prepare for an even more AI-driven future.
2023 was a big year for streaming and convergent TV advertising, with linear TV usage dropping below 50% of all TV viewing for the first time ever in July 2023. You spent the most screen time with these two posts:
With more and more people owning connected TVs and streaming their video content, the CTV advertising opportunity is booming. Here, we tune into best practices for strategic planning, precise targeting, and measuring success on this ever-evolving and impactful channel.
One of the biggest movements away from linear and into streaming comes from the live sports arena. This piece takes a closer look at how advertisers can reach live sports viewers given this shift, and explores the omnichannel advertising opportunity that comes with it.
In addition to posts on digital advertising regulation, AI, and convergent and connected TV, you were a big fan of posts that cover everything you need to know about specific digital advertising topics. Makes sense to us—if you’re going to learn about something, why not go all in?
When you add the targeting, optimization, and trackability of “digital” to the real-world impact of large-format out-of-home, you get a powerful and increasingly popular advertising platform. This piece on digital out-of-home (DOOH) dives into the channel, reviews its formats, explores its capabilities, and illustrates its benefits for advertisers.
What’s in a name? In the case of the “guaranteed” in “programmatic guaranteed”, quite a lot—including locked-in impressions and CPMs through an automated DSP. Check out how PG works, how it compares to direct buys and PMPs, and what steps are needed to run a programmatic guaranteed deal.
The transparency and control afforded by programmatic in-housing is attractive for many brands. Indeed, many big players, like Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola, have brought media buying inside their walls. For advertisers who aren’t sure whether—or what type of—programmatic-in housing makes sense for them, this piece breaks down all the key considerations.
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Well, that’s a wrap on your top blog posts of 2023! You prepared for big policy changes, turned your interest in artificial intelligence into real intelligence, made a connection with convergent and connected TV, and went in-depth on DOOH, programmatic guaranteed, and in-housing. Here’s to a year of learning and improvement, and more to come in 2024!
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