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Advertising agencies are entering 2025 with a mix of excitement and uncertainty.
Nearly two-thirds of agency professionals feel good, optimistic, and/or confident about the future of digital advertising. At the same time, more than seven in 10 say their jobs have become more difficult in the past two years, as inefficient processes, rising costs, and siloed systems hinder progress. On top of that, external forces—such as signal loss, shifting and ever-fragmenting media landscapes, and evolving audience behaviors—have added fresh layers of complexity.
Despite these hurdles, agencies are increasingly focusing on innovation as a way forward. Looking to 2025 and beyond, agencies are preparing for a future that is as much about overcoming challenges as it is about capitalizing on new opportunities. Whether through enhancing and supporting team talent, building more resilient tech stacks, adopting AI and automation solutions, or seeking opportunities for increased transparency, emerging trends are showing how agencies can drive growth and efficiency.
Talent continues to be a key differentiator in the agency world. A staggering 97% of advertisers cite access to talent as a top priority for agencies, yet only 47% feel they have the talent they need. This gap represents a growing challenge as agency leaders look to 2025, particularly as they face increasing pressure to deliver high-impact results.
To address this talent gap, agencies must rethink not only how they equip employees with tools, but also how they attract, retain, and develop their teams. With many agencies continuing to consider and implement RTO policies, creating environments where employees feel supported and empowered to focus on meaningful, high-value tasks is critical—particularly in an industry that has long grappled with widespread burnout.
Automation and AI can play a pivotal role here. By reducing the amount of time spent on low-value, manual, and redundant tasks, leaders can better engage their employees, allowing them to maximize their potential and contribute to more strategic, creative, and profitable work.
“We can use tech to really help people focus on the things that they’re excited about in advertising and to keep people in the industry,” says Michael Thill, VP of Agency Development at Basis. “The attrition rate in advertising is so high, particularly at agencies. But if we can free people up to really do what they’re excited about—to help them get back to the work that got them into the industry to begin with—that’s going to be a win across the board.”
Beyond elevating their talent through tech, leaders should consider other strategies to support and empower their teams. Providing robust professional development opportunities, committing (or re-committing) to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and considering flexible work arrangements can all serve this goal.
Agencies that prioritize empowering their teams through a combination of the intentional use of tech, robust training, and fostering a culture of inclusivity will be better positioned to deliver high-value work. By viewing talent not as a cost center but as a key strategic investment, agencies can foster innovation, drive profitability, and secure a competitive edge.
AI has been dominating industry conversations ever since generative AI burst onto the scene. And though the technology holds significant potential for advertisers, it’s critical to remember that AI has long been foundational to programmatic advertising. For instance, machine learning algorithms have been used for years to optimize ad targeting, enhance bidding strategies, and predict consumer behaviors.
In 2025, agencies must move beyond hype and experimentation and focus on extracting real value from AI. By pinpointing specific applications of the tech, integrating tools effectively into existing operations, and distinguishing between genuinely transformative innovations and existing tools that have simply been rebranded, agency leaders can unlock AI’s full potential.
Automation stands out as a prime example, given its ability to optimize workflows and centralize data and communications so that teams can prioritize tasks that demand creativity and strategic insights—work that AI can’t replicate. “Many leaders are looking for places where they can create operational efficiencies so that their teams can be freed up to focus on creative thinking and to look at things from a birds-eye view,” says Thill. “Every department inside of an agency wants to find AI-driven automation solutions to do low-value, repetitive tasks.”
As Mike Olson, EVP of Client Development at Basis, points out, the true value of AI and automation lies in the combination of technology and skilled talent. By reducing the time spent on routine tasks, employees are empowered to take on more impactful work that adds value to an agency’s overall objectives.
“Ultimately, it’s your people who will enable you to get the most out of this technology,” says Olson. “Even with the best AI tools, if you don’t have skilled teams to use them—or if high turnover forces you to constantly re-train people—you’ll struggle to unlock their full potential.”
Beyond embracing AI and automation tools, agency leaders need to think carefully about how they tell the story of this tech to their clients. Clients may wonder why they should pay the same fees when AI is handling more tasks, and others may be concerned about how their data is being fed into these tools (and what protections exist).
“Agencies must show clients what guardrails they’re putting in place for compliance, privacy, and security, as well as communicate to clients the higher value work they’re able to produce since their talent is free to do more challenging tasks,” says Thill.
As agencies look to the year ahead, many are focused on identifying ways to further optimize their operations by determining what tools in their tech stacks are essential, which are redundant, and which are obsolete.
Streamlined tech stacks not only improve overall efficiency but also ensure that data is clean, organized, and ready for action—which is particularly critical amidst increasing signal loss. While some agencies grapple with outdated platforms that don’t meet the demands of today’s complex digital advertising landscape, others struggle with disconnection between those platforms. Media and tech stack fragmentation is a driving force behind these problems: More than half of agency professionals juggle six or more tools to manage client campaigns, and 17.3% use 10 or more. Research shows that teams waste 13% of their time and 12% of their effort when different platforms don’t work well together, and this disconnection can lead to missed opportunities, errors, and slower decision-making.
To tackle these challenges, agencies are looking for ways to streamline their tech stacks and increase interoperability between systems. “The real challenge is figuring out how to bridge the gap between different data sources into one single source of truth that allows teams to act on data in accurate and impactful ways and deliver better outcomes for clients,” says Thill. “That allows leaders to see where they can improve their business.”
Without a single source of truth, agencies must navigate crippling fragmentation across geographies, partners, and publishers, making it difficult to operate at the speed clients demand. Solutions like automated advertising platforms can play a key role in improving interoperability, reducing repetitive manual tasks while also serving as that critical single source of truth, thus enabling agencies to better manage disparate data sources. “For billing, in particular, being able to turn to a single automated system means getting payments faster and improving the financial health of the business,” says Olson.
Amidst fluctuating economic uncertainty, signal loss, and other complexities, having a strong and resilient tech stack—one that’s designed for both the present and the future—can become a key differentiator for agencies.
In the face of a rapidly evolving industry, agencies are increasingly prioritizing resilience and future-forward strategies to stay competitive. Among these, transparency stands out as a critical trend for 2025—one that impacts both agencies’ internal operations and client relationships. This push isn’t just a response to external pressures; it’s also driven by the need to build more sustainable, profitable business models.
Agencies’ renumeration models, in particular, have proven to be a significant barrier to increased transparency. Traditional models—such as fixed time-and-materials structures—tend to reinforce behaviors that can limit flexibility and adaptability. For instance, if an agency is paid based on the number of hours worked, there is little incentive to streamline processes or invest in automation tools, since more hours worked means lower revenue. In fact, 87% of advertisers believe agencies are resistant to adopting models that require greater transparency into how they make money.
Failing to adopt such models, however, can lead to burnout, inefficiency, and an erosion of client trust—all of which are already significant problems throughout the industry. In 2024, 43.4% of agency professionals said their agency’s client relationships were more strained than two years prior, and agencies that rely on outdated or opaque pricing models risk worsening client relationships.
There’s also a misconception that embracing transparency will inevitably result in lost revenue—but that doesn’t have to be the case. “As the demand for transparency intensifies, agencies have a unique opportunity to move away from relying on hidden fees for revenue and focus on genuinely adding value for their clients,” says Olson. “The key will be educating clients on what constitutes high-value work and demonstrating how automating low-value tasks not only frees up resources, but also enables teams to engage in more strategic, impactful work that drives better results—and, for the agencies, healthier profit margins.”
Embracing transparency sets agencies up for long-term profitability by building trust, strengthening client relationships, and allowing teams to do their best work. As clients become more aware of the value they’re receiving, agencies that clearly communicate how their services contribute to business success will foster loyalty and repeat clients, cultivating more sustainable revenue streams.
Amidst increasing complexity of client demands, tightening margins, and a deeply fragmented media landscape, agencies must be intentional and proactive in the year ahead. To thrive in this environment, leaders must embrace innovation—whether by leveraging AI and automation, optimizing tech stacks, bolstering their talent, or fostering increased transparency. In doing so, they can take advantage of the opportunities presented by these emerging trends to proactively increase efficiency, improve client relationships, and drive long-term profitability.
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Interested in exploring more of the trends that are set to impact advertising in 2025? Then check out Reality Check: The 2025 Advertising Trends Report.
From the debut of the industry's first fully AI-generated commercials to yet another dramatic pivot in Google’s cookie deprecation timeline, 2024 brought some transformative changes to the advertising industry. The theme of transformation will continue to define the landscape in 2025, with four key trends poised to have profound impact on brands and agencies:
To explore how these trends may impact brands and agencies in 2025, we brought together four industry veterans to share their insights and predictions. Their discussion covered everything from how changes in consumer behavior are driving the need for increased personalization, to how advertisers are managing fragmentation in CTV and commerce media, to the most effective applications of generative AI.
Consumers’ search habits are evolving with the rise of social search and the introduction of AI chatbots. Do these shifts illuminate any broader trends advertisers should look out for in 2025?
Amy Rumpler | SVP, Search and Social Media Services, Basis: I think one of the broader trends these new search behaviors demonstrate is the importance of personalization in media and content. What’s interesting about social search and AI chatbots is how precisely they deliver information: Whether you’re seeking inspiration, a product, or an answer, the information returned can be incredibly exact. As consumers get used to that level of specificity, I think that’s going to drive a new era of urgency around personalization in media strategy, targeting, and content.
Additionally, these evolving search behaviors could reshape the customer journey across media channels. With search becoming increasingly accessible across various environments, the once-complex path to purchase is changing. The ease and availability of these new search experiences—from inspiration to purchase—may lead to a more consolidated customer journey, with less context-switching and more time spent in a single environment. If this shift continues, it could impact how advertisers approach media planning, frequency, and touch points, as they’ll need to adapt to a seamless, all-in-one search-to-purchase experience.
April Weeks | Chief Investment & Media Officer, Basis: I agree with Amy: Personalization is growing more and more critical. As marketing and media become more personalized, I believe we’re going to see the customer journey condensed, because it’s going to be a more relevant journey. And as advertisers increase relevancy through personalization, they may see the impacts of consumers searching less broadly and less comparatively, because the message that’s received by the consumer is more tightly aligned with what they searched for.
I would also say that these shifts underline the broader trend of advertisers needing to view performance and brand marketing more holistically. The value of brand is coming back in a much bigger and more meaningful way, and advertisers need to start asking themselves how they can successfully incorporate and balance brand and performance across campaigns. I believe we’re going to see this with search, and especially with social search. That’s where personalization comes into play, because you’re reaching consumers in an environment that’s relevant to them, and it’s an opportunity to share a brand message while also driving the call to action.
Katie McAdams | Chief Marketing Officer, Basis: To April’s point, the term “brandformance” has been popping up in a lot of my conversations lately. (Our industry just loves to create these buzzwords, don’t we?) Brandformance highlights the idea that treating brand and performance marketing as separate areas isn’t the most effective way to approach your strategy, especially when budgets tighten. Advertisers need a more integrated approach. For example, in the search space, budgets once focused solely on bottom-funnel KPIs can now support broader brand-building goals. Rather than reserving digital display for brand awareness and search for conversions, marketers should consider how paid search can contribute to brand-building too.
This shift raises the question: What metrics should we use to measure the effectiveness of a brandformance approach? Advertisers will need to reevaluate the metrics they use to ensure they align with both brand and performance objectives.
AW: I agree—those metrics will certainly evolve. We’ll likely see engagement and attention metrics play a bigger role, serving as potential proxies for conversion. For instance, if engagement or attention increases over time, how does that impact the path to conversion, whether it's a purchase, sign-up, or another action?
What trends do you expect to see in the CTV space in 2025? What challenges are advertisers looking to solve when it comes to CTV?
Grace Briscoe | EVP, Client Development, Basis: We’ve seen a significant increase in buying CTV through private marketplaces (PMPs), and I think that will continue. One reason for this is the confusion that surrounds CTV inventory: The same ad slot can be sold by multiple vendors, and often through five or six different channels, which leads to a lot of duplication and sales channel confusion. As a result, advertisers are focused on deduplicating and determining which inventory is unique and valuable.
In addition, many brands and agencies are working to align their linear TV and CTV investments to maximize reach and manage frequency across both channels.
In terms of challenges, measurement and attribution are major concerns. Brands are eager for better systems to evaluate the effectiveness of their CTV investments.
Overall, while I don’t anticipate any radical shifts or dramatic new capabilities in connected TV in 2025, I do think we’re seeing true evolution and maturity in the channel. As that continues, it's just going continue to drive more adoption.
AW: I agree with Grace: 2025 is going to be the year when advertisers begin to figure out how to use CTV and linear together. Marketers will develop an understanding of how the two channels can complement one another, as well as how to evolve measurement. Measurement is a huge challenge because of fragmentation, but the industry is starting to make good inroads.
Fragmentation is still part of the CTV ecosystem, but I believe the industry is becoming more aware of the benefits of coupling CTV with linear, and the opportunities to manage frequency and creative sequencing. Advertisers are starting to see how the interplay between the two can create a better advertising experience for consumers.
What will it take for CTV to reach its potential?
AW: Right now, there’s just too much inventory in too many places. With linear TV advertising, things are pretty simple: If you want to buy Fox, you know where to buy; if you want to buy CBS, you know where to buy. To Grace’s point, the fact that the same inventory is available through many different outlets creates a lot of confusion. For CTV to really capture its full share of spend and potential, it’s got to get a become cleaner and easier from the supply side, which will also help streamline measurement.
What are the main sentiments you’re picking up on in your conversations about AI with brand and agency leaders?
AR: Many of the people I’ve been speaking to have been expressing a strong sense of fear. There’s fear around giving up control over parts of the campaign process that AI can automate, and I think in some cases that fear is very real and valid. This is particularly true in highly regulated industries like healthcare, where advertisers must navigate strict regulations when interacting with consumers. Clients worry that generative AI could create content that not only feels off-brand but could also conflict with legal requirements. I think a lot of advertisers still feel considerable hesitancy around giving up that element of control.
And content generation is only one part of that: There’s also apprehension around the AI embedded in advertising networks, like Google’s PMax and Meta’s Advantage+, where AI decides which audiences see ads. This shift—moving from hands-on, granular targeting to relying on AI for audience selection—is a big leap that many advertisers aren’t fully comfortable with yet.
AW: Everyone likes the idea of generative AI in terms of what it can do to produce large amounts of content or creative very quickly and, potentially, more cost effectively. But advertisers are concerned because AI models are only as good as the data that's going into them, and there's a lot of uncertainty around the quality of data that's feeding these models. It’s likely going to take time to develop models that can be fully trusted, and then fears will lessen over time. But right now, it’s still fairly early to be relying solely on generative AI to produce materials that could potentially have a notable negative impact to a brand if the targeting's off the mark or if the content doesn't strike the right tone.
AR: I do think advertisers are still willing to test these applications of AI, and I think most brands are testing them in some form or fashion. But to April’s point, I agree that most advertisers aren’t ready to go all in on AI quite yet.
KM: On the creative side, I wonder if there’s going to be a perception shift around the quality of AI-generated creative. For me personally, when I see an ad that has some elements that were obviously AI-generated, my first thought is that the marketing team cut some corners to create it. I could see a consumer perception issue emerge where leaning too much into genAI (rather than investing in real photographers and other creative professionals) could potentially weaken a brand’s image or reputation.
AR: I was in a call with a creative vendor last week and they made an interesting point about that. They showed us some more subtle applications of AI for creative content generation, like an ad for an auto brand that featured a real photo of a vehicle but used AI to place the car in various settings. I thought that was an interesting way to think about how to test and utilize genAI in ways that help to scale out and personalize creative assets, rather than using it to generate creative assets from scratch.
KM: Totally—my team did a similar thing with a campaign we have running right now. We’re using generative AI as a tool, not a replacement, to our existing creative resources. It’s a way to help scale the creative.
AW: To bring it back to the trend of personalization that we talked about in the context of consumers’ search habits, personalization has historically been very expensive for brands. This is one area where AI could be really helpful when done correctly—you can strike the right balance of delivering that personalized experience that helps deliver better outcomes, but more effectively and efficiently from a cost standpoint.
How would you predict advertisers’ sentiments around AI will change from now through the end of 2025?
AW: As an industry, we are often quick to hype up anything new. After the hype-up period, we go through a time of learning, testing, and seeing the results. Then, once we understand the efficacy of whatever the new thing might be, it often gets woven into the campaign process and becomes part of the industry ecosystem.
If I were going to make a prediction about where advertisers will be in that cycle in 2025, I think there'll probably be more openness around testing of AI applications—especially with brands needing personalization within their marketing—because brands are still going to be pressuring their agency partners, particularly their creative partners, to find cost-effective ways to deliver at scale. So that's where more agencies may want to lean into generative AI: to help satisfy the volume of creative needed, but also try to do it in a cost-effective way.
The rise of retail media networks (RMNs) and commerce media in general is introducing even more fragmentation and complexity into an already fragmented and complex digital advertising landscape. How do you think this will impact how advertisers invest in RMNs in 2025?
AR: Commerce media operates differently from CTV, where inventory is widely available in various places, as Grace mentioned before. Accessing RMN inventory is much more complex, especially with well over 100 major RMNs now in operation. For brands with products on multiple physical and digital shelves, navigating which RMNs to partner with, how to access their inventory, and whether to use self-service or managed services is a significant challenge for both agencies and advertisers.
This complexity impacts advertisers' ability to invest in these networks effectively and influences their media planning strategies. Some brands aim to be present across numerous networks to maximize reach and drive sales, while others are consolidating their efforts into two or three networks that offer the most value—not just in ROI, but also in added benefits like in-store experiences or exclusive ad products.
I also think it’s impacting how advertisers are thinking about media planning. Do brands need to be in 15 different places because these networks exist, or should they pick the three that are going to give them the most incremental sales when it comes to moving product? We’re seeing a mixed bag of advertisers going one direction versus the other: Some that want to be everywhere, and make sure they’re taking advantage of the broadest reach possible to move sales. Others are starting to take the opposite approach, consolidating their efforts into the two or three biggest networks that can give them the most value.
Take Walmart or Target, for example. These networks leverage both in-store and online channels, offering a growing suite of ad products, including in-store experiential options. This aligns with the 'brandformance' approach, as these networks create omnichannel ecosystems that go beyond bottom-funnel objectives. By tapping into their customer base and delivering personalized ads across various touchpoints, RMNs support advertisers in engaging customers throughout their journey. This shift reflects broader trends toward personalization and full-funnel strategies, with many advertisers beginning to embrace these holistic opportunities rather than focusing solely on point-of-purchase ads.
AW: I think advertisers should ask themselves, “What is a retail media network?” Over the past 18-to-24-months, there's been such a proliferation of these networks that almost any entity that has first-party or CRM data is throwing itself into the RMN ring. It reminds me of the very early days of ad networks, where new ad networks were springing up overnight, but the quality of the targeting and the audience varied greatly.
To Amy's point, I think a true RMN looks like more of the full advertising experience offered by networks like Walmart and Target. As the proliferation of these networks increases, it’s going to be critical for advertisers to discern between networks that can deliver real value and consumer experience and those that can’t.
GB: I also think that with this explosion of retail media networks and the fragmentation we’re seeing in that landscape, we are going see some winners and losers. Advertisers are only going to have so much tolerance for buying across all these separate walled garden platforms, so the smaller ones are going to get cut off of buys eventually as advertisers start consolidating to the ones that have the most sophisticated capabilities and ROI. I just don't think the marketplace can tolerate that kind of fragmentation for very long.
Would you say the same considerations are true across all verticals and industries in commerce media, beyond retail media?
AR: Yes, the same considerations will hold true outside of retail media. Just in terms of the measurement aspect of fragmentation in general, the more networks and properties you buy across, the more pressure you put on your measurement framework to make sure you have consistency in how you’re looking at performance and the customer journey across those various partners. As you start to consolidate and understand those handful of partners that are truly providing the most incremental value to the brand, that takes a bit of pressure off the measurement side of things.
I think we’ve seen a similar thing in social. When social exploded five years ago, there were eight or nine major networks and apps that developed. But today, most advertisers only invest in two to three at the most as part of their core media strategy. Because the more you invest in, the more you have to have a really good understanding of how customers are moving between one property to the other. Generally, I think that’s why even in social we’ve seen a bit of contraction in partner mix on plans recently, and folks are only investing in a couple of key platforms. They’re still seeing other options as opportunities to test and learn, but not necessarily as mainstays of their marketing plan.
AW: I think it comes down to effectiveness versus efficiency and finding the right balance. As Amy mentioned, advertisers put a lot of pressure on their measurement frameworks by investing in all these different platforms. At some point, the question is, “Are you effective when you’re over-rotating on your investment?” Probably not.
It’s critical for leaders at agencies and brands to have a thorough understanding of how these four trends are likely to develop over the next year. Check out Reality Check: The 2025 Advertising Trends Report for more insights advertisers can use to gain a competitive edge.
Heading into 2025, more and more marketers find themselves looking past the hype and the upside and, instead, asking that age-old question: “Oh yeah? Prove it.”
The industry is still grappling with a host of challenges that have frustrated advertisers for years—things like addressability, measurement, streaming activation, and new opportunities for reach and incrementality— and advertisers are eager to find real solutions that drive tangible results, and to thread the needle between promise and practicality.
Reality Check: The 2025 Advertising Trends Report provides keen perspective on the trends set to shape 2025, exploring the ways advertisers can bridge the disconnect between expectations and reality while maximizing the potential of new innovations to drive impact across their campaigns in the year ahead. This Executive Summary examines the core themes and trends outlined in the report, providing actionable insights for marketers and advertisers looking to thrive in the evolving digital landscape.
Commerce media is exploding, leveraging the vast potential of first-party data to create new ad networks tailored toward industries of all kinds. As third-party cookies fade and privacy concerns mount, reflects a broader shift in digital advertising where data collaboration and non-traditional vendors/publishers play a significant role in reaching target audiences.
CTV is finally delivering on its long-promised potential, offering advertisers cost-effective, high-quality inventory and precise targeting capabilities. And while CTV’s measurement shortcomings remain, marketers nevertheless have several solutions that can help them piece things together.
With the initial AI frenzy steadily subsiding, marketers are adopting a more pragmatic approach, identifying practical applications and integrating AI into core systems and everyday workflows. The goal, as with all things AI, is not to replace human expertise, but to augment it—giving marketers the tools to ask better questions and get more insightful answers.
Search behavior is transforming, with generative AI starting to syphon off meaningful search traffic and younger generations increasingly relying on social platforms like TikTok and Instagram for discovery. While Google remains an essential channel, marketers can benefit from experimenting with allocating portions of their search budget to places like TikTok, Amazon, commerce media, and elsewhere.
The 2025 advertising landscape presents both opportunities and challenges. By embracing data-driven strategies, leveraging emerging technologies responsibly, and adapting to evolving consumer behaviors, marketers and advertisers can achieve impactful results.
Download the full report to get deeper insights into the trends poised to shape advertising in 2025.
In recent years, the advertising industry has been abuzz with the promise of "game changing" developments. From the potential of Web3 and blockchain to AI, AR/VR, and beyond, marketers and advertisers have fallen and fallen hard—sometimes in love, sometimes right on their faces.
But even optimists and futurists can have their limits, and at a certain point, that curiosity begins to morph into skepticism. Heading into 2025, more and more marketers find themselves looking past the hype and the upside and, instead, asking that age-old question: "Oh yeah? Prove it."
The industry is still grappling with a host of challenges that have frustrated advertisers for years—things like addressability, measurement, streaming activation, and new opportunities for reach and incrementality— and advertisers are eager to find real solutions that drive tangible results, and to thread the needle between promise and practicality.
This report provides actionable insights on the trends set to shape 2025, examining key ways advertisers can bridge the disconnect between expectations and reality, while maximizing the potential of new innovations to drive impact with their campaigns in the year ahead.
Explore trends including:
Uncover the trends and opportunities that will shape advertising in the year ahead: Download Reality Check: The 2025 Advertising Trends Report today!
Over the past several years, connected TV adoption and usage has skyrocketed, as people increasingly turn to CTV as their viewing device of choice. How can advertisers embrace this growth and ensure they’re effectively connecting with consumers where and when they’re watching video?
In this guide, we analyze the latest data, trends, and research to help advertisers uncover everything they need to know about CTV advertising.
In it, you will learn:
Ready to make the most of your CTV ad spend? Download your copy of the guide today!
Digital audio is everywhere: from the podcasts we download for our morning commute, to the tunes we blast at the gym, to the live radio programs we stream while doing the dishes. For marketers, the channel provides an opportunity to connect with consumers when and where they’re listening—and to foster meaningful, personal connections in these moments.
Until now, digital audio’s power has been largely underutilized by advertisers. But the tides are turning, and with people spending more and more time with digital audio, a wave of audio ad spend is cresting on the horizon.
In this guide, we explore how savvy marketers can embrace this unique opportunity to connect with consumers. We analyze the latest trends, insights, and research to help advertisers harness the power of audio in their campaigns.
Ready to level up your audio advertising expertise? Download your copy of the guide today!
As advertisers lose more and more classic signals like cookies and MAIDs, adopting effective alternatives for targeting and attribution is more crucial than ever.
In this episode, Vince Voiro, Sr. Director of Connectivity & Ecosystem at LiveRamp, shares the latest on one of these alternative solutions: identity resolution. Together with host Noor Naseer, Voiro explores what identity resolution is, what data is needed to enable it, how it can improve activations and measurement workflows, and more.
Noor Naseer: Hey, this is Noor Naseer for AdTech Unfiltered. Regardless of what Google says, the cookieless future is still knocking on every advertiser's door demanding the adoption of alternative pathways for campaign success. With classic signals continuing to fade fast, Vince Voiro—Head of Agency and Brand Demand Connectivity & Ecosystem at data onboarding and collaboration platform, LiveRamp—says there's never been a more important time to secure new solutions for addressability and measurement. Vince speaks to me about what people know LiveRamp for and what else they need to know about the long-standing adtech and martech solution provider. We discuss what advertisers can do to prepare for a future where addressability as we know it won't look the same anymore and important steps they can take to test, learn and find what works best for their unique needs. Let's get into this episode on planning for the future of addressability and measurement with Vince right now.
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NN: Vince, thanks for joining me today to talk about all things LiveRamp. There's been a ton of activity going on in the addressability space in a cookieless future that we're still looking forward to. So, appreciate you making time to talk about it.
Vince Voiro: Yeah, thanks for having me. Happy to be here.
NN: There are probably still folks out there who don't even have a baseline premise of LiveRamp. I know it's shocking—if you've been working in the adtech space, it's very likely that you do, but do you want to give me like your 30 second introduction to LiveRamp?
VV: Yeah, I think a lot of people who do know us know us as like an onboarding company. So, we take data and connect it with the platform that they're looking to send it to. But LiveRamp in itself does a lot more than that. We have a collaboration platform where we're working with brands and other partners to be able to share data in a privacy-safe, compliant way. We have measurement solutions that we help to support. So, LiveRamp does a lot of things in the ecosystem, but mainly you can view us as the connective tissue. We're helping to drive connections whether it's for collaboration, measurement, or activation across the ecosystem with all the different partners that are out there.
NN: So, the latest that people are primarily concerned with as we think more and more about the cookieless future is what should I be doing differently and how might I be approaching solution providers, including LiveRamp, differently. So, I think the big thing that we've been hearing from you all more recently has been about identity resolution. Do you want to tell me a little bit more about identity resolution as a mechanism for the cookieless future? Let's just start there and get that framework going.
VV: Yeah, so I think the idea of identity resolution, connectivity, and addressability all play really well together. The basics behind identity resolution is understanding who those consumers are that you're looking to target, regardless of which identifier you're trying to find them using.
So, traditionally, identity resolution for us was understanding who the offline individual is then connected to the online version. And obviously the focus there was cookies and MAIDs and other identifiers. The focus for us today in addition to cookies and MAIDs is using the Ramp identifier to understand who those people are. And the way we think about identity resolution is it's not just who is that person as an email, but it's collectively what are all of the email addresses? What is the first name and last name and postal address that's tied to that person, and how can we connect all of that to a single identifier where possible to allow you to address that person regardless of what information you come to us with it and what information they're providing to the end provider?
So, ultimately we want to generate the connection that allows you to address that individual, even if you may not have collected the same information as the partner on the other side.
NN: How often are you finding that advertisers are prepared to bring those different data elements to the table to build a really robust identity resolution system for themselves?
VV: I think obviously what vertical you're in and what type of data you have access to dictates the quality that you're able to present to us, but I also think that there's a misconception of what data is best suited for identity resolution.
The backbone of what we do at LiveRamp is really rooted in offline to start off with. So: first name, last name, postal address and the 50 plus years of data that's tied to that, but if you're coming to us with just email that's okay; that is definitely something we can work with. So, I think understanding what data assets you have as a brand or as a partner and then how you can utilize them is really the first step before you even jump into the idea of identity resolution, because the quality of your input is going to directly dictate the quality of the output. So, we want to understand what you have at your disposal and then we can come to you and let you know how that plays into what we do at LiveRamp.
NN: How do advertisers that have known LiveRamp historically think about what they can do with identity resolution differently than what they could have done with a LiveRamp let's say five, six, seven years ago?
VV: I think we've transformed the way that we connect data to the open web. So, a lot of the social platforms that we work with, things aren't changing as signals go away. We've always used our connections with them based on PII to allow us to generate who is this individual that the client is sending us to who that individual is on the platform. I’d say identity resolution has changed in the open web when it comes to who is this person that the client has to which cookie is that individual - obviously that's going away. What we've done is we've embedded our IDs and the Ramp IDs into each of the partners in the ecosystem. We've also provided that technology to the publishers in the ecosystem to allow everybody to resolve back to a people-based-identifier rather than relying on these disparate signals of cookies and MAIDs.
I think it's similar concepts, it's just done in a slightly different way and we actually believe it's an improved way of doing it. There's a lot more fidelity in those signals and less data loss. The concept is the same. It's very similar but I think how it has its practical application is maybe a little bit different.
NN: Then something that advertisers are looking for is for maybe in many cases a holy grail solution that's going to fill the void that cookies are going to leave. What won't we be getting from identity resolution? What's impractical for advertisers to be expecting no matter how robust of a data profile they're able to offer to you all in the utilization of your solution?
VV: I think the spirit of the changes really dictate the capability changes. The idea that cookies could passively track somebody across the internet is no longer a thing. We're not looking to recreate a solution that mimics a cookie. We're using authentication, consent-based workflows to generate that connectivity moving forward. I think the major change there is that that individual has to have a relationship with both sides of the equation for us to be able to generate those connections.
I'd also say the gap is, if I go and I create a brand-new Gmail account as an example, it takes time to resolve that data back to the rest of the touch points that we have in our ecosystem. It also takes time for clients of ours to have access to that data whether it's for registration or signups. I think that there is inherently a gap that happens in that type of scenario, but more broadly our ability to connect multiple emails to the same Ramp ID, to the same identifier, allows us to really have a good opportunity to continue to connect at a really high level.
NN: Are there ever scenarios where you know that you suggested that identity resolution can use this myriad of different types of data points and then a client turns back to Vince and says, “But how do I get all this?” Is that ever a question? It's not really your job but that's a part of the earlier part of the relay race but do you ever have to answer that type of question?
VV: Yeah, we do because I think a lot of clients assume that this is like something additional that they need to layer on to what they're already doing and maybe there's a gap in their understanding. They don't necessarily know that this is inherently what you get as part of partnering with LiveRamp.
Our identity resolution is the backbone for our basic products of data onboarding and activation so you're already going to gain access to all of those benefits. What we're then trying to do is extend those benefits across all of the different partners and all of the different workflows. So, you may be using them in an activation workflow, but what about all your measurement workflows? How can you benefit from identity resolution when it comes to measurement? I think that's where we spend a lot of time is refocusing and letting them know that this is something you already have access to. There's just more ways you can use it, more ways you can benefit from everything that you already are contracted for.
NN: Are there any other solution providers that fall into a space that also is qualified as identity resolution?
VV: Yeah, you know there's other partners out there like the Experians, the Axioms, the Transunions of the world. I think a lot of those other partners have similar elements to the way that they do things, but everybody has different data assets, different processes and different rules that underlie the setup and what that they provide.
I think for us, one of the major differentiators is that we have the ability to do identity resolution as an input, but then we have such strong connective tissue as an output for activation that ultimately that makes a major difference in the way that we can interact with our clients. I also think our network is really strong. From a collaboration standpoint we have environments that we can support collaboration in. We also are interoperable with outside environments if that's the way that brands choose to collaborate.
We're agnostic to the way that they go about doing these things and, ultimately, I think that provides a ton of value. You come to us with a solution you've already built. We figure out a way that we can integrate with that rather than forcing you into a more narrow solution. I think that's one of the real benefits of LiveRamp.
NN: Just to expand on something-- I heard you say something like this; as far as having a sort of an expansive network or many different ways to work with you, what have you had to do internally to make yourself so accessible and flexible to work in different ways? Is it building a lot of different types of partnerships, integrations? Can you just expand on what labor you all have done so that you can be easy to work with?
VV: Yeah, so I put it into three buckets, and you listed two of them. I think the partnership element of it is huge: Partnering with Snowflake and AWS and all those cloud providers to allow us to gain access to their platforms. The integrations to build our technology natively into those applications and to allow our brands to directly connect to things that they're using within our platform today. And then I'd say acquisition is the third part. Our recent acquisition of Habu allows brands to expand those use cases. So, if you were using Databricks and we didn't have an integration with them, Habu does. So, it adds in these additional elements that maybe we hadn't generated the partnership or generated the integration yet. They may have some of those, which actually allows us to be more flexible. So, I'd say those are the three ways that we're going about doing that.
NN: I'm going to bounce back to asking about the data piece. There are advertisers out there that really struggle with the collection of first-party data. It's just not as natural for them to be doing a lot of collection, especially if they've historically been using third-party cookie data or other types of data sourcing that has helped them do some really precise types of targeting. How do you help those kinds of advertisers that are just never going to have this really robust profile of first-party data, but are still looking to understand how to work with you?
VV: Yeah, I think we are trying to reset the expectation of what first-party data is and how you can collect it. Everybody assumes that this means you have to generate a login when somebody visits the website for the first time; and sure, that will help but we also understand the downside of doing it. So, we try to present them with a large number of different ways that they can generate authentications whether it's whitepapers or blogs or downloads.
Then the other thing for those that have a ton of trouble is, can you present the consumer with an ‘or’ scenario? And what I mean by that is, they can access this whitepaper or you can have it emailed to you. So, it doesn't necessarily blockade any information. It gives the consumer options, but it also presents the opportunity for the brand or the client to generate some first-party data. I think knowing that we've seen different ways it could be implemented, and then relying on information back to brands who are having a tough time implementing strategies, is definitely something that we try to do. We work with four or 500 different brands, so we see a lot out there. I think a lot of these brands are very focused on what they're doing. We can provide some of those consulting ideas as well.
NN: Vince, what does LiveRamp bring to the table for aiding with measurement, specifically for understanding conversion metrics?
VV: We do a lot with measurement as part of our connection with the end platform for activation. We can also bring data back into our platform and deliver it to whatever measurement partner or environment that brands are looking to do that with. So, converting all of your data to a single identifier, the Ramp ID, and doing measurement. So, you pull in your conversion data, you pull in your impression data, and you join those together in that privacy-safe way, and it gives you the flexibility to understand how well your media is operating—but also to generate new audiences to then connect that data back out for activation. So that's kind of full funnel. Where that's not possible, we've generated partnerships with the different conversion APIs to allow brands to share their data with those partners in a privacy-safe way.
We're going wherever the partner needs us to go if the client is interested in doing that but we're also trying to provide the flexibility to do more individual measurement where possible.
NN: Holistically speaking, where have you observed advertisers being overall too casual or too optimistic about the cookieless future? When I ask that question, what I mean is they're just waiting for things to sort out and may not be doing a lot of exploration with you and/or other partners to really prepare themselves for what the final flicker of that cookie full light is bringing to them and their media plans.
VV: Yeah, I think there's a couple of thoughts that brands bring to us and it's like you know, is this actually going to happen? Do we really need to worry about this because we don't know if the end is actually going to happen? We think it is. We think that each delay makes that a little bit more challenging to convey that, to have that brand have faith in the end result here, but we do think it's going to happen. We think that the more work a brand puts in up front to set up all those workflows and better understand what the impact is going to be, the better off they are in the long run. Not to mention the fact that there's benefits in the near-term. Fifty percent of the web is already cookieless. You're already missing out on a relatively large section of the internet today.
So how can these different products or partnerships benefit you in the now, while also setting you up for the benefits in the future? I think that gets lost in a lot of those thought processes. We definitely try to push that agenda. We obviously make sure that that's clear in the conversations. We also let them know what the near-term benefits are as well as the improvements they can make in their overall processes for when the cookies actually do fully go away.
NN: I want to also ask about just knowing that you all have a lot of solutions and we're not going to cover in detail on all of them, but I'm sure that plenty of advertisers are curious about what that suite looks like. How do you help any advertiser make sure that they understand at least from a top-level what they may want to get more informed on so that they are taking advantage of the solutions that would be most helpful for the type of work they want to do in the digital advertising world or advertising world at-large?
VV: I think it comes down to generating just that overarching partnership. We don't want to be viewed just as a vendor. We want to be viewed as someone who can come in and understand your business, understand what the challenges are, and then present to you products that fill those gaps.
Yes, we do activation, yes we do measurement, and yes we do collaboration; but we have a data marketplace, we have other measurement solutions we've built in-house. Not everything is a good fit for every client that we work with. So, we want to come in and we want to understand where your pain points are. We want to understand how we can help to fill some of those voids, whether it's through connecting you with a partner of ours or providing a solution of our own. We're happy to do both of those things because we're looking at this as much more of a long-term relationship than we are something that's very transactional—trying to generate those relationships that allow you to feel comfortable with the products we're presenting to you, and then ultimately making sure you're using those products so you see the value, because shelfware is not something that we're looking to provide.
NN: You mentioned data collaboration a couple times now in our conversation. Where are there misconceptions about what data collaboration is? What do you want to clarify about how data collaboration is integral to what you offer and what advertisers should know more about it?
VV: Yeah, data collaboration comes up in all the different workflows that we've talked about. From an activation standpoint there can be collaboration with first and third-party data. There can be collaboration across two marketers. I think the easy example is a retailer and a CPG that want to work together. Collaboration also takes form in measurement, too; so, it's understanding how your media is effective with some of the social partners that may be working with us.
I think the biggest thing that we like to convey is LiveRamp has a collaboration platform and we're happy to work with you within our platform but, like we've talked about previously, if you're already working in Snowflake, we can help to support collaboration and Snowflake-- we can help to support that elsewhere. I think there's just more flexibility to it than brands may give it credit. They may think of it as very much a retail media-focus, but there's a lot of different ways that brands are coming to us looking to collaborate. Whether it's loyalty programs to, you know, let's say an airline with a hotel program or maybe a rideshare program that wants to do things.
There's a lot of different ways that you can look at this, but I think the benefits are the same. You get more access to data, you do it in a privacy-safe way, and it also allows you to do the activation at the end of the day, too, and that's the biggest piece on the LiveRamp side in my opinion. I think allowing you to connect that data to the partners that you can then serve media too is something that is missing from some of the other solutions that are out there.
NN: How do you really inform conversation about the points of separation between authenticated identity versus identity resolution, since they're both mentioned so often in the marketplace?
VV: Identity resolution kind of underpins the whole scenario. Authenticated identity is an example of you go to your favorite news website and you're logging in to gain access to content; that to me is authenticated identity where there's an opt-out that's available for that consumer to be able to remove their data—and we are using that as a piece of the puzzle. But the connectivity that brands are looking for requires the authenticated ID but the identity resolution bolsters that authenticated ID. It makes it so that we're more flexible on what data you can send to us. It makes it so that we can expand where we know that that individual has more than one touchpoint that's out there in the ecosystem. So, these two things are independent, but they also work together to allow us to provide kind of a stronger solution. Especially when it comes to cookieless where we're going to be so reliant on consented data and authenticated data, you want to have the flexibility and the improved match rates wherever possible.
NN: Do you think the industry anticipates that authenticated ID is going to face similar pressures that third-party cookies currently are?
VV: I don't think so. I think that there's a lot of alternative solutions that may be posing as authenticated IDs but aren't really. There's definitely a fingerprinting problem in the industry—and for anybody who's not familiar, it's using passive IDs that are similar to a cookie to understand who the person is without them consenting. Our solution doesn't follow that path. We think that any solution like that is slowly going to be stamped out. Different pieces of that identity is going to be removed, like IP address and user agent; and a lot of the partners out there have already promised to do that. So, I think truly authenticated IDs are in a really good place. I think some of those that sit in a gray area or aren't authenticated are going to have trouble over the coming year or two.
NN: Something you and I have talked about before is: How confusing it can be out there right now where there are solutions that are being suggested to be cookieless solutions, but incidentally they're still using cookies. And one of the most visible ways that that is happening is with fingerprinting. How do you encourage or educate advertisers or anyone that you engage with on trying to better understand and distinguish when a solution is truly cookieless versus when it probably is invested and involved with fingerprinting or something else that is inevitably going to be taken off the table when cookies are finally done away with?
VV: I think we just encourage them to ask a lot of questions. If something doesn't seem to line up or make sense then it's very likely that they're doing something that doesn't fit the change of the consent framework that we're looking to go to. So, asking questions, making sure you have a good understanding of the product suite for that partner. If something sounds too good to be true then it likely is. I think trusting the partner that you work with and knowing that they're transparent with everything that they're doing, they're forthright with how the product is built—a lot of black box solutions out there. I think we tried to be less of a black box solution. We try to give you exactly how we're doing some of these partnerships and how we're generating these IDs. Ultimately you have to feel comfortable from a privacy and security standpoint that you're not going to end up in front of your favorite news outlet at the end of the day. No brand wants to be there, and I think avoiding that at all costs is really important because there's a financial toll. There's a reputation toll that also comes with it, too. So, we are definitely looking to generate products and partnerships that keep brands out of trouble.
NN: You said black box solutions—somebody at Basis uses the term “magic solutions,” and that there is no “magic” and if you don't understand the origins of how a solution is orienting and giving you something cookieless that very much seems it's giving you not just cross-device but cross-site tracking that there's some “magic” (I'm using air quotes in a podcast that that's being applied). Do you ever have that more confrontative conversation of saying ‘that is fingerprinting’?
VV: Yeah. If you have to ask multiple times in a conversation and you still can't get a straight answer, then you're likely looking at something that you're not going to want to partner with. It's definitely challenging because I think there's a lot of buzzwords that come into play and people are looking for options and different privacy teams have different comfort levels about what their partners are doing. So I think the impetus is really on whoever's leading that partnership to ask the right questions, to speak with everybody, to see if the responses are different from all the different parties that you're talking to and to really have faith that what the partner is conveying is actually how they're going about doing things and that they're transparent in the way that they can go about doing that.
If they're willing to connect you, with the publishers, or the platforms, and have them ask those questions directly to that partner and say, “Look, how is LiveRamp doing this?” they can give you transparency. I would definitely encourage that. If you speak to that partner fact channel and they're like “We don't even work with that provider,” obviously there's something a little fishy going on with that.
So yeah, just asking a lot of questions—a lot of “how” questions—I think is helpful, and if it's too good to be true, it likely is.
NN: For an advertiser that is just trying to better themselves when it comes to addressability at a high-level. Maybe we're not getting into the full consultative conversation with a particular client, but they want to inform themselves before reaching out to you on how they should be thinking about working with LiveRamp, how they should be thinking about preparing themselves to take advantage of some of what you can bring to the table – is there any advice that you would give to an advertiser so that they can do a little bit of leg work to see if there's an opportunity for partnership?
VV: Yeah. I think that we put up a ton of good material on our website that gives brands an idea of the type of workflows, the type of benefits clients are seeing for what they're doing today. You could reach out to LiveRamp. We have people that are dedicated to almost every account that's out there that can give you the 101 without you having to really do much. We're happy to educate you on your behalf. We're happy to kind of have those conversations up front and really give you the information that you need. I also think if you're a little bit further down the line, there's a lot of our current clients that are happy to talk with prospect clients and give them a better idea of what they're doing with us today and how that's impacted their business. So, a lot of different ways to go about that, but I would say reach out. We have resources that are willing to have those conversations even if you're not a client to give you an idea of how you could benefit from our products and services—and we're more than happy to do that.
NN: Is there anything happening from an addressability standpoint that you think is particularly exciting that advertisers should be knowledgeable about that's on the horizon or that you're actively releasing or on the precipice of releasing?
VV: Yeah, I’d say there's a few things. CTV is a growing focus. I think across the industry, but especially at LiveRamp. Partnerships with NBCU or Disney or other CTV providers become really important for the brands that we work with. I think direct partnerships with large publishers like the New York Times that we released recently are definitely going to grow in their impact and their usage on the LiveRamp side. Then I think on the measurement side, understanding how the pixels—let's say, on your website—are working today. What workflows are going to be impacted and how can you solve for some of that impact; that's something that we're also really seeing, really focusing on, because we know it plays a really big role in the process for the brands that we work with.
So, things like the conversion APIs, like I mentioned before, is another thing we're really focusing on the addressability side of things because without measurement, activation is always in trouble, so you need to solidify both sides of the equation.
NN: Well, there's no shortage of things to learn about LiveRamp and I feel like I've covered not even 1% of what can be discussed about you all. Obviously, we've got a partnership with you and we're also evangelists for what you all are doing. We appreciate the time and the conversation and looking forward to learning more as you guys keep on chugging all on.
VV: Yeah, it's a pleasure. Thanks for having me.
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NN: Thanks again to Vince Voiro, Head of Brand and Agency Demand Connectivity & Ecosystem at LiveRamp. There's no question about it: A lot of explorative work and scenario consideration will need to be done by advertisers to find the unique suite of solutions that works best for them. We heard some important thoughts from Vince on how to think more deeply around an established partner that's committed to helping move addressability for the future forward. That's it for this episode of AdTech Unfiltered. I'm Noor Naseer. We'll talk again real soon.
What’s new in the realms of paid search and social media? This month, Lindsay Martin, Group VP of Search Media Investment, and Laura Kubiesa, VP of Social Media Investment, compiled all the latest news, trends, and resources that advertising pros need to know.
THE NEWS: Pinterest is launching new product features to help users find, save, and shop for their holiday gifts, including the ability to create personalized, shoppable wish lists and share gift ideas within the platform. Pinterest is also offering shoppers more than a thousand curated gift guides across 27 categories by partnering with celebrities, creators, and brands.
THE CONTEXT: Pinterest has been working to ride the growing wave of shoppable social media for years now, releasing several new product features and advertising opportunities. The platform’s efforts appear to be paying off, with Q3 2024 revenue increasing by 18% year over year.
EXPERT POV: “Pinterest’s new product features align with the mindset of its user base, people on a journey of seeking inspiration. We see this to be especially true around the gift-giving and holiday-hosting season. Brands can take advantage of these features from both an organic and paid standpoint. With features like "quick save," Pinterest is streamlining the process for users to save products they've discovered, and brands can capitalize on that with tactics like pin engagement retargeting or promotional creative messaging to help users continue down the path to purchase and increase overall conversion opportunities.” – Jenny Lewis | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: TikTok has been given a deadline of January 19, 2025, to shut down in the United States or sell its assets to a new owner not based in China, or else face a nationwide ban. In the meantime, advertisers and marketers are proceeding with 2025 planning, setting budgets and developing content for the new year, with the future of the popular social media app hanging in the balance.
THE CONTEXT: Coincidentally, January 19, 2025, is also the day before Inauguration Day, when President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into office. Trump has promised to “save” the social media app, which continues to see growing consistent revenue and user growth with every quarter.
EXPERT POV: “As marketers, responding to industry change is just part of the job. As a social media marketer, however, you live for the quick pivot; the “move fast and break things” motto is in your DNA. The key to preparing for a potential ban on TikTok is to have a Plan B ready to go. Be sure not to just shift dollars as a reactive solution but to make thoughtful decisions about who you’re reaching on TikTok and how to reach those segments elsewhere, the objective you’re optimizing toward and if other channels have proven track records for driving your desired action, and ensuring influencer contracts include language for TikTok organic or Spark post substitutions that fulfill their agreement and maximize your investments.” – Jess Kaswiner | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Meta is revising its ad-free subscription option in Europe to comply with the European Union’s evolving data protection requirements. In response to regulatory pressures, Meta has lowered the subscription cost by 40. Additionally, it’s added an option allowing free-tier users to opt for "less personalized" ads. The new option limits data sharing, but also comes with unskippable ad breaks and less relevant ads, which may ultimately prove to be less appealing to users.
THE CONTEXT: These revisions come after EU regulators called Meta’s subscription offer a “pay or consent” scheme and a breach of the Digital Markets Act, saying it doesn’t give users much of a choice at all between paying a monthly fee or giving more personal data to Meta for targeted advertising.
EXPERT POV: “Advertisers using Meta in the EU should be cognizant of lower potential reach among target audiences compared to historical initiatives, given that a larger percentage of the more than 400 million Meta users in Europe may be tempted to begin paying the smaller monthly fee to avoid ads within their daily scrolling. Additionally, be mindful of possible performance dips due to Meta giving nonpaying European users the option to see ads that are less personalized. It is doubtful that Meta will publicize how many users ultimately opt into this feature. Still, we would not be surprised if cost metrics—especially CPMs—start to increase across campaigns that target a potentially dwindling pool of European users.” – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google announced it will no longer display political advertisements in the European Union, adding the EU to a growing list of regions where the company has already halted the practice, including France, Canada, and Brazil. The decision is in response to the EU's new Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulations—which are intended to curb election interference and enhance voter decision-making—that Google says will create operational and legal challenges.
THE CONTEXT: This is far from Google’s first scrape with EU policymakers, including an ongoing investigation over anti-competitive practices and, in a rare win, Google getting a €1.49 billion antitrust fine overturned. And that’s to say nothing of Google’s ongoing legal headaches in the US.
EXPERT POV: “This move won't affect most American advertisers, but it's something EU political advertisers must certainly keep in mind. In general, those advertisers should review the reach and targeting opportunities in other channels while, at the same time, maintaining their awareness of government and platform policy changes, as the risks for noncompliance are high.” – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: As we enter the holiday shopping season, consumers can now search for specific products within Google Maps and find nearby stores with that product in stock. Product categories available to search include home goods, electronics, apparel, and grocery store items. Google Maps pulls from Google Merchant Center product feeds to serve these results, expanding the inventory of shopping results from just Google Search and Google Shopping to now include Google Maps.
THE CONTEXT: This expands the available inventory for a business’ Google Merchant Center product feed beyond Google Search, Shopping, Images, and YouTube. It’s also one of several recently released Google Maps features or feature improvements, many of which are beneficial for route planning and more informed driving.
EXPERT POV: “This update to Google Maps now makes it even more important for advertisers with brick-and-mortar locations to keep their Google Merchant Center feed current. Shoppers on the go can easily discover what’s available in local stores, so ensuring your product feed is up to date—especially during the busy holiday season—helps make your inventory more visible to shoppers nearby who are ready to purchase.” – Alyssa Theo | Director, Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: Earlier this month, X officially launched a beta version of X TV. This new TV app is X's move toward positioning itself as a video-first platform. Ad offerings are not available yet, though X has noted that they will be rolled out soon.
THE CONTEXT: Amidst the fragmenting/merging/“great rebundling” of streaming services, YouTube now tops the share of time spent with TV in the US. Not so coincidentally, X’s new offering looks a lot like the YouTube TV app.
EXPERT POV: Ad revenue on X has steadily declined from its peak in 2022, and with many projecting a continued decline year over year given the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the company, I hypothesize X will aim to monetize its new video platform sooner rather than later. Advertisers, stay tuned! - Erik Chellberg | VP of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: As a new way to encourage engagement on Instagram, Meta is rolling out comments on Stories. These comments will be visible to anyone who views the Story content, and will be displayed along the bottom of the frame so as not to be intrusive to users. If post creators prefer, commenting on their Stories can be switched off.
THE CONTEXT: Over the years, Instagram has continuously added features like these to formats like Reels and Stories to encourage engagement, and perhaps also to reduce passive scrolling. Engagement is good for business: More ways for users to interact means more ways for Instagram to understand user behavior and preferences, tailor content accordingly, and ultimately keep users on the platform for longer periods of time.
EXPERT POV: For anyone who has been paying attention to the updates Meta has been making to its suite of products over the past half-decade, this update comes as no surprise. Time on site rules supreme for social media platforms, and with Instagram already producing an average stay-on-site of over 3 minutes, the ability for users to comment on Stories may yield even more time on site for the average user. For any advertisers historically averse to running on Instagram Stories, now would be a good time to test out this placement, as doing so will open additional avenues for user interaction, which can lead to improved brand affinity and stronger paid efforts. - Erik Chellberg | VP of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google Ads plans to merge its Video Action Campaigns (VAC) into its Demand Gen campaign type in Q2 2025. This will offer advertisers expanded reach, creative flexibility, enhanced audience targeting, and more.
THE CONTEXT: Whereas Video Action Campaign ads typically ran on Google’s video-friendly sibling channel, YouTube, this fold-in to Demand Gen will expand inventory across Google platforms and into external partners and outside properties. No telling if this in response to questions of Google’s video ad quality or the antitrust lawsuit leveled against Google by the US Department of Justice, which in part accuses the tech giant of favoring its own ad inventory—or if it’s simply another case of Google’s affinity for infusing AI into its newest ad products.
EXPERT POV: Google will introduce a migration tool in Q1 of 2025 and will force migration in Q2 2025. Migrating manually and adding assets for the additional ad formats Demand Gen offers will expand reach into available inventory. Testing and optimizing Demand Gen campaigns with video and image assets ahead of the migration could make results more efficient in preparation for when Video Action Campaigns are officially sunset. - Alexa Dillon | VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google Ads’ Enhanced CPC (eCPC) bidding option will be removed for new Display and Search campaigns in October 2024, and all remaining campaigns using the strategy will transition to Manual CPC bidding by March 2025. This change effectively removes advertisers’ ability to lightly experiment with automated adjustments of campaigns set to manual bidding, in favor of newer Google Ads machine learning options and advanced automated bidding strategies.
THE CONTEXT: Google made the same move with Shopping campaigns last year, claiming that new, more advanced strategies like Target ROAS, Maximize Conversion Value, and Performance Max helped achieve the same or improved results, thanks to its enhanced technology. This is part of a larger trend of platforms pulling back on the manual controls they offer advertisers, instead pushing them towards more automated and AI-driven tools.
EXPERT POV: Rather than automatically migrating eCPC campaigns to manual CPC, consider testing the more advanced automated bidding strategies first. Determine whether click, conversion, or conversion value bidding is most in line with your objective and begin an experiment to measure whether a fully automated bidding option can improve your performance. The experiment results can inform whether to move fully to an automated bid strategy or migrate to manual CPC. - Alexa Dillon | VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Starting in November, advertisers with Google’s Gambling and Games certification must be recertified if they have undergone significant changes to applicable product offerings, regulatory compliance, or licensing. Failure to do so will lead to immediate Google Ads account suspension.
THE CONTEXT: The timing of this announcement lined up with the start of the NFL season and has direct effects on many of today’s popular online betting and gambling websites. The change also comes amidst concerns over traditional and some nontraditional gambling advertisers targeting younger consumers and other vulnerable populations.
EXPERT POV: Advertisers in the gambling industry should closely review the Google Ads Gambling and Gaming policy and understand which segments of the policy are applicable to their business. If certification is required and there are significant changes to product offerings, regulatory compliance, or licensing, be transparent with your advertising partners so they can help submit new certifications when applicable and prevent the risk of account suspension. - Alexa Dillon | VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: A shorter season (five fewer shopping days) between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year means one thing for marketers: It's crunch time! Consumers are already planning their holiday purchases, and here, Google provides insights—geared around what the company calls a consumer mindset framework—to help advertisers stay ahead of their holiday strategy.
THE CONTEXT: While the number of days between Thanksgiving and Christmas is short (26, to be exact), consumers’ holiday shopping season essentially starts on October 1, meaning Google’s “deliberate” planning mindset is just on the horizon. Marketers who start planning now will be better positioned to earn their share of expected retail sales growth, forecast between 2.3% and 3.3%, if not as much as 4.8%.
EXPERT POV: While Cyber Week is the highly anticipated peak of holiday season purchases, more consumers are beginning to shop and hunt for deals early. A holistic approach to reaching customers throughout their research and purchase journey, then, is key during the holiday season. Pairing campaign types—such as Search, YouTube, and Shopping or Performance Max—that support different phases of the purchase funnel will help you stay top of mind with consumers through their whole journey. - Alexa Dillon | VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Despite competition from generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Microsoft's Copilot, recent data suggests that Google Search traffic has not only held steady, but grew by 1.4% from May 2023 to May 2024.
THE CONTEXT: While Google is still the dominant force in the search space, it’s battling several threats to that dominance—a significant one being its recent loss of the DOJ’s antitrust suit against it, which found that the company illegally leveraged its power to suppress competitors and hinder innovation in the search space. While Google doesn’t appear to be losing traffic as a result of genAI platforms yet, several experts believe AI is more of a threat (or at least more of an urgent threat) than the antitrust suit loss, with Gartner forecasting a 25% drop in search engine volume in just two years thanks to chatbot-like applications.
EXPERT POV: Google continues to innovate its search experience in an effort to stay relevant in the face of AI—for example, by creating snackable results that engage consumers (and younger consumers at that) on Google itself. I think it’s going to be years before we see a true impact on Google on both the “generative AI taking away a large share” and “effects of a pending lawsuit” fronts. - Lindsay Martin, Group VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google’s AI Overviews (formerly Search Generative Experience, or SGE) search results now match its organic top 10 results a whopping 99.5% of the time. An algorithm update appears to be responsible for this change, as Google may now be incorporating more traditional search ranking signals as part of its custom Gemini AI model.
THE CONTEXT: This is a major turnaround from earlier this year, when the answers generated by SGE didn’t match links from the top 10 organic search results a majority of the time, which resulted in less authoritative and trustworthy content.
EXPERT POV: The verdict is still out as to what these AI Overviews mean for clicks and click-through rates. I’m eager to see how Google chooses to monetize these results, knowing that it’s on the roadmap. - Lindsay Martin, Group VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google has provided several back-to-school shopping options that include virtual clothing try-on experiences, photo-based product searching options, and high-ranking product results that display the discounts and sale prices shoppers seek.
THE CONTEXT: With the rise of shoppable media—as evident by consumer adoption, the additions of shoppable features on Pinterest and TikTok, and agency pros’ beliefs that shoppable video and AR/VR are “the next frontier”—it’s no surprise that Google wants in the game.
EXPERT POV: Features such as Google Lens and Circle to Search could be seen as “shortcuts” for consumers to identify products of interest. In other words, consumers may buy with fewer clicks. Keep in mind that these experiences are optimized towards mobile; therefore, the mobile purchase experience—including fast load times and mobile-friendly storefronts—is key. Optimized product feeds and high-quality photos and videos are also important. Lastly, take advantage of sale price annotations and local inventory ads to help stand out in highly competitive periods. - Lindsay Martin, Group VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Meta has now removed detailed targeting exclusions as an option for all new campaigns. Detailed targeting exclusions allowed advertisers to exclude people from their target audience based on demographics, interests, and/or behaviors. The intent for those exclusions was that advertisers would better refine their audiences, but Meta found through its own testing that they limited ad effectiveness rather than improved performance.
THE CONTEXT: Advertisers were made aware of this change months ago… sort of. In May, some Meta advertisers received an alert stating that detailed targeting exclusions would be removed in June. Meta claimed the alert was the result of a bug and that the company had no plans for immediate changes.
EXPERT POV: This shift in targeting abilities may cause some concern, but Meta’s AI system is becoming more advanced by the day. Meta shared that, in its own testing, the median cost per conversion for ad campaigns improved by 22.6% when detailed targeting exclusions were removed. Rest assured, if excluding audiences is of high priority, there are alternative exclusion options that can be set within account-level advertising settings. However, I recommend advertisers hold off on applying any settings to see how their campaigns do. You never know: Performance may come as a pleasant surprise. - Lauren Brown, Director of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Meta has unveiled plans to update its approach to ad campaign measurement and attribution. These updates include adding segment-level conversion values within campaigns, a new opt-in attribution setting that optimizes for incremental conversions, and the option to integrate data directly from a CRM to give Meta more insights for targeting. The company says these updates will help connect advertisers’ Meta ads to conversions while also giving Meta more data points to work with for campaign optimization.
THE CONTEXT: These changes appear to put some of Meta’s levers back in the hands of advertisers, which may be a welcome change for advertisers concerned that Advantage+ has taken away too much of their control.
EXPERT POV: With any big change, there is usually a period of adjustment, and that’s likely what’s going to happen here. Advertisers will likely see a dip in performance as Meta’s system ramps up with this update. Don’t panic: The numbers will adjust themselves and hopefully show the improvement Meta intends. - Lauren Brown, Director of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google announced new insights for AI-powered campaigns, including Performance Max, taking the stance that creative is likely the largest opportunity to maximize the success of this campaign type. Insights include conversion data at the asset level, which can inform future creative development; improved image-editing capabilities using AI; and new creative partnerships with brands like Canva and Typeface to help with creative development at scale.
THE CONTEXT: Google isn’t the only platform encouraging advertisers to use its genAI tools for content creation—many others, including Meta, LinkedIn, and TikTok, have rolled out AI-powered ad creative tools for image and text generation in the past year. Of course, as these tools and technologies are still relatively new and come with distinct risks, advertisers should set up quality control systems for any AI-driven content creation.
EXPERT POV: We know that Performance Max has left brands and marketers with very little control over campaign optimizations or how and where their ads serve. Creative reporting within PMax is also still a challenge regardless of this update, and we’re still waiting for Google to consider adding features that help advertisers match their brands’ creative styles and guidelines. At the same time, Google has made fantastic strides in PMax campaigns in terms of performance, and I would recommend this ad format for any CPA- or ROAS-based advertiser. - Lindsay Martin, Group VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Reddit has introduced its own Lead Gen Ads option, allowing marketers to collect prospective customer information directly through their in-app promotions. Reddit also revealed a new integration with Zapier, which will simplify the process of transferring lead information from Reddit directly into your preferred CRM.
THE CONTEXT: With a growing monthly average user base of incredibly engaged and passionate Redditors, the platform’s leaders have stated aspirations to lead in various advertising types and targeting techniques, including efforts in performance and measurement beyond branding and community growth.
EXPERT POV: While lead gen ads are not a new product in the social world, this is a big leap forward for Reddit as it continues to grow its product offerings and become more competitive against other social platforms. While Redditors are extremely loyal to Reddit, that doesn’t mean advertisers should dive right in without a strategy. The last thing you want is a flock of Redditors giving you a thumbs down on your ad. - Lauren Brown, Director of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: After years of shifting promises and timelines, Google won't deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome after all. Instead, the tech giant is working on a “new experience” that will let users make informed decisions about cookie use and privacy across their web browsing, with settings they can adjust any time.
THE CONTEXT: Despite this change in Google’s cookie plans, consumers, regulators, and tech platforms alike are still pushing our industry towards a privacy-first paradigm. Bonus: Check out this video for even more context around Google’s announcement and what it means for advertisers.
EXPERT POV: This is undoubtedly a huge pivot for Google, but it doesn’t change the fact that advertisers still need to embrace cookieless solutions and privacy-first advertising. Google’s enhanced conversion tracking, which uses hashed first-party data to help supplement cookie-based conversion tracking, is one option that I’d recommend advertisers test and learn on. – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Italy’s competition and consumer watchdog group is investigating Google, saying the company uses misleading practices to collect user data and link it to other data across its platforms including Google Search, YouTube, Chrome, and Maps.
THE CONTEXT: In early March, Google became subject to the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which sets guidelines for how internet platforms like Google, Meta, and others are allowed to collect and use consumer data. Shortly after the Digital Markets Act took effect, the EU began an investigation into Google’s parent company, Alphabet, for what they characterize as anti-competitive business practices. This is all part of a larger trend of regulators cracking down on Big Tech.
EXPERT POV: This is the fourth time Google has been charged with antitrust law violations and, unless they change their practices, the investigations are likely to continue. It’s a high-stakes issue for Google, as 77.8% of its income is from advertising. It’s important to stay up-to-date on these types of regulatory developments, as the results of these investigations could have significant impacts for advertisers. – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Meta has launched Llama 3.1, the largest open-source AI model, claiming it outperforms GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet. With 405 billion parameters, it was created using over 16,000 Nvidia GPUs and will be integrated into WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Quest headsets. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expects it to surpass ChatGPT in popularity by year-end.
THE CONTEXT: Meta has been in rapid AI development mode this year, rolling out several new generative AI features for advertisers in addition to Llama 3.1. Marketers will, of course, still want to apply human intervention to confirm the accuracy of these features’ output.
EXPERT POV: I expect the biggest players in tech and data to release shiny new variations of their generative AI tools while the AI market grows. That said, brands and advertisers should closely monitor the integration of these tools, especially as Meta continues to develop and promote generative AI tools that dramatically impact ad creation and delivery at the auction (Advantage+ comes to mind). As Meta enhances both user- and advertiser-focused AI tools, both audiences must approach these new capabilities with cautious optimism, leaning into proven strengths and avoiding the pitfalls that often riddle early versions of these tools. – Bryan O’Loughlin | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: On July 1, Apple extended its 30% fee on Facebook and Instagram ad purchases through iOS devices to advertisers globally, a measure that could impact digital advertising costs and strategies in significant ways. Advertisers can avoid the fee by using desktop web browsers, with Meta updating its web platforms to match mobile app functionality.
THE CONTEXT: Critics label the fee as anti-competitive, while Apple defends its right to charge for access to its platform's audience. One of the fee’s critics is Meta’s Director of Privacy & Fairness Policy, Pedro Pavón. He notes that European Union investigators have determined Apple’s fee is in breach of the EU’s Digital Markets Act and that a US federal judge has criticized Apple for not complying with a court order related to its fee structure.
EXPERT POV: Marketers who use an iPhone or iPad to boost an organic post will face the 30% fee, which I anticipate will primarily impact small advertisers and business owners who rely on mobile for convenience and ease of use. Given that this upcharge on ads and boosted posts is avoidable—which may not be obvious to a busy small business owner without context or background for how these platforms work—it's more important than ever that brands work with trusted partners to ensure they can stretch their dollar as far as possible. – Bryan O’Loughlin | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Younger generations are increasingly moving to visually engaging content on social media platforms like TikTok to find what they're looking for, rather than traditional search engines. And it’s not just younger generations: Nearly a quarter of Americans primarily use social media for searches.
THE CONTEXT: This trend echoes another recent report that shows brand discovery on social media outpacing both search and word of mouth, and yet another specifying that Gen Z prefers product discovery through video content (more easily viewed on social) over search. It’s important for advertisers to keep track of significant shifts like these in younger generations’ digital habits in order to reach them effectively.
EXPERT POV: This change is a long time coming and has significant implications for planning and buying, as it blurs the lines between search and social. From a practical perspective, I recommend that marketers focus on video content, especially short form, including vertical video for both TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Advertisers shouldn't skimp on creative or media planning efforts on these platforms, especially as it relates to vertical video and/or keyword planning. With this trend, integrating a marketing approach across search and social is now more important than ever. – Bryan O’Loughlin | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Deloitte’s new report details the impact of the creator economy from the perspectives of creators and influencers, brands, and consumers. One takeaway of note for advertisers: The report found that bonds between consumers and their favorite creators can lead to increased trust between consumers and the brands those creators partner with.
THE CONTEXT: Brands are upping their investment in the creator economy, with 92% planning to increase their spend on creator marketing this year, and 36% planning to spend at least half their entire digital marketing budget in the space.
EXPERT POV: Marketers can no longer afford to sit out on creator marketing. Creator content, whether owned, organic, or sponsored, is here to stay and is fast becoming the key to winning new customers. As we look at investment across social channels, advertisers may need to be wary of platform-managed creator marketplaces, where exclusive contracts can limit brand usage rights across the open internet. – Jess Kaswiner | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Global ad spend across social media platforms is up by a whopping 14.3% year-over-year, making it the leading media channel in the digital ecosystem. This surge is fueled mostly by advertising spend on Meta platforms, which is set to surpass linear TV for the first time in history. The report attributes some incremental increase in social spend to artificial intelligence, suggesting that new tools that automate creative development and media planning, such as Meta Advantage+, are growing in popularity.
THE CONTEXT: The surge in social media ad spend comes on the heels of a rough couple of years for many of the biggest players in the social space, which were marked by plummeting stocks and missed revenue expectations. However, things haven’t turned around for all the major players: While Meta, Pinterest, TikTok, and Snapchat are forecast to enjoy double-digit growth this year, the report notes that X’s revenue woes will continue.
EXPERT POV: Brands show no signs of slowing down their social ad investments. To ensure the social presence of a business acts as a buttress rather than a mere prop, advertisers must understand what that businesses’ audience wants to hear/read/see, while simultaneously differentiating from competitor content. – Jess Kaswiner | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: After screenshots surfaced on social media, Meta confirmed that it’s testing a non-skippable ad unit on Instagram. These new ad breaks will display a countdown timer that stops users from being able to browse through more content on the app until they view the ad. The functionality is similar to YouTube, which requires users to view some ads in full before and in the middle of watching videos. Information about the test is limited, such as where the test is running from a geographic standpoint, or how long the test will run.
THE CONTEXT: With 44% of consumers preferring to learn about products and services through short-form video (where Instagram excels), and 87% of marketers reporting that video has directly increased sales, an unskippable ad unit would likely strengthen the impact of Instagram’s video ad offerings for advertisers.
EXPERT POV: Should this “forced view” ad unit on Instagram become available more broadly, advertisers will have the opportunity to fully capture a user’s attention with guaranteed visibility, which will help to drive awareness and engagement. Brands will want to ensure the content of the unskippable ad is engaging, with clear messaging and CTAs. – Laura Kubiesa | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Young people are increasingly using social apps—TikTok and Instagram in particular—to find products. Gen Z users search social apps primarily for fashion, beauty, food, and craft-related trends, but turn to Google for bigger purchases, places to go, and professional services.
THE CONTEXT: Whether looking to drive sales from younger or older consumers, there’s gold in those social media hills: Both product discovery and purchase happen on social media at rates higher than on messaging apps, video, or through influencers. This trend goes hand in hand with the rise of social search, with over 25% of 18 to 54-year-olds preferring to perform their online searches via social media.
EXPERT POV: The integration of generative AI into search and social platforms is likely to further blur the lines between different types of product discovery channels. By staying informed about these consumer trends, marketers can better navigate the shifting landscape of product/brand discovery and optimize their strategies for maximum impact. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google announced the launch of the Google TV Network, a network aimed at leveraging Google's vast audience to distribute and monetize TV content. This network is available within the Google Ads platform through YouTube and display campaigns and currently focuses on the six-second bumper ad format, with more formats coming. The platform offers a range of content, including sports, news, and entertainment, and focuses on personalized recommendations and targeted advertising.
THE CONTEXT: This move from Google empowers advertisers to make the most of the rapid growth of free ad-supported television (FAST) channels like Amazon’s Freevee, Pluto, Tubi, and Roku, in light of rising subscription costs for other streaming services.
EXPERT POV: For now, my team is opting in to the Google TV Network within non-skippable and bumper YouTube campaigns. As we see more data coming from this network, we will evaluate whether performance is of high enough quality to continue opting in—I recommend other advertisers do the same. – Heather Crider, VP of Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: On August 30th, Google Ads will complete the rollout of its new design to all markets. New features include a left-side menu that organizes pages into several high-level categories, a more comprehensive search function, and an overall cleaner and more modern-looking UI.
THE CONTEXT: Google trialed two different looks in 2023 before landing on this UI, based on user feedback, for the full rollout.
EXPERT POV: You can expect all the same functionality in the new Google Ads design, but the tools and menus have moved around a bit. Users should adopt the new Google Ads UI early and get as familiar as possible with the various changes, as there will be no way to opt out after August 30th. Certain things have shifted, from tools and menus to more efficient campaign segmentation for Performance Max, and it will take some time for the new navigation to become second nature. – Sofia Petrovsky, Director of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Content at Google Marketing Live 2024 focused on AI-driven updates, including those that enhance creative production and consumer engagement. Key highlights include:
THE CONTEXT: Google has been on an AI tear as of late, adding AI-powered tools meant to help marketers with creative development, campaign management, and seemingly everything in between. Their stated purpose? To respond to an “evolution of [consumer] attention.”
EXPERT POV: This year’s GML was a continued push into AI, adding incremental features to a lot of what was released during GML 2023. Agencies and brand marketing executives should swiftly educate and integrate Google's AI-driven tools to streamline creative production, enhance consumer engagement, and optimize campaign management. By leveraging these advancements, they can achieve deeper customer connections and more efficient marketing outcomes in an increasingly AI-centric landscape. – Robert Kurtz | Group VP, Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: After years of Washington lawmakers scrutinizing the platform, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that will ban TikTok in the US if its China-based parent company, ByteDance, does not sell the app within a year. Lawmakers say their main concerns are around data privacy and the perceived possibility of “espionage, surveillance, [and] maligned operations”. ByteDance has called this ruling “unconstitutional” and has promised to sue.
THE CONTEXT: If they aren’t successful in court, ByteDance says that they’d rather shut down TikTok in the US than sell the app and its algorithms to an American buyer. A shutdown would be a big deal for advertisers, particularly those working for small- to medium-sized businesses: TikTok recently released a report that claims SMBs using the platform’s free services and paid advertising contributed a total of $24.2 billion to the US GDP last year.
EXPERT POV: Advertising on Tiktok will continue to operate as usual for now. However, with TikTok having risen to the top of the list of social platforms that provide value for SMBs, its political limbo status should cause advertisers to monitor and evaluate existing similar features across other social channels, like YouTube Shorts and Meta's Reels, while also keeping an eye out for any new copycat features or channels that come down the line. – Jenny Lewis | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Since the launch of TikTok Shop in September 2023, reports have suggested that the increase in TikTok Shop content was causing a decline in overall usage of the app. However, many users say they have increased their TikTok usage since TikTok Shop rolled out. Time spent on TikTok is plateauing and new user growth is slowing, but given that the app already has 107.8 million monthly US consumers who spend immense amounts of time on the app, this simply indicates a more mature growth phase.
THE CONTEXT: While time spent on the app and user growth may be slowing, forecasts still show that US adults will spend 58.4 minutes per day on TikTok in 2024, up from 2023 numbers and ahead of every other social media platform for most US social users.
EXPERT POV: While some headlines may infer growth on TikTok is declining, users are still spending a lot of time on the app, which presents a great opportunity for advertisers. Regardless of a brand’s location in the funnel, there’s something for everyone when it comes to advertising on the platform: TopView can be leveraged for boosting reach and awareness, while Video Shopping Ads maximize sales with tailored ads. TikTok is investing in rolling out new paid opportunities and features weekly, and there’s no time like the present for advertisers to ensure they’re capitalizing on the highly active user base and ensuring their paid social strategy encompasses TikTok. – Laura Kubiesa | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: In honor of International Fact-Checking Day, Google highlighted its fact-checking tools and shared expanded features within those tools. “About this image”, for one, appears to be very similar to Reverse Image Search, with additional features that provide information about the image’s history as well as what reputable sites are saying about it. There’s also a new version of “Fact Check Explorer” that allows users to explore images as well as topics and people.
THE CONTEXT: Several of these tools and features were introduced in October 2023; since then, an academic study has questioned the sufficiency of Google’s fact-checking information for most false claims, even as the search engine’s results themselves were deemed “relatively reliable”. Fact-checking is particularly critical today for both advertisers and consumers due to the rise in AI-generated disinformation.
EXPERT POV: For better or worse, AI is becoming a bigger part of the online world, making it much easier for bad actors to create mis- and disinformation, which can quickly erode consumer trust. Tools like this can help by providing users with options to weed out that noise. However, they don't have complete coverage and the results can be unreliable. This puts the onus on advertisers to be as transparent in their messaging as possible to foster trust and prevent misinformation from spreading. – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google’s 2023 Ads Safety Report highlights their efforts to maintain a secure online environment. The search engine suspended or removed 12.7 million advertiser accounts last year—nearly two times the amount from the previous year—and blocked 5.5 billion ads for violating the company’s policies. Key violations included misrepresentation, financial services violations, and malware promotion. Google took several actions in response to these threats, including launching its Ads Transparency Center and updating its suitability controls.
THE CONTEXT: Duncan Lennox, Google VP & GM of Ads Privacy and Safety, cites generative AI as both an opportunity to improve policy enforcement and a challenge—with “bad actors operating with more sophistication, at a greater scale.” Deepfake artificial intelligence has made it cheaper and easier to launch campaigns featuring, for example, fake celebrity endorsements for products and services, which fraudsters have used to scam people out of money and personally identifiable information.
EXPERT POV: While this added safety and security good in general, we at Basis Technologies are seeing more questionable violations that require us to push for re-review. For clients in sensitive verticals like politics, health, and finance, it can make running ads more difficult and time-consuming. Be prepared to file certifications proving your identity and bona fides before your ads go live (or shortly after launch). – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: LinkedIn has confirmed that Pages Messaging is being rolled out to all businesses after initially launching the functionality with some company pages in June 2023. In addition to its direct in-app messaging expansion, LinkedIn is also partnering with various third-party platforms to facilitate company messaging via social management tools (e.g. Hootsuite).
THE CONTEXT: Adding Pages Messaging was a logical step for LinkedIn, as social media activity continues to move to private messaging, 78% of consumers surveyed say they have used a direct messaging tool to interact with a brand, and 86% of those consumers said those direct interactions positively impacted their perception of the company.
EXPERT POV: Company leaders and advertisers alike have long been anticipating this feature’s rollout on LinkedIn. The imperative now is to be ready to react, which means devoting resources to monitoring, responding, and possibly escalating customer concerns. While social media—and, increasingly, DMs on social—are a means of customer service, they can also serve as “free” listening tools to help guide other marketing and advertising efforts, like campaign themes and timely creative swap-outs. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Instagram is testing out a new way to comment on specific images within a carousel post, with some users able to link their reply to a photo or video based on its assigned number in the display. This update is aimed at driving more focused engagement and encouraging more interaction around each content element, while also clearing up confusion around carousel post comments. Instagram is testing the new carousel tagging option with a limited number of users at this stage.
THE CONTEXT: Instagram carousels already have the highest engagement rate of all post formats. This new feature allows for even more engagement and could lead to strategic engagement opportunities and more learnings for creators, influencers, and brands.
EXPERT POV: Engagement rate rules supreme for Meta—the more a user engages with a brand, the more Meta “rewards” the brand for fostering that in-platform engagement. And with this content-specific engagement, advertisers are afforded more insight into what resonates most with their audience. They can use that information to inform other marketing and advertising collateral, from products to feature in display or shopping ads to tiles that could transfer from high-performing organic content over to high-performing advertising content. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google’s text ads appear to be showing up at different positions relative to organic results on a search engine results page. While “top ads” have generally appeared above the top organic results, this “definitional change” means top ads may also show below the top organic search results on certain queries. The placement of top ads is dynamic and may change based on the user’s search. Importantly, this will not affect how performance metrics are calculated.
THE CONTEXT: This change seems to be a by-product of Google’s search engine results page continuous scroll functionality, which allows ads to appear in more positions among organic results than just the top, and which has prompted Google to experiment with those positions. To that point, Google has provided tips for advertisers to help improve their ad positions.
EXPERT POV: If ads appear below the top organic results more frequently following this definitional change, we’ll be monitoring for downstream effects on click-through rate and other key metrics. In the meantime, maintaining a focus on ad rank factors such as relevancy remains key to securing top placements. – Alexa Dillon | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google recently launched Solutions, a free tool within Google Ads that automates and simplifies campaign management in an accessible and user-friendly way. It comes with several pre-built automation templates for the campaign management process, including Performance Reporting, Anomaly Detection, URL Validation, Budget Optimization, and Negative Keyword Management—all of which can be customized to meet different advertising needs.
THE CONTEXT: As part of this launch, Google announced it will sunset its manual solutions library. This focus on automation comes on the heels of Google’s new AI-powered approach to displaying responsive search ads and its application of Gemini for text and image generation within Performance Max (which has not been hiccup-free). Overall, the company continues to push advertisers towards automated processes across the campaign life cycle, from creative development, to ad placement, to campaign management.
EXPERT POV: Google continues to create new tools to help free up time for paid search managers to analyze data and make strategic decisions. By starting to use the Solutions tools now, search managers can get ahead on campaign management simplification, allowing them to spend more time on optimizations and recommendations that grow paid search accounts and drive business goals. – Nick Tuttle | Director, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Performance Max (PMax) campaigns are now available globally through Microsoft Advertising. PMax is an automated campaign type that uses artificial intelligence to create ad assets and automate ad optimization across different Microsoft Advertising formats and channels. The company will soon add more automated features, including brand exclusions (for less inflated performance metrics), search insights reports (for greater visibility into user queries), and video assets (for broader creative distribution) to its PMax campaigns.
THE CONTEXT: This global release follows a closed beta launch in May 2023 that Microsoft deemed successful. Time- and resource-strapped marketers who rely on manual efforts may appreciate PMax campaigns’ automated optimizations, even as some position the campaign type, similarly available through Google, as relinquishing control and decision-making power to artificial intelligence.
EXPERT POV: Rolling out PMax campaigns globally is another instance of Microsoft competing with Google, particularly by relying on AI and algorithms that identify when and where someone is most likely to convert. When it comes to the landscape of search advertising, Google is still far and away the most dominant search engine, but Microsoft integrating ChatGPT into Bing helped increase its market share from 6.35% to 8.07% over the past year. When determining whether PMax may be a valuable, additional layer in your search investment, consider your ideal demographic (as older generations are more likely to use Bing) and your vertical (as certain industries, like healthcare and financial services, attract larger shares of older users). – Nick Tuttle | Director, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Reddit is launching a suite of tools, called Reddit Pro, for businesses looking to grow their organic presence on the community-driven platform. Currently in its beta testing phase, Reddit Pro uses AI to help brands identify trending topics and conversations, even allowing them to see when their brand has been mentioned in a subreddit. The suite of features also includes content drafting, scheduling, and reporting tools, as well as the ability to easily turn organic posts into paid advertisements. This is Reddit’s first set of free tools meant to inform businesses’ social media strategies, and the company plans to launch additional features within it later this year.
THE CONTEXT: The Reddit Pro launch came as the company prepared its initial public offering (IPO) at a stock price that valued the company at nearly $6.5 billion. Reddit is likely leveraging this new suite of free tools to entice brands to the platform and turn them into paying advertisers.
EXPERT POV: All eyes are on Reddit as the platform continues to make headlines with news of its successful IPO. Brands looking to connect with a wider audience may want to explore adding this channel to their organic and paid social portfolio. These new Reddit Pro tools—only available to brands that are active on Reddit—grant deeper insight into what Redditors are saying about brands, what aspects of products or businesses are resonating with customers, and which industry topics are trending. For brands not yet using the platform with a u/ (Reddit-speak for “username”) of their own, these new tools may incentivize them to create Reddit profiles and start an “OP” (“original post”) of their own. Pro Tip: Get to know the Reddit lingo! LSHMSFOAIDMT – Jess Kaswiner | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: TikTok has been under the US political microscope for some time, but now it’s ramping up its own political activity: TikTok users were shown a pop-up message earlier this month, urging them to call members of Congress to voice their opposition to a bill that aims to ban the app in the United States if its parent company, the China-based ByteDance, doesn’t sell it. Congress was quickly flooded with phone calls from TikTok users of all ages; the majority of calls, however, were from children. Since then, anonymous sources say some of the calls have turned threatening and concerning.
THE CONTEXT: Less than a week later, the US House of Representatives passed the bill, 352 to 65 in favor of a nationwide TikTok ban if the app isn’t sold, driven by concerns over the data security of US TikTok users. The bill’s future in the Senate is unclear, but President Biden has said he would sign the bill if Congress passes it.
EXPERT POV: While a ban on TikTok in US markets could have significant implications for brands already active on the platform—especially those leveraging it for influencer marketing and e-commerce sales—daily active usage is not showing any signs of slowing. The recent developments around TikTok highlight a continuing concern with and focus on data privacy in the digital advertising space. Taking a step back from TikTok specifically, this situation underscores the importance of diversification in media planning. In the short term, however, Committee and House votes are the beginning, not the end, of a long process. – Jess Kaswiner | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Pinterest’s recent campaign, “The P is for Performance,” touts the platform’s full-funnel approach to advertising, including lower-funnel case studies that show as much as a 28% increase in conversions and up to a 96% increase in traffic for its advertisers. Pinterest’s performance products include mobile deep links and direct links, making it easier for users to convert, plus shopping ads for greater inspiration and Pinterest API for Conversions for higher reporting visibility.
THE CONTEXT: In years past, Pinterest’s ethos of being a place for discovery has appealed to advertisers seeking upper-funnel awareness for their brands. With this campaign, Pinterest seeks to broaden its draw for advertisers who may only think of it as an upper-funnel platform. The campaign launched shortly after Pinterest released its Q4 2023 earnings, highlighting 12% revenue growth compared to the same period in 2022 and its 11% increase in global monthly active users.
EXPERT POV: Pinterest has thrived as one of the first social platforms to sit in a space that blends paid search and social channels. It’s no surprise that as a historically well-established traffic driver, Pinterest has now set its sights on also fiercely competing in lower-funnel effectiveness. Recent product releases have proven to be fairly low-lift activations for advertisers, particularly in the retail, e-commerce, travel, and professional services industries. Brands can significantly cut down the path to conversion by leveraging Pinterest to display product information, prices, and descriptions directly to their audiences’ feeds via shopping ads and simplify the consumer journey by tapping into direct links. – Jenny Lewis | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Online sales for Cyber Week 2023 were up 7.8% year-over-year, with e-commerce sales totaling $12.4 billion on Cyber Monday. Paid digital marketing was a big driver of that growth, and advertisers are relying more on automated platforms to enhance efficiencies and expedite the scaling of campaigns. On the other hand, with advancements in automation and AI, invalid traffic has become more and more sophisticated over the past three years. One advertiser explained that tackling invalid traffic led to “more stable and predictable growth across our most important paid media channels.”
THE CONTEXT: 22% of ad spend in 2023 (or $84 billion out of a total $382 billion) was lost due to ad fraud. However, $23 billion of that amount would be recoverable with fraud mitigation platforms in place. Given that political advertising for the US presidential election will drive up ad costs at the start of the holiday season, driving efficiencies by leveraging the right technologies will be especially key for advertisers this year.
EXPERT POV: Ad networks aren’t incentivized to crack down on the increased bot traffic we’re seeing due to AI advances and the corresponding ease with which bad actors can create bots. So, the onus is on the marketer to stay alert for signs of high levels of bot traffic. These include high bounce rates and traffic spikes without corresponding conversion increases. Consider ways to block or limit these, like captchas, using conversion-based goals with machine learning bidding, and optimizing landing page content to be very specific to the intended conversion. — Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: The IAB’s new comprehensive consumer privacy study found that nearly 80% of consumers would prefer to get more ads in exchange for not having to pay for websites and apps, and that 90% prefer personalized ads, but that nearly half feel websites and apps aren’t clear enough about how their data is used.
THE CONTEXT: With Google planning to fully deprecate third-party cookies in its Chrome browser by the end of this year, and signal loss across the industry as a result of data privacy concerns, figuring out how to use consumer data in ethical, transparent ways to serve personalized ads to consumers is a must for digital advertisers.
EXPERT POV: The fact that most consumers would rather receive more ads to retain their free access to websites and apps means that advertisers’ digital media investments are well-positioned to reach consumers who find them valuable. Advertisers should take a “test and learn” approach to understand which channels work best given their KPIs and to remain flexible and fluid with budget allocations based on results. —Laura Kubiesa | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google’s responsive search ads rely on artificial intelligence to combine headlines and descriptions based on consumer behavior and predicted outcomes. New AI-powered features allow Google to decide when an ad should display only one headline versus two, with the second headline appearing at the beginning of the ad’s description section. Google can now also supplement or override an advertiser’s manual assets—like images, sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets—with its own AI-generated assets if it feels doing so will help an ad’s performance.
THE CONTEXT: AI’s influence on ad placement and creative continues to grow. Search Engine Land weighed the pros and cons of Google’s update, noting that while it may serve to drive engagement and performance, it also means that advertisers are surrendering more control to Google. At the same time, artificial intelligence tools often don’t perform with 100% accuracy—and as this is a newer feature, advertisers have no benchmark for how much accuracy these specific features can provide.
EXPERT POV: With the increased focus and adoption of AI capabilities in digital media, it’s no surprise Google continues to roll out these features within their campaign types and ad formats. As the industry continues to trend in this direction, getting left behind means being unable to capitalize on the reported improved performance of these AI-powered features. However, many advertisers need to maintain control over the images and copy that run within their ads, so turning off the auto-assets feature within Google Ads may be the better option. Advertisers who aren’t comfortable giving up control can still take advantage of some of the latest updates by testing the new campaign-level headlines and descriptions and scheduling them to run during certain time frames, which can help manage time-sensitive promotional copy. — Alyssa Theo | VP, Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: AI and automation within Meta's ad products, such as its Advantage suite, helped fuel 24% year-over-year growth for Meta's ad business in Q4 2023. The social giant also shared advertiser success stories that included increased revenue and improved performance metrics for brands’ campaigns when they employed Meta’s AI ad tools. Meta plans to expand its generative AI features, including text and image variations, to further enhance advertising capabilities.
THE CONTEXT: Meta, along with every other social platform, is placing a high level of priority on building out further automation and AI solutions that work in tandem with their advertising algorithms to drive strong results for customers while making the lives of marketers easier.
EXPERT POV: In the face of ongoing question marks with Meta’s advertising platform (e.g. third-party cookie deprecation, ATT impacts, and data privacy regulations), capitalizing on AI and automation solutions integrated into the platform is an effective way to manage media campaigns efficiently, expand existing audience targeting to reach engaged new users, and create a high volume of ad iterations for easier creative testing. — Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Pinterest has begun rolling out an integration that allows ads to show on Pinterest via Google’s Ad Manager. The integration will make it so that when Pinterest users come across a Google ad, they’ll be sent to the advertiser’s website to finalize their transaction. This partnership will not only broaden the reach of advertisers using Google Ads but will allow them to engage an active, high-value consumer base.
THE CONTEXT: Pinterest’s stock dipped almost 28% in early February, but bounced back after this Google deal was announced.
EXPERT POV: For those advertisers looking to generate discovery, this new inventory source could be very beneficial. Google is rolling out this new option over the next several quarters, and it will be available within Google’s Ad Manager. As of now, Basis Technologies is waiting to see how this inventory performs to inform future recommendations. — Robert Kurtz | Group VP, Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: TikTok's Marketing Science team partnered with IPG's MAGNA Media Trials to conduct a study of digital video through the lens of TikTok’s impact on its advertisers. Contents of the report include TikTok’s positive effect on brand sentiment and consumer experience, higher engagement with skippable vs. non-skippable video ads, how contextual content adjacency increases ad view time, and the details of TikTok Pulse, a feature that guarantees ad placement next to top-performing organic content.
THE CONTEXT: TikTok has faced several hurdles in the past few years, not the least of which being several countries and US states implementing full or partial bans of the platform. And although TikTok’s growth is slowing, it still led 2023’s list of app downloads and consumer spending.
EXPERT POV: Advertisers are right to prioritize TikTok, given the time users spend on the app per day, averaging 53.8 minutes, and the platform’s abundance of out-of-the-box and accessible ad products, betas, incentives, and platform support. — Alana Putterman, Group VP, Social Media Investment
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Advertisers face increased barriers to connecting with target audiences, as Google moves ahead with its plans to give consumers a choice over how third-party cookies are used in their Chrome browsers. Social media, however, remains a channel where advertisers can continue to achieve the targeting and personalization they’re used to—at least, in theory.
Evolutions in the social media landscape present significant new challenges to marketing teams looking to take advantage of personalization opportunities. The source of many of these challenges? Fragmentation.
While the internet users of 10 years ago were actively engaged with an average of four social networks, social media users today toggle between an average of 6.7 different social platforms each month. As such, marketing teams are tasked with evaluating how to effectively find and connect with target audiences across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit, and more.
In this context, media teams are under more strain than ever before as they work to craft tailored strategies not only for each platform they choose to invest in, but also for the specific audiences they seek to engage across those platforms. The challenge grows even more complex considering the rise of niche platforms like Letterboxd and chat apps like Telegram, which have gained traction as users seek more personalized, private, and community-driven spaces. These newer platforms offer significant opportunities to connect with specific audiences, but the task of considering if, when, and how to test ad options on each one only increases complexity for marketing teams.
To maximize social media's potential for reaching targeted audiences with personalized messages, advertisers must afford their teams the time and resources they need to navigate this complex landscape efficiently. Adopting systems for gaining deeper audience insights and automating as many campaign processes as possible will be critical for success.
Many factors have contributed to the rise of social media fragmentation in recent years. One is simply the maturation of consumers’ interactions with these platforms: As social media usage has grown, so has the proliferation of content on social platforms, driving users to seek more personalized spaces and communities. Agency executives say they started to notice this shift around 2016 or 2017. The trend was then likely accelerated a few years later by the COVID-19 pandemic, as people in lockdown craved more social connection and sought it out within niche digital spaces.
These shifts in consumer behavior have contributed to the rise of more niche social networks like Nextdoor (a hub for locals in specific neighborhoods to connect online) and Discord (a platform for users to connect over channels, which are often centered around shared interests like gaming, hobbies, or fandoms). And this movement towards more private and hyper-specific communities has been embraced by major social platforms as well—think Meta’s focus on Facebook groups in the late twenty-teens, or X’s communities feature, which was rolled out in 2021.
Major social platforms’ curation of more community-minded experiences demonstrates another trend that’s contributing to fragmentation in the social space: Copycatting. Digiday dubbed 2022 the “year of copycats,” as many social companies introduced new features that resembled TikTok’s feed in order to keep up with the platform. This trend of copycatting has continued in the years since, as social media companies seek to adopt their competitors’ popular features in an effort to prevent users from leaving their platforms. The result is that while platforms like Facebook, X, and Snapchat used to be more distinct, the big players in the space are growing increasingly homogeneous. In this context, some advertisers are finding that focusing on specific communities within these broader platforms is the only way to cut through the noise. While specific communities offer new opportunities for advertisers to connect with targeted groups, it also increases complexity for marketing teams, as they must personalize their content to those communities—and then further personalize it to match the feel of the different social platforms they invest in.
Beyond the trend towards niche communities and the increasing homogeneity of major social platforms, other factors have led to the fragmentation of advertisers' social budgets. In the early 2020s, brands began rethinking their spend on Meta as costs rose and ad space grew saturated on the platform. Meta’s standing with advertisers has further fluctuated during bad press cycles , from the Cambridge Analytica scandal to reports that the platform’s algorithm amplifies misinformation and hate speech. Combine that with advertisers’ continuing exodus from X (the platform’s ad revenues dropped by 98% YOY from January through September 2023, and over one-fourth of advertisers plan to cut their spending on the platform in 2025,) the rise of TikTok, and moves made by other social platforms including Pinterest, Reddit, and Snapchat to improve their ad offerings in a bid to earn some of advertisers’ budgets, and it’s clear that fragmentation in the social space is driven by a variety of factors, none of which show any sign of letting up in the near future.
Fragmentation in the social landscape demonstrates a broader shift that advertising leaders must contend with to stay relevant in the coming years: the growing demand for hyper-personalized experiences, a shift driven largely by younger audiences.
Indeed, Gen Z is a major driver of fragmentation in the social space, as advertisers work to reach the generation across their favorite channels—namely, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat (although considerable portions of the demographic are also on Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, X, and Reddit). And the urgency around personalizing content to audiences on these platforms will only increase as time goes on. While Gen Z accounts for about one-fifth of the population, the generation that comes after it, Gen Alpha, is expected to surpass baby boomers in number by 2025. Given that 65% of Gen Alpha kids aged 8-10 are already spending up to four hours a day on social, there’s no doubt that when they come of age as consumers, they’ll be as digitally savvy and as expectant of personalization on the social platforms they use as Gen Z, if not more so.
To reach these social media users across multiple platforms requires considerable time and effort, given that each platform requires a different strategy and, oftentimes, calls for distinct creative: Instagrammers expect a more polished approach, for example, while messy short-form realness reigns supreme on TikTok, and YouTube is generally geared toward longer-form content.
Advertisers must also navigate the complexities of balancing media plans across the fragmented social media landscape. Incorporating disparate social media platforms into cohesive campaigns presents a major challenge to marketing teams. Advertisers need to be able to holistically (and accurately) measure performance across all these platforms in order to optimize spend, make mid-flight adjustments, and gain insights to enhance future campaigns. But many agencies and marketing teams aren’t yet equipped to do this without investing significant human resources. In this context, social media advertisers need more time and better tools with which to achieve holistic campaigns that meet social media users in the places where they spend time.
The challenges presented to marketing teams as a result of fragmentation in the social space and the urgency to meet consumers—especially younger consumers—with hyper-personalized messaging are clear. First, teams need more time and/or resources to manage campaigns across an increasing number of social platforms (and digital marketing channels in general); and second, teams need access to data that’s unified, organized, and compliant to inform that personalization.
Adding head count is one way to bolster marketing teams’ ability to personalize across channels, but marketing organizations will need to level up their tech stacks as well. Strategically investing in tools that serve to automate manual tasks will be a key component of this. As marketing organizations strategize around how to invest in AI, they should ensure that they’re evaluating solutions that free up time for their teams. For example, marketing leaders may want to make the most of AI’s ability to quickly analyze large data sets across platforms in real time to identify which channels and audience segments are delivering the best results, then allocating (or reallocating) spend to top performers—or, alternatively, adjusting creative to boost lagging channels.
Automation is another key area that advertisers may want to consider adopting to mitigate rising media fragmentation and complexity. Solutions that reduce manual labor by automating parts of the campaign process—from automated in-flight campaign optimizations to automated reporting dashboards—save marketing teams time that they can use for more strategic tasks.
Finally, advertisers must optimize their tech stacks as it relates to the collection, standardization, compliance, unification, and activation of data. Though social media fragmentation poses many challenges, it also presents brands with an exciting opportunity to use their spend more efficiently and effectively by targeting groups of consumers in hyper-personalized ways. But to do so, they must thoroughly understand their target audiences. By investing in tools like CDPs, which help to collect, standardize, organize, and activate on first-party data (increasingly important in context of signal loss), and platforms that can unify data from multiple social platforms in one place, advertisers can make these processes easier, more effective, and less time consuming for their teams.
As advertisers lose more and more signals and the digital media landscape continues to fragment, they will continue to see social media as an appealing destination for their media dollars. But despite those platforms’ targeting capabilities, marketing teams won’t have the time or resources they need to maximize their media budgets and deliver optimized, personalized journeys without levelling up their tech stacks. Those teams that invest in solutions that can automate as much of the campaign process as possible—with a specific focus on solutions that gather, organize, and unify both customer and reporting data—will set themselves up for success not only in connecting with target audiences, but making the most of each touchpoint.
As digital advertising grapples with fragmentation within social media and other channels, the stakes are clear: Marketing teams must find ways to streamline and unify their campaigns across platforms in order to meet a consumer base that expects highly personalized, omnichannel advertising approaches. To connect with the consumers of today and to set themselves up for success in connecting with the consumers of tomorrow, brand and agency leaders must level up their tech stacks in order to empower their teams and facilitate the agility required by the current media ecosystem. By harnessing these tools, brands can thrive in a fragmented social landscape and build stronger, more personalized connections with their audiences.