Healthcare is personal—incredibly personal. It’s an industry that shapes people’s daily experiences and determines consumers’ quality of life. As something so critical to our overall wellbeing, you’d think (or at least hope!) healthcare would be straightforward and simple to understand. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case.
The United States healthcare system is particularly complex, challenging to navigate, and often a source of hidden or unforeseen costs. Couple this with the stresses brought about by COVID, rising healthcare costs, skyrocketing inflation rates, and increasing economic uncertainty, and it’s clear the current healthcare landscape is complicated—if not downright overwhelming.
What’s a healthcare marketer to do? Here, we’ll explore how building strong relationships with consumers is critical for healthcare advertisers and examine how those relationships can foster empathy and trust in the face of an ever-evolving, complex healthcare system.
As we noted earlier (and as anyone who’s been to an urgent care clinic can attest), the healthcare scene in the US can range from “complicated” to “messy”…but why? Let’s dive in:
To begin with, healthcare costs in the US are significantly higher than in most other countries—and they’re only continuing to increase:
These high costs affect everyone, but they have an outsized impact on those who are uninsured or underinsured. As the US healthcare industry grows and becomes more expensive (to say nothing of the additional pressures brought on by inflation), it’s no surprise that more than 30 percent of Americans report skipping care because of its cost and another 30 percent report that, if they needed quality healthcare, they would not be able to afford it.
The COVID pandemic not only affected healthcare costs, but also consumer sentiment towards health and healthcare. In its wake, consumer awareness about health has significantly increased, coupled with a greater push for trust, reliability, and accessibility in healthcare. According to a survey of more than 15,000 adults, trust is more critical in healthcare than in any other category.
Throughout COVID, experience with healthcare (particularly in the US) varied by individuals of different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. Hispanic individuals, for instance, accounted for a disproportionately high share of COVID-19 cases during some periods. And, though vaccine confidence has improved for Black Americans, mistrust has played a role in the community’s lower and slower rates of vaccination, stemming from historical and ongoing discrimination and racism faced by Black communities. According to one study, “Vaccine-related mistrust is a multifaceted construct that includes distrust of health care and health care providers (to be equitable), the government (to provide truthful information), and the vaccine itself (to be safe and effective).”
Healthcare systems and brands must be cognizant of the level of trust, or lack thereof, in the system—whether related to COVID, or otherwise. By building relationships founded on empathetic messaging and discussions of inclusivity, healthcare marketers can begin the process of rebuilding that trust.
Beyond these complex and varied consumer sentiments, the past several years have seen an acceleration in digital healthcare: While the percentage of healthcare visits done virtually has declined since the peak of the pandemic, it remains higher than it was pre-pandemic. And, according to a recent survey, nearly two-thirds of patients said they prefer telehealth to in-office visits because of convenience, and 44% of Gen Z and millennials said they may switch providers if telehealth visits are not offered.
This indicates that consumers (especially millennials and Gen Z) are continuing to look for more reliable, convenient ways to manage their health, and that the demand for digital tools and resources has increased.
For healthcare brands with digital offerings, this is a major opportunity—and one that digital advertising can help fuel (and track for better attribution). By using strategies like contextual placements on pages related to certain conditions or health-conscious content, or placing ads alongside complimentary search terms, healthcare marketers can direct people to a website or app that serves as the hub for their brand or organization’s virtual operations.
That said, with great opportunity comes great responsibility (cliché, we know). As noted earlier, many Americans still feel a good deal of distrust toward the medical system due to past experiences, while others have trust issues with technology (especially when it comes to fraud and safety). Additionally, digital appointments curb the ability to develop strong in-person connections. Healthcare marketers will need to keep these distinct challenges in mind as they work to foster trust-based relationships with consumers.
With this knowledge of how complex and personal healthcare is, advertisers might be left wondering, “How can I effectively advertise for something so intimate and personal?” The solution: approaching consumers with empathy, seeking to understand them, and building relationships.
In 2021, the majority of US adults said that what they wanted most from a healthcare provider was for them to be a good listener. This same principle can be extended to marketing in the healthcare landscape: approach consumers with empathy and understanding and make them feel heard.
To dive into the critical work of building relationships with consumers, marketers in healthcare first need to understand who those consumers are. Here are some key stats to know:
Once healthcare marketers understand their audience, they can ensure their messaging and strategies are grounded in empathy and meeting consumer expectations.
One way to build relationships with potential patients is through long-form media, like digital audio and video. These formats allow marketers to showcase testimonials that highlight when patients experienced great empathy from their providers—in their own words and with their own voice.
Another way to establish trust and form relationships with consumers is through transparency. Hidden and unexpected costs are a significant driver of consumer behavior in healthcare, with many patients opting to skip care, avoid filling prescriptions, or explore over-the-counter products to avoid these costs. By being upfront about rates, which insurance providers are accepted, and payment plans, healthcare brands can ease some consumer anxiety.
Further, healthcare marketers can build trust by applying a critical eye to their brand messaging and strategy. Here are some questions advertisers can ask themselves to ensure they are prioritizing consumers’ needs and experiences:
By keeping diversity front of mind and developing creative from a place of empathy and understanding, healthcare brands can build stronger relationships with consumers.
Building relationships on a foundation of trust and empathy takes consistency and intentionality. Marketers cannot afford to lose time to duplicative, tedious tasks—these take their creative energy away from what’s most important, especially in today’s complex healthcare landscape.
Fortunately, there are some time-friendly solutions. Embracing an automated advertising strategy, backed by an automated and comprehensive DSP, can give healthcare marketers the ability to focus on strategic priorities, like forming stronger connections with consumers and proactively adjusting campaign messaging to better meet the moment. Leaning into technological developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning—especially those focused on brand safety—can free up the time and efficiency healthcare marketers need to get to know their customers and create consistent, empathy-driven, personalized experiences for them.
Interested in learning more about how advertising automation can help healthcare brands and agencies reach the right customers, with the right message, in a brand-safe environment? Check out our guide and see how automation is one possible solution to help marketers to create strong relationships with consumers in today’s complex healthcare landscape.
Welcome to Scout! Each week, our team tracks down the best digital marketing articles, POVs, and reports—so you don't have to. Here’s what to read from the week of 1/6/23 - 1/12/23 to stay ahead of the curve:
The 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas was characterized by a certain sobriety—not at the restaurants or craps tables, of course, but certainly in the spaces where marketing and media were discussed. Read why in this piece.
Two more bonus pieces of CES coverage: Data clean rooms were a big theme (check out Digiday’s recap on those conversations here), while Walmart laid out its vision for the future of grocery (more on that here).
Here’s some good news for marketers struggling with the chaos of the connected TV landscape: Four of the biggest U.S. network TV players are collaborating to create the Joint Industry Council, which will set standards, coordinate the collection of streaming data from programmers, and certify third-party providers to measure streaming audiences.
You know the saying “the best defense is a good offense?” Well, according to AdWeek, “If 2022 was the year marketers, agencies and platforms played defense on brand safety and suitability, 2023 is shaping up to be a time when marketers go on the offense.” Read on to understand the latest threats to brand safety, and see how advertisers are protecting their brands.
2022 may have started off as a year of shiny objects in emerging tech, but 2023 will take a more practical approach. Which of these latest tech trends have staying power and which are on the backburner (for now)? This piece separates the hype from reality.
Did someone order an entire buffet of 2023 trends content? No? Well, then it’s on the house! This page is your one-stop shop for everything 2023—from our trends report and webinar to a host of industry-specific rundowns.
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We enter 2023 coming off a record-breaking year for digital ad spending in political circles. At a time when many brands were pulling back on advertising because of fluctuating consumer spending habits, political advertisers—comparatively immune to those economic concerns—poured so much money into campaigns that they buttressed the otherwise slow-moving US ad market.
Total investment in political ads last year hit a projected $9.7 billion, representing a staggering 144% gain over 2018’s election cycle and $660 million more than 2020—all despite no Presidential race at the top of the ticket. Given that midterms traditionally have lower voter turnout, these vast sums indicate that advertisers are willing to spend more per vote than in the past, establishing a precedent that will likely ripple into 2024 and push the US to a stunning new norm: the $10+ billion election.
As we start building towards that through 2023, there are three key trendlines for advertisers to watch:
Programmatic advertising is the bread and butter of any political team—92% reported it was an important component of their 2022 campaigns. However, premium placements and sponsorships with key thought leadership publications and newsletters still play a crucial role. The emergence of new players (Punchbowl, Semafor, and Pluribus, among others) alongside the mainstay publications has created more fragmentation in this space than ever before.
Advertisers can’t buy real estate in every online news outlet, so carefully choosing the right placements and partners per available budget is imperative. Against a climate of decreasing trust in social media among policy influencers, securing a footprint adjacent to reputable journalistic content is vital to engaging audiences.
Here at Basis, we observed a whopping 1,500% increase in political spending on connected TV devices in the first half of 2022 compared with H1 2020, and this powerful shift into streaming is set to be the most impactful trendline through 2023 (and 2024). There was tremendous adoption of CTV up and down the ballot through the 2022 midterms, and that is starting to carry over to public affairs and corporate reputation advertising. As consumers continue to cut the cord and new streaming inventory becomes available at scale, CTV is an increasingly viable channel for reaching even niche influencer audiences—provided advertisers are tapping into the right targeting and buying options.
Advocacy and public affairs advertisers are inherently tasked with reaching very specific audiences via the precise targeting capabilities of digital. But as we get closer to a cookieless future, those capabilities are facing an evolution.
2023 is going to be the targeting proving ground, where winners and losers will likely emerge among the alternative ID solutions, and having the ability to tap into multiple options will be essential to continued success. Exploring other solutions outside audience-based strategies is also increasingly important—contextual targeting, for example, offers opportunities across desktop, mobile, and connected TV. As usual, the only constant in digital media is constant change, and it’s all about how you navigate it.
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Want to learn about some of the macro trends affecting digital marketing more generally? Check out our 2023 Trends Report to stay ahead of the curve as you plan for the year ahead.
Welcome to Scout! Each week, our team tracks down the best digital marketing articles, POVs, and reports—so you don't have to. Here’s what to read from the week of 12/30/22 – 1/5/23 to stay ahead of the curve:
Will 2023 bring the death of the duopoly? With Google and Meta accounting for less than 50% of US digital ad spend for the first time since 2014—and with TikTok and retail media networks gobbling up more and more market share—we may be looking at a sea change in digital advertising.
Caution seems to be the name of the game for marketers heading into 2023. With economic uncertainty still looming, many advertisers are looking for creative and flexible ways to connect with consumers without amping up their budgets.
Today, programmatic advertising is a medium that touches nearly every facet of digital marketing. This piece details seven trends marketers need to know as we head into the new year—as well as how to capitalize on them.
The conversation surrounding artificial intelligence went from a rumble to a roar near the end of 2022, and experts see 2023 being another year of breakthroughs. This article breaks down predictions for what the year ahead could hold and flags questions those potential advancements might raise.
New year, new privacy regulations—five, to be exact. While advertisers juggle state-specific compliance requirements, the ad industry and US federal government continue to work toward universal standards and legislation to ease compliance woes.
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Looking for top programmatic advertising trends for 2024? Check out our post here.
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Digital advertising is recalibrating.
It seems like at every turn, there is something new, unpredictable and unfamiliar. Content platforms are adding commerce, and commerce platforms are adding content (and ads), all in an effort to boost revenue. Meanwhile, privacy enforcement is heating up, online platforms might lose essential legal protection, and consumer behavior continues to transform.
Amidst all that change, though, there is one reliable constant: programmatic, a medium that, at this point, touches pretty much every facet of digital marketing. Its penetration in digital display is forecast to reach a massive 91.1% in 2023 (up from 90.2% last year), and it’s growing in other maturing media formats, too—the likes of connected TV (CTV), digital out-of-home (DOOH), and digital audio.
Not that this is surprising. At a time when marketers are scrutinizing budgets and searching for operational efficiencies against economic headwinds and increased complexity, investing in programmatic makes perfect sense. And even despite the turbulence caused by the loss of the third-party identifiers upon which programmatic was built, the medium is standing its ground as advertisers embrace a raft of new, versatile, privacy-friendly targeting solutions.
By all indications, 2023 is set to be (yet another) dynamic year in programmatic advertising. Here, we’ll dive into seven programmatic trends that are set to shape the programmatic landscape and explore some of the ways advertisers can capitalize on those trends to power growth.
Our everyday lives are jampacked with technology—in 2022, the average US household was equipped with 22 connected devices—so it’s increasingly important for brands to serve up unified cross-channel experiences. Consumers today are watching TV while on their phones one minute, then listening to podcasts while working on their laptop the next—and they expect a seamless advertising experience across all of them.
Adjacent to that, brands have less and less time to win consumers’ attention. Gen Z and millennials, in particular, have grown up in the short-form video worlds of Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube—they won’t hesitate to skip past content and ads that don’t engage them from the get-go.
All this is to say: marketers have it tough.
To combat the challenges and complexities, marketers will need to nail the fundamentals. Powering programmatic media performance entails complicated processes, so advertisers should look to evaluate whether they’re taking advantage of the resources already at their fingertips. That means stewarding budgets responsibly, investing in campaign planning, maintaining media hygiene, optimizing optimizations, and, critically, embracing technology that breaks down silos and accelerates digital media execution. Adopting a passive position in these areas will only expose marketing organizations to crisis and lead to strategies defined more by fire drills than brand values and needs.
The macro trend within the TV landscape is clear—streamers are slowly dethroning linear TV:
Consumers are increasingly tuning into the biggest screen in their homes digitally. And, in the fight for their time and wallets, streaming platforms have been busy—finalizing mergers, securing content rights, and rolling out ad-supported tiers in pursuit of subscriber growth and diversified revenue streams.
Amid these forays into the world of advertising, the streaming platforms are placing an emphasis on how they’re enabling ads via intentional partnerships (think Fox and Magnite, Netflix and Microsoft, Roku and Nielsen, and NBCUniversal + iSpot). This is creating consolidation across a complex ecosystem, unifying some of the fragmentation and opening opportunities to execute digital TV investments more cost-effectively—and programmatically. Indeed, in 2022, 74.4% of CTV ad dollars flowed through programmatic pipes, and that number is expected to rise to 78.6% by 2024.
The development of programmatic in CTV naturally depends on how the various streaming providers want to monetize their vision for ad-supported environments. But programmatic affords vastly more flexibility than upfront or scatter markets, so where there is inventory available, it should continue to gobble up market share.
There’s no question that digital audio is growing in importance, commanding an increasing share of our day and engaging audiences in ways few channels can. It’s an absorbing, emotional, and different experience—and one that drives results (75% brand recall rate, anyone?). It’s also got reams of untapped growth potential. Podcasting advertising alone is estimated to be undervalued by as much as $40 billion relative to other channels. Clearly, it’s time for advertisers to get involved in this opportunity.
The numbers around digital audio make for some compelling reading: Podcasts are projected to account for 5.1% of total time spent with digital media in 2023 (up from 4.7% in 2022). Music streaming has increased 27.5% from three years ago and averaged 1 hour 56 minutes in daily listening time in H1 2022. The penetration for digital audio is currently 78.5% of internet users. And that’s just scratching the surface.
The programmatic share of digital audio ad spending continues to deepen and is estimated to hit 23.2% this year. In times when audiences can be oversaturated with visual advertising, audio offers a great way to diversify programmatic budgets, evolve omnichannel strategies, and reach a highly targetable (and mobile) audience in a brand-safe environment. Those that embrace this medium as a soundboard for creativity and lean into expanding consumer listening habits will likely set themselves up to cut through some of the marketing noise in 2023 and beyond.
If you’re looking for innovation, you may want to get up and get out of the house.
Indeed, some 47% of US agency and ad execs think digital out-of-home (DOOH) is developing the most innovative ad opportunities, behind only social media and mobile. And with TV and radio audiences fragmenting under the force of digital, DOOH is helping advertisers fill the one-to-many void.
Traditionally, DOOH media owners have sold their inventory via time-limited packages that promise a minimum share of voice or number of playouts, essentially guaranteeing budgets per campaign. But as more and more screens pop up across cities worldwide, programmatic DOOH is prospering. Back in 2020, only 6.9% of DOOH ad spending in the US was transacted programmatically, but that share is forecast to rise to 22.6% this year, then 29.0% in 2024.
It’s quite profound growth, and it’s easy to understand the drivers behind it. By tapping into a range of real-time data such as live sports scores, weather fluctuations, traffic updates, or local in-store retail discounts, advertisers can create dynamic messaging and capture the attention of large, relevant audiences. Programmatic DOOH also opens the door to unique creative through full motion video, social media engagement, syncing and touch screen interactivity, augmented reality, QR codes, and more.
While undoubtedly a nascent medium, DOOH is gaining traction through its versatility and ability to successfully drive brand awareness—solidifying itself as a fixture in marketers’ omnichannel media mix.
Google may well have pushed back the deprecation of third-party cookies from Chrome until 2024, but advertisers should understand that between 50 and 60% of signal fidelity from third-party identifiers has already been lost through the actions of other platforms and browsers (such as Firefox, Safari, and Brave). In other words: we’re living in the cookieless future right now.
This, coupled with expanding regulations and stricter enforcement of existing data protection laws (eyes on you, Sephora and Kochava!), necessitates immediate privacy-forward action from stakeholders across the entire advertising ecosystem. Everyone has a role to play: Adtech itself needs to help activate tactics, consult on solutions, and facilitate partnerships; publishers must create a positive CX to empower quality data capture; and brands should be implementing compliance frameworks and advanced data management systems.
What does this mean for targeting and measurement in programmatic? In short: we’re still very much in the innovation and trial stage. New proposals are entering the market all the time and existing solutions that have taken a back seat for a while are garnering renewed attention (hello, contextual targeting!) Eventually, once publishers and advertisers have run their tests, the industry will likely coalesce around a small selection of agile and scalable options. But the point here is don’t sit around and wait for the problem to go away. The time to act is today!
Over the past two years, brands of all sorts have been launching retail media networks (RMNs), opening new real estate for ad placements and promising the proliferation of their privileged first-party data. The revenue success of Amazon has awoken others to the opportunity, with Walmart, Target, and Kroger getting particularly active in ramping their retail network and advertising capabilities. CVS, Walgreens, Dollar General, Ulta Beauty, Petco, eBay, Lowe’s, The Home Depot, Marriott, and Dick’s Sporting Goods (to name just a few) have also gotten into the game.
The growth of RMNs in the US could equate to $45.05 billion in ad spending in 2023, and the ripple effect of this evolution is significant. The ability to match unique customer IDs and ad impressions to SKU sales—all in a privacy-protected way—is compressing the marketing funnel and creating a paradigm shift in digital advertising not seen since...well, the rise of programmatic! All signs suggest the space is likely to scale, and with retailers inking deals with publishers, DSPs, and SSPs that want in on the action, the implications could be far-reaching across programmatic and beyond.
They’re still in their early days, but RMNs are certainly something to watch carefully and leverage accordingly.
It’s been a tumultuous time for social networks—so much so that The Atlantic recently questioned whether the age of social media is indeed ending. The growing levels of social ad spending would indicate not, but there are undoubtedly some interesting, shifting dynamics at play.
In 2022, we saw:
TikTok has been a shining light, but even this golden child of social media should watch its back with emerging competitors like BeReal gaining traction. The key to the future of social is essentially Gen Z—the changing of the social guard is founded upon this generation embracing a social experience rooted in more interaction, entertainment, and authentic communication. Sixty percent of US teens also report that feeling “welcome and safe” is more important than a space to speak freely online.
2023 will be a year for recalibration in social circles as the likes of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter look for new ways to kick-start their businesses. Marketers should look to the younger cohorts for a glimpse into where they should be making sound social investments.
The advertising industry is poised to undergo a digital sea change in the year ahead. And the micro world of programmatic will be in the thick of it. Defining and reaching audiences, what those audiences care about, the channels and tactics employed, and how performance is measured—it’s all changing. Marketers who can stay agile and nail the basics will be in the best position to navigate all the headwinds the industry is running into, and perhaps even turn them into tailwinds!
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Want more tips and tricks to navigate the year ahead? Check out all our 2023 trends content designed to help you stay ahead of the curve.
The end of the year: It’s a time for reflection, planning, and…presents. Lots of presents. Preferably, presents we actually like, and will use, instead of stashing them in our regifting closets for the next holiday season (what, you don’t have a regifting closet?)
So, in the spirit of the season, we wanted to give our readers a little something that should fire on all those aforementioned cylinders. Not only is our gift to you useful for both reflection and planning, but it’s also categorically impossible to store in a closet, because it’s digital. We know, so on brand!
Now, without further ado, please accept this humble offering of 22 think pieces, explainers, and news stories that helped capture the past year in digital marketing. The best part? Regifting this list is not only allowed—it’s encouraged!
2022 was a landmark year for consumer privacy. We saw a slew of new regulations introduced and passed across the globe, increasingly strident data privacy crackdowns from regulators, and yet another delay of third-party cookie deprecation in Google’s Chrome browser. Here’s what to read to make sense of it all:
Advertisers may soon have to confront a new challenge in the realm of data privacy: “digital sovereignty.” But with the global digital economy built on a foundation of free-flowing data, could this concept break the digital supply chain and inhibit a seamless customer experience?
Privacy regulations are tightening, third-party cookies are (eventually?) going away, aaaaaand it appears the advertising industry is largely underprepared. At least, that’s what new research from the IAB’s State of Data 2022 (Part II) reveals. Here, Adweek breaks down the biggest takeaways from the report, as well as what marketers can do to close the “gulf in preparedness.”
Data privacy regulators are not playing around: In September alone, Zillow, Expedia, Chewy.com, and Lowe’s were all fined for alleged data privacy breaches. In response, marketers are reevaluating their data practices and partnerships with renewed urgency—but that’s easier said than done, thanks to collection and sharing processes that are many-layered and difficult to audit.
Privacy changes pushed by Apple and Google have made first-party data all the more important. But one side effect of this shift is that it tilts the playing field towards large digital ecosystems like Google, TikTok, Amazon, and Pinterest, who can easily gather information on their millions of users.
The American Data Protection and Privacy Act, which has been sent to the U.S. House of Representatives for a vote, would pre-empt state data privacy regulation if passed. Here are three big things advertisers should know about this piece of legislation.
After Google’s announcement that it will delay third-party cookie deprecation to 2024, ad execs put the “pro” in procrastination. It’s understandable given everything on marketers’ plates right now, but the trend doesn’t speak well to our industry’s future-proofing abilities.
While traditional advertising formats like linear TV, radio, and newspaper have historically been on the decline, new data shows marketers predicting that traditional ad spend will increase in the years ahead thanks to benefits like breaking through digital clutter, tapping into consumer trust, and avoiding third-party cookies.
This past year was so dramatic for Big Tech, it could have been a soap opera. Here are a few of the biggest events and ideas to come out of a year in which lawmakers took some significant swings in service of keeping tech giants like Facebook and Google in check:
Meta’s housing advertising system has been under fire for discriminating against Facebook users based on demographics like race and gender. In June, they reached a settlement with the Justice Department that will compel the social giant to address algorithmic discrimination—a landmark decision for digital advertising regulation.
European lawmakers approved two new pieces of sweeping digital regulation, paving the way for clashes between regulators and the world’s biggest tech companies over how those rules should be applied.
In the past decade, newspaper ad revenue has dropped by an astonishing 50% as advertisers shifted their dollars to the internet. This Q&A explores some of the novel proposals aimed at propping up the news industry—including a “journalism tax” on digital ads.
Social media’s golden child continues to dazzle users and advertisers alike. Here’s what you should know:
TikTok has changed the way people search, buy, watch, communicate, and advertise. Not too bad for a platform once written off as a “silly video-dance fad!” So, how did it grow so dominant, and what are the consequences of that dominance? This in-depth piece touches on all the details.
In this op-ed, George Sharpe argues that as TikTok comes closer to surpassing Facebook’s viewership, viewers will come to prefer “non-perfect video” over produced, polished media. The era of the Instagram filter is coming to an end, and advertisers would do well to consider the cultural shift towards TikTok-style, “real-life” video.
It makes sense that the DTC MVP would encroach upon the territory of social platforms like YouTube and Instagram…but Google, too?! According to the New York Times, many Gen Z TikTokers are now using TikTok as their primary search engine—and that may be kind of a red flag, given that one-fifth of the platform’s search results have been found to contain misinformation.
What a year for connected TV advertising and digital video as a whole! These were a few of the biggest pieces of news in the streaming arena:
All eyes were on Netflix when their ad-supported tier launched on November 3. Though their COO and chief product officer told investors there has been “very strong” demand for ad inventory leading up to the launch, only time will tell if the platform will be able to give advertisers what they want.
Hut, hut…hike! In an effort to expand their streaming audiences, Apple, Amazon, and Google are competing for the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket (with Apple the current frontrunner). See what Big Tech’s dominance of live sports could mean for media companies, leagues, and streamers.
It wasn’t the first time monthly streaming exceeded broadcast in terms of viewership, but it was the first time that streaming also surpassed cable. The downturn in both sports programming and new content on traditional television likely contributed to the shift. Just another day in the rise of OTT and CTV…
The economy. Climate change. In-game advertising. Misinformation. Overwhelmed yet? Never fear—these articles will get you up to speed on all the other big topics 2022 threw our way:
As brands continue to grapple with inflation and economic uncertainty, more and more of them are having to raise prices just to stay afloat. How are marketers approaching inflation-borne challenges? Here, the New York Times explores the “new playbook” for weathering the storm.
Plenty of marketers have worked with their company and/or client on campaigns focused on climate change, but what about the impact of the ads themselves? Between greenwashing, funding climate misinformation, and the media creation process itself, advertising-related emissions have reportedly increased by 11% since 2019—leading some agency leaders to call this moment a “wake-up call.”
As hype around advertising in the metaverse builds, many brands seem to have forgotten all about gaming—a channel that’s intimately connected to the metaverse, but largely untapped (plus, it actually, you know…exists?) This deep dive covers all the bases on how to tap into gaming’s vast and diverse audience.
In the wake of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover—and the subsequent blue checkmark debacle in which several brands were impersonated on Twitter—online misinformation is top of mind for digital advertisers. New research, outlined here, shows how consumers feel about mis- and disinformation, and how they think brands should address it.
As advertisers pull money out of Twitter due to aforementioned brand safety concerns, where exactly are those dollars going? While some marketers are reallocating spend to social platforms like Snapchat and TikTok, others are saving them for a rainy day (we are in an economic downturn, after all). What’s certain? Media organizations are making their plays for advertisers’ newly available cash.
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA)’s effort to audit the US programmatic advertising industry has been rife with complications and controversy (and understandably so, given the nature of programmatic advertising itself). Here, peek behind the curtain into the ANA’s attempt to give marketers some transparency into their programmatic budgets.
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Did you like our present? Did you?! If you didn’t, we’ll be so sad we might just go hide in our regifting closet…
If you did, we’ve got another to share: Each month, our team of digital marketers rounds up the all the best news, tips, and insights from around the adtech industry, and delivers them straight to marketers’ inboxes. Want in on the fun? Sign up for Basis Scout today!
Raise your hand if it feels absurd that we’re deep in the throes of December. Wasn’t August, like, last week?
Now, raise your hand if 2022 has felt like it’s dragged on endlessly.
Regardless of which boat you’re in, there’s no avoiding the fact that the new year is rapidly approaching. And with it? New Year’s resolutions.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, in just a few days’ time your social feeds are sure to be filled with folks setting goals, resolving to change, and finally committing to practicing that new hobby.
And while it’s undoubtedly best to set goals, evaluate, and improve on a regular basis, it can be nice to use the new year as a chance for reflection and goal setting. To help digital marketers looking to do just that, we sat down and thought through some resolutions that are sure to bring success in the new year. Here are our top four:
With Google having repeatedly delayed the deprecation of third-party cookies, it’s easy to feel like advertisers have all the time in the world before the cookieless future becomes the cookieless present. And with challenges like economic uncertainty, inflation, and burnout plaguing our industry, today’s advertisers already have a lot on their plates. Why throw exploring cookieless solutions into the mix now?
Well, to start, the 86% of Americans saying data privacy is a growing concern for them aren’t demanding change…tomorrow. And as advertisers know, transitioning away from third-party cookies isn’t done with a snap of a finger: It’s a process, not an event. It’s going to take time for marketers to identify and transition into the mix of privacy-friendly solutions that works best for them.
There are many effective tools and tactics out there to help prepare for a cookieless world, such as contextual targeting, geotargeting, and leaning more heavily on first-party data to personalize ad experiences. That said, none is a perfect, silver bullet solution. Each will require testing, tweaking, and evaluating to decide how and where it serves a marketing campaign best. And that testing will be far more difficult without the safety net of third-party cookies to fall back on, which is available to advertisers testing these solutions today.
Moral of the story? Marketers who start the process in 2023 will have a major advantage over their competitors who wait until third-party cookies are off the table. So, look out for “2024 you” by diving in and embracing progress over perfection.
Every advertiser knows that trustworthy data and solid data analyses are critical to campaign success. Data enables advertisers to understand current and prospective customer bases, create personalized advertising experiences for their audiences, and pull constructive insights from each campaign.
But as a result of the many point solutions marketers must use to navigate the complexity of today’s media landscape, our entire industry struggles with poor quality data and a lack of data consolidation. As the digital ecosystem continues to evolve and grow in complexity, marketers must prioritize data quality and consolidation to stay on top of the game. And, as we transition away from third-party cookies, marketing orgs must bolster their first-party data collection systems and find ways to leverage that data for all it’s worth.
Ready to make 2023 the year you become a data rockstar? To consolidate your data, consider a universal reporting system so you can spend less time pulling and standardizing reports and more time digging into the data itself. To boost the quality of your data, consider investing in resources like a data analyst (or team of analysts) or a customer data platform (CDPs). And if you’ve yet to start making the most of your first-party data? Explore and test the many ways it can be utilized to target and personalize ads in a privacy-friendly way.
Today’s digital world looks a lot different from that of twenty years ago. It’s sometimes difficult to remember a world before iPhones, Hulu binge sessions, and podcasts (though many of us lived through those days).
People today interact with digital media across many different platforms and channels, and their habits are ever-evolving. Marketers need to have their finger on the pulse of consumers’ digital behaviors, so that they can reach them when and where they’re spending the most time. This is especially important for advertisers looking to connect with younger generations, like Gen Z and millennials.
And two channels that are commanding an increasing share of consumer time and interest? Connected TV and digital audio. For marketers who have yet to embrace these new(ish) and increasingly popular channels, here are a few quick stats to know about each:
Connected TV:
Digital Audio:
For advertisers who have yet to embrace or explore these channels, 2023 presents a great opportunity to do so. This could look like incorporating live sports advertising into your omnichannel campaign, tapping into specific and highly engaged audiences via podcast advertising, or playing with cross-device targeting with CTV ads to reach viewers where they’re watching their favorite shows. By incorporating these increasingly popular channels, advertisers can better connect with consumers where they’re spending time.
Turbulent, rough, unpredictable, raging dumpster fire—these are just a few of the terms we’ve heard used to describe the past few years (and aptly so). The world has gone through (and continues to go through) a lot, and, on top of more universal challenges, the advertising industry is facing its own shifts. Amidst ever-evolving consumer sentiments, the deprecation of third-party cookies, increased government regulation, economy-driven shifts, and many other unpredictable factors, advertisers might be left wanting to scream into the void to MAKE IT ALL SLOW DOWN.
But here’s the thing: change is inevitable. And though there are many things that marketers can’t control, they can control their perspective when change occurs. Rather than wallowing in the land of “woe is me,” advertisers can use cognitive reframing to adjust their perspectives. For those unfamiliar with the practice, reframing includes identifying your current viewpoint, naming its challenges or shortcomings, and choosing to shift into a more beneficial way of thinking. For example, disappointment over a tighter budget (ahem, inflation…) could be reframed as an opportunity to identify which of your marketing investments really pull their weight, and which can be reallocated. This practice can help advertisers approach times of uncertainty and instability in a proactive and positive way.
“Alright, we get it. Challenges = opportunities. Now what?” you might wonder. Our recommendation? Revisit the basics. During times of uncertainty, it can be helpful to lean into proven solutions and tools, rather than searching for a magic (and elusive) fix-all hack. For those eager to start the new year on a solid foundation, this could include making a renewed effort to track shifts in consumer behavior, setting up systems to regularly pull insights from that data, and then using those insights to make data-driven strategic decisions. Though there are many factors that are uncontrollable and unpredictable, using proven strategies can empower advertisers during uncertain times.
We hope at least one of these resolutions resonated with you, and that you’re excited about using it to kick 2023 off with a bang. But please: Don’t strive for all four of our recommendations—you’ll become far too powerful!
The year ahead is sure to bring changes, challenges, and opportunities for those in the digital advertising industry. Want to learn more about how marketers can prepare for and capitalize on these shifts? In our latest report, we take a deep dive into the trends that will shape digital advertising in the year to come and how advertisers can make the most of it.
The following is adapted from Basis Technologies’ guide, Meeting the Moment with Advertising Automation. To get even more advertising automation-related insights and statistics, download the guide today.
“Give consumers a thoughtful, tailored advertising experience and they will buy more, develop more loyalty, and share their positive engagement with others.” A simple concept in theory, yet one that's extremely difficult to execute.
Delivering a great customer experience depends on a range of factors, including speed, convenience, consistency, and approachability. The big one, though, is the human touch—creating real connections by making technology feel more human and meeting people in their moment, where they are, and on an individual level. In a word: personalization.
Personalization can take many shapes and forms, and digital advertisers can tap into a range of personalization tactics that can run throughout the entire journey to purchase. In today's campaigns, brands are compelled to move beyond a blanket targeting approach and instead create content that caters to their audience’s unique experiences and meets them on their preferred channel. And consumers are increasingly demanding it: 73% of all buyers (including both B2B and B2C) say they expect companies to understand their unique needs, while just over half (56%) expect offers to always be personalized.
When done manually, omnichannel personalization strategies can be incredibly cost sapping and time consuming, relying on a host of disparate platforms. This model was once the only one available, but it’s inadequate for an era where marketers need the ability to easily modify and customize creative assets with audience-specific language, calls-to-action, real-time messaging, visuals, and products. Further exacerbating these challenges is consumers’ recent reevaluation of businesses’ roles in society, with stakeholder capitalism becoming an increasingly major factor in purchasing decisions. Modern consumers want more than just personalized experiences—they want empathetic and authentic ones, with 62% saying they feel an emotional connection to the brands they buy from the most.
Marketers who are looking to successfully incorporate personalized moments into their advertising experiences—and find the greater flexibility, efficiency, and scalability required to implement them—need three things: a strategy to streamline planning, technology to effortlessly control campaigns, and data-driven measurement. Fortunately, there is one existing solution that offers all that (and more): digital advertising automation.
Across every industry, from automotive to education, financial services to retail, technological developments in the areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning have enabled advertisers to create more personalized content while leaving antiquated manual techniques behind. Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) systems activated by advanced data management infrastructure can automatically build thousands of digital ads that vary in real-time for product-based retargeting, creative personalization, audience segmentation, and customer journey enhancement. By adopting this workflow automation, media buyers have more time to focus on these types of strategies and ensure they are crafting messaging that better targets unique segments. The end results: more conversions, loyalty, and revenue.
Geo-targeting campaigns
Feed-based product campaigns
Sequential storytelling
Behavioral prospecting
Geo-targeting campaigns
Contextual targeting
Sequential storytelling
Behavioral prospecting
The very meaning of the term personalization has evolved quite a bit over the last decade. Indeed, until relatively recently, the concept of personalizing content equated to simply inserting someone’s first name in an email or basic push notification.
However, personalization today is a different animal—much more complex, much more challenging, and much more pervasive. To get it right, and at scale, advertisers need to first get their data house in order before layering on top various automation functionalities that can empower them to go from rigid linear storytelling to something markedly more dynamic and engaging.
Want to learn more about advertising automation? Check out our guide and see why automation is essential to the future success and long-term growth of the media buying industry.
In the world of digital media, there are many different channels and tactics available to advertisers today. Each brings their own value and opportunity, as well as complexities. Two of the most commonly used channels are programmatic display advertising and paid search advertising. Advertisers often focus their efforts and budgets here, as both channels are well established, with a history of proven results.
According to eMarketer, paid search ad spending is expected to continue growing in coming years. Paid search is estimated to make up 29.5% of overall digital ad spending in 2023, and over $136 billion dollars in the U.S. alone by 2026.
It’s important to note, however, that the rate of entry for net new advertisers to this channel is quite low. Rather, most advertisers are established in the paid search space and continue to find real value in performance as evidenced by advertisers’ continued investment.
How is search sustaining YoY growth? Paid search continues to evolve along with the digital media industry as a whole. The last two decades have brought forth many advances in paid search—including updates to ad formats and layouts, targeting tactics, and capabilities.
One of the most recent enhancements is the power of machine learning through expanded bidding strategies, audience-based targeting, and responsive search ad formats. The introduction of machine learning in paid search has proven to be extremely valuable and allows for personalization and relevance at scale.
You may be thinking to yourself, "Audience-based targeting and machine learning must be similar to programmatic display." And you’re right—they are! Both channels are based on real-time bidding and go well beyond the KPI of driving traffic.
Instead, they drive performance with remarketing and look-a-like targeting. Additionally, both can scale. If you’re an advertiser with a limited budget, consider the targeting definitions—audiences, geography, or keywords—to ensure the budget aligns with the demand.
While there are similarities between programmatic display advertising and paid search, understanding the difference between the two and when it makes sense to use one and/or the other, can lead to more robust, strategic, and successful media plans.
Programmatic display advertising and paid search are inherently different in how they operate. Display advertising provides the opportunity to cast a wide net, proactively reaching people across the web, in more of a "push" approach. Display advertising is often thought of as the go-to media channel for building brand awareness, and usually considered an upper-funnel tactic. Impressions hold high value.
Paid search, on the other hand, uses a "pull" approach, with consumers searching for your product or service directly. Paid search is driven by intent only and plays a key role in targeting hand-raisers, requiring advertisers only pay for clicks. For this reason, clicks hold more value than impressions. This key difference is the driving force behind the power of paid search and the value it brings to advertisers.
Knowing that paid search operates as a pull approach, it is unique in the way that advertisers can reach an audience in the moments that matter most: ideally, when a user is raising their hand to inquire further about a product or service.
Despite the common misconception that paid search is solely a low-funnel tactic, with the right strategy and campaign set-up, advertisers can reach an audience at any stage of the consumer journey or media funnel. Whether a consumer is just beginning their research using non-branded keywords, or already ready to convert and using a branded keyword, a strategic, well-built paid search account can create touchpoints throughout the entire consumer journey.
Paid search drives results for various campaign objectives, or KPIs. Whether the goal is to generate leads, sales, phone calls, in-store visits, or other custom actions, the immediacy of results and the opportunity to optimize quickly is extremely valuable in paid search.
Advertisers may notice results within hours after launch and (depending on scale) may begin making optimizations early on, in order to drive efficiencies. Testing strategies are easily deployed within paid search campaigns to better understand several factors that drive campaign performance.
Advertisers are likely to test ad copy, bidding strategies, audience search trends (days of the week or hours of the day), and more. Paid search is not a set-it-and-forget-it channel. Instead, it requires ongoing optimizations, which in turn provide strong results.
While paid search is not as wide-reaching as display advertising, it allows advertisers the opportunity to maximize their returns by utilizing a combination of machine learning and human intelligence to reach audiences. Studies show that programmatic display advertising, partnered with paid search, provides powerful results and an overall performance lift.
Marketers commonly lean on attribution tools to measure how clicks from search and display advertising work together to drive performance and compare effectiveness across both channels. Tools such as Skai, Google’s Search Ads 360, or even Facebook’s Attribution Measurement Tool help de-duplicate conversions across search, display, and other ad platforms.
At Basis Technologies, we don’t recommend using one channel over the other. Tweak your strategy and shared learnings between the two, particularly around audiences and messaging—and you’ll have the optimal tool to drive success!
Learn more about Display Advertising with Basis Technologies
