Mid-Year Review: Key Advertising Trends and Predictions for 2023
Time flies, doesn't it? Can you believe we're already halfway through 2023?
From the explosive rise of generative AI to social media storms and the convergence of TV, advertisers have been on their toes, trying to keep up with the ever-changing landscape. And just when you thought you could catch your breath, another cookie depreciation deadline looms on the horizon
The second half of the year is here, and we're here to guide you through it with a review of the most important insights from Q1 and Q2, plus some crystal ball predictions for the remainder of 2023.
The Growing Role of AI in Advertising
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the buzz of the tech world, and digital advertising is no different. Marketers, agencies, and ad platforms are singing its praises. They're leveraging AI-powered algorithms to analyze massive amounts of data and gain invaluable insights into their target audience. With these insights, they create personalized and captivating ads. By harnessing these emerging advances, marketers can fine-tune their targeting strategies, deliver tailored experiences, and generate consumer enthusiasm for their brands. It all feels a bit sci-fi, fueled by the ones and zeros of an increasingly intelligent technology (let’s just not let it get self-aware).
Increased Ad Spend
Hold on tight to your wallets, folks, because ad spend is on an upward trajectory! It has been soaring during the first half of the year, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. Advertisers thus far have had an insatiable appetite for connected TV and streaming platforms, as video content steals the spotlight from traditional TV. Linear TV is reminiscent of that old VHS player collecting dust in your basement while the allure modern viewing takes the spotlight. If you're in the ad game, keep a keen eye on these platforms if you want to ride the wave of spending frenzy.
Preparing for a Cookieless Future
Prep yourselves for the impending cookie depreciation countdown! Google recently made a groundbreaking announcement: they plan to disable third-party cookies for 1% of Chrome users by Q1 2024. Stop us if you have heard this one before. But yet again the time has come to evaluate advertisers' readiness for a cookieless future. And, yes we know, the industry giant has called wolf before. However, this time it does feel real, and more and more advertisers are finally grasping the impending implications for targeting, attribution, and frequency management. They're exploring innovative approaches like modeling, surveys, cohorts, and embracing privacy-compliant data sandboxes. It's time to finally gear up and ensure everybody is equipped for this new era.
Regulating Digital Advertising in 2023
Privacy is a hot topic, especially in the first half of 2023. Businesses had to step up and comply with four different state privacy acts—four. California, Colorado, Connecticut, and Virginia unrolled their privacy acts, effective from either January 1 or July 1, 2023. If you were already following California's privacy law, the CCPA, you simply had to make a few adjustments to meet the new requirements.
Goodbye, Q1 and Q2, we hardly knew thee, If there's one lesson we've learned, it's the importance of embracing agility to navigate the paradigm shifts that characterize the digital advertising landscape this year. Here's to a successful and hopefully less turbulent (fingers crossed!) second half of 2023!