As 2024 gets underway, global media platform Teads is releasing a report identifying five tech themes it says will shape the media industry during the year.
“From the dominance of CTV to the rise of AI-powered media, our findings signal a call for one thing in the year ahead — adaptability,” Teads co-CEO Jeremy Ardit said. “In the post-cookie era, the foresight to anticipate and capitalize on emerging themes will be the common thread driving successful media campaigns and monetization. By working with a premium-quality partner that is both forward-thinking and proactive, brands can future-proof their success."
The first trend is the rise in power of connected TV in an omnichannel media strategy.
The rise in advertiser interest in the platform has been well documented, with projections that CTV households might outnumber pay TV households in 2024.
In addition to scale, CTV advertising is effective, with 40% of advertisers experiencing a “much better” return on investment CTV advertising.
Trend No. 2 is the importance of context in the shift beyond third-party data.
“As we move into a cookieless future, it’s crucial to develop alternative strategies off third-party data — because staying ahead isn’t just about keeping pace; it’s about preventing your business from losing scale,” the Teads report said.
Unfortunately, publishers have yet to agree on a comprehensive solution to the deprecation of cookies, with some turning to contextual solutions, first-party data, unique IDs and privacy sandboxes.
Teads favors contextual solutions.
“Leveraging contextual signals and intelligence shifts the paradigm from reliance on individual user data to understanding the complete picture of content consumption,“ Teads said in the report. “This approach offers a promising pathway where the relevance of ads is determined by the content environment, aligning marketing efforts with the immediate interests and needs of users. As such, contextual targeting stands as a viable substitute for cookies, offering a privacy-compliant and effective strategy for reaching audiences in a post-cookie world.”
Trend No. 3 is the convergence of brand and performance.
As advertising has become more digital, marketers have been able to get more information on how ads perform in terms of short-term activities from website visits and store traffic to sales. The sales promotion activity pushed brand building into the background.
Now, Teads said, it is possible to manage both branding and performance, or “brandformance.”
“Marketers have been engaging in this practice implicitly, but the real distinction in mid-funnel strategy lies in understanding the audience, being intentional with creative, and optimizing the outcomes that nurture potential customers down the conversion funnel,” Teads said. “This approach underscores the importance of a strategic blend in creative execution for maximum impact, continuously attracting new shoppers to fuel sales and ensuring that quality traffic is at the heart of product success.”
The value of brand safety and sustainability in preserving the user experience is Trend No. 4.
The report suggests strategies that include forming premium partnerships, using trusted third-party verification vendors, creating high-quality ads and embracing contextual safety by developing blacklists in collaboration with advertisers and agency partners.
The fifth trend cited by Teads is the potential of AI-powered media.
The rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning in marketing is “a full-scale revolution,” Teads notes, citing statistics that 80% of marketers are already using AI in ad campaigns and that the global investment in AI across the ad market is expected to reach $107 billion by 2028.
“Companies are now wielding AI to forge deeper connections with customers, turning data into narratives and insights into strategies,” the report says.
In the report, Teads notes that it offers solutions to help media and advertisers profit from these trends.
For example, the company recently introduced TeadsAI, which, it says, crafts predictive models that drive engagement and enhance the effectiveness of campaigns.
