Over the past few years, advertising has advanced rapidly and expansively. While some players have been able to stay ahead of the trend, many are still migrating from the conventional. It can be rather challenging to keep up with all the contemporary innovations due to constantly changing technology scenarios. Besides, changing customer habits due to the pandemic brought the death of third-party cookies, forcing us to conclude that the ad industry has indeed changed. In context, we have, therefore, compiled a list of ad tech expectations for 2022.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) will advance in advertising.
As businesses continue to grow in the post-pandemic world, marketers will use AI to efficiently analyse vast amounts of data without the need for human intervention. It is also what busy advertising companies require. While the technology’s relevance has already been proven, it will thus, be fortified in the year 2022. AI targets customer segments more precisely, allowing advertisers to achieve better success while spending less on ineffective campaigns. Furthermore, advertisers will use AI to track customers and display specific content to meet consumer needs. Users can now expect a more personalised experience as the brand’s conversion rates will also improve. Artificial intelligence is expected to be more present in the industry.
Voice Searches and Mobile Ads
Over the past two years, the advertising landscape has slowly shifted towards mobile and voice search, especially with the consumer spending more and more time in-house rather than outside. Users understood the absolute convenience of voice search and zero-click search results and snippets that could answer questions. There has also been a remarkable increase in voice assistant usage. For instance, almost 60% of the users are now contacting their preferred businesses directly using the search results on their smartphones. Another tech aspect that has become highly popular is the combination of programmatic audio with geodata. It can be the perfect tool to build an advertising strategy based on discounts, promotions and personalised offers.
DOOH Advertising
Digital out of Home advertising was practically shut down in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. It is all set to make a comeback in 2022, with more consumers seeking to go out. Advertisers can send targeted messages with OOH advertising and reach customers willing to watch their ads. The approach comes with some unique features other than that of digital marketing. While it is less expensive than traditional advertising, such as TV commercials or appearances in newspapers, it offers more creativity and content. In terms of ad tech, OOH is all set to be reintroduced to the world in 2022.
Audio and dynamic ad creatives
Programmatic advertising is definitive and considered one of the most extensive parts of marketing automation tools. The approach involves new formats and a better advertising experience to make it more engaging. All digital spending on programmatic displays will increase by at least 88%. The target will be to deliver messages in a way that they deeply resonate with the customer psyche. Using analytics, data on campaigns will be derived and run through programmatic algorithms to show creatives that are precisely sought by the audience. These targets are more likely to be converted to customers.
Interactive in-app formats
Another ad tech incredible is the interactive format. These are playable, immersive and reward-based. Created specifically for in-app ecosystems (interactive immersion is also available in the real-world market scenario), units will capture user attention to provide them with added benefits. Value exchanges can also be incorporated, such as free access to otherwise paid features, in-app bonuses and other plusses counted to ad-watching.
Dynamic ad insertions or DAI and Connected TV or CTV
The technology was adopted by marketers, content creators who benefit from more monetisation and broadcasters in 2021 to reduce latency and increase personalised video experiences. Advertisers could swap creatives with DAI and deliver linear, live or Video-on-demand content. Again, the idea was to garner verified target audiences that marketers can convert to sales. As far as connected TV technology is concerned, it allows affiliate devices such as gaming consoles and smart TVs to receive programmatic advertising content. It became one of the fastest-growing channels during the pandemic, with more and more users choosing to tune into their intelligent consoles. Content consumption increased dramatically, and investments in CTV are now in billions.
Programmatic advertising turning in-house or outsourced.
Programmatic ads in Europe are increasingly being made either in-house or sourced partially or entirely with a third party. While smaller brands may not have the resources required to in-house their programmatic needs, bigger ones such as Nestle and Kellogg have already brought the technology in-house. With more than 80% of the brands seeking transparency in their media spending, all efforts are being made to eliminate the ‘black box’ problem where the chances of investigating ad budgets’ distribution are nil.
Social Media Engagement with short videos
Unfiltered or unscripted content is one of the biggest trends impelled by platforms such as TikTok, where a random populace shares short videos with anyone. Audience engagement is immense with such a format, which marketers can use to craft helpful and rich content, resolve customers’ issues, and augment brand value. Brands can promote short explanatory videos to educate the audience about products and services and create awareness. With the social media revolution moving beyond the traditional Facebook, people are looking forward to better collaboration across not one single but various disparate platforms such as Snapchat and Discord.
Takeaways There’s no doubt that the ad tech industry and digital took an evolutionary leap during the pandemic. With growing cognition about what tech can do for both consumers and marketers, the standard approaches to advertising are now waning even in the post-pandemic world. The media and ad tech industry is set to grow even further, and we are excitedly looking forward to exacting the impact in a fast-paced industry.
