Digital Advertising Trends

Digital Advertising Trends 2022 Amazon’s success makes way for more retail media players Amazon continued its rise in 2021, claiming 10.3% of the US digital ad market on its quest to take a larger chunk of ad budget from Google and Facebook. Amazon’s quarterly ad revenue has grown 50% year-over-year to $8 billion, according to the company’s third quarter earnings report, and other commerce players like Target, Walmart, Instacart, Uber and more are understandably taking note. 2022 will be the year of retail media and will introduce a whole new class of players to solidify the channel’s growing dominance in the digital ad industry. Diversify your retail marketplace ad spend with Amazon, Criteo, Citrus Ad, and Instacart all integrated in one view. Convergence of Brand and Performance As the fragmented social media landscape continues to innovate ad formats and shopping experiences, the distance between what has been traditionally thought of as brand spend and performance spend is incredibly compressed. Brands need to understand what is working across publishers and embrace budget fluidity to quickly shift their spend to the elements of their programs getting the best response. Leverage Message Booster to promote high-engagement organic content at scale across clients and accounts. Privacy regulations change digital advertising forever Between a growing number of data privacy laws (on a global, national, and local scale) and major changes from the tech giants themselves (think: Apple’s “App Tracking Transparency” feature), the newfound focus on data privacy has sent shockwaves across the digital ad industry. The way that brands target and personalize advertising will never be the same. In 2022, what methods and channels will rise to the top with the death of cookies? How will brands continue to provide the personalization that consumers have grown to expect? Only time will tell, but one thing is certain - digital advertising and privacy will become synonymous in the New Year. Advertisers that fail to make privacy a focus will lose a seat at the table. Find your way in the cookieless world with help from a privacy-ready conversion tracking solution with built-in optimization tools. Rising costs force marketers to get creative Digital ad prices are on the rise due to increased competition (especially for retailers) and a changing regulatory landscape that makes targeting difficult. With CPMs at all-time-highs on Google and Facebook, marketers will have to get creative in 2022 to stay within budget while making the most impact. That could mean testing new channels, testing new creative, timing and setting bids differently and much more. Find the right level of investment and automatically pace to your budget with a unified optimization suite. Pandemic highlights a need to capture hearts and minds - not just wallets The pandemic made people rethink their entire careers, how they spend their time, how they shop and even the kinds of brands they do business with. How is this impacting ad and marketing strategy? In 2022, brands will need to focus on more than just driving a sale and, rather, ways to drive loyalty and connect with consumers on a personal level (something they have grown to expect over the last 18+ months). Invest time engaging with your customers to understand their values, and make sure those values are re�ected in your brand identity and marketing campaigns. Supply chain issues begin to impact advertising Retail, CPG, auto, and many other industries have been impacted by supply chain issues since the start of the pandemic - but the digital advertising industry is only just starting to feel the effects. How can brands’ advertise products or services that aren’t available? Will budgets shift to different parts of the funnel? In 2022, the supply chain issues will expose an even greater need for better cross-channel data - from search to point-of-sale and more - so that people are not being targeted and retargeted for products that are stuck in ports or backordered for months. Streamline distribution of your product feeds across channels and optimize spend to in-stock inventory. Blurred lines across search, social and e-commerce 2021 was a breakthrough year for social commerce as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snap, Pinterest and more all made progress in making social media more shoppable. That’s why eMarketer estimates that U.S. social commerce sales will double between now and 2025 to more than $79 billion. In 2022, the lines between social and e-commerce will continue to blur - but search will play an increasingly important role as well - not just due to Google’s shopping ads but because of advancements in visual search (like this tool that Snapchat launched with Allrecipes that allows users to scan a food item and get relevant recipe ideas). Connect the customer journey. Align your efforts for a better customer experience and improved performance by leveraging your �rst-party data assets. Antitrust regulation continues to reshape industry Facebook, Google and other tech giants have spent much of 2021 in the hot seat from a regulation standpoint - both in the U.S. and around the world. While these companies have had a stronghold on the advertising industry for years, each passing day introduces a new lawsuit somewhere in the world -and regulators are slowly chipping away with stricter antitrust regulations that are set to reshape digital advertising in 2022 and beyond. Keep an eye on emerging publishers especially in social and retail media and keep your ad spend varied across multiple channels. CTV takes a larger chunk of digital ad dollars According to eMarketer, US connected TV (CTV) advertising will approach 60% growth by the end of 2021 and increase significantly in the years ahead (reaching 10% of overall digital ad spend by 2024). As more and more people "cut the cord" and tune into platforms like Netflix, Fubo, Roku, and Apple TV, CTV is set to become one of the fastest-growing digital ad channels. Linear TV spend will likely take a hit too as marketers see more value in completing their digital cross-channel puzzle with CTV. Combine CTV with other forms of digital advertising to connect with your audience throughout the funnel. The metaverse becomes the next frontier in advertising The metaverse is now a household phrase due in large part to Facebook's name change to Meta. Mark Zuckerberg hopes the metaverse will reach a billion people within the next decade. While adoption is still fairly low (Roblox now claims 43 million daily active users, for example), brands are already starting to make moves for what’s to come. The metaverse is poised to become a vital part of cross-channel digital ad strategy in 2022 and beyond (especially for brands looking to connect with younger generations). Engaging with consumers will certainly look different in the virtual world, but the potential outcomes for brands are definitely real. Ensure you are working with a partner who can help you navigate changing digital media o�erings. Marin Software o�ers the leading platform to help you get the most out of your paid search, social and eCommerce advertising. Visit marinone.com to learn more about how we can help capitalize on the opportunities ahead. marinone.com