The marketing department at Signal asked several people at the company to make digital advertising predictions for 2015. With their blessing, I’m publishing my predictions right here. I also added a couple of additional topics at the bottom.
The Ecosystem
2015 will be a big year for IPOs and consolidation. Startups will form in nascent categories, but not so much in established ones. Luma will produce a new set of Lumascapes to accommodate the rise of new categories. This is hardly a shocking prediction.
Cross-Channel
Cross-channel will be the rule in 2015. Companies with a single channel solution will be the exception (and the Dodo).
Programmatic
We’ll see the rise of the Meta-DSP where Agency systems will be plugging into DSP stacks via APIs. Smarter systems will be able to segment users across DSP buying systems and regain control of Frequency and Reach.
Native advertising
Native Normalization: Native ads will begin to follow responsive design techniques. “Standardized Native Ads” will become the biggest oxymoron of 2015. Native ad specifications are already working their way into the OpenRTB API Specification. The road to standardization is very short from that point on.
Mobile
Mobile will become the target of event-timed ads. This will follow Twitter’s example of capturing trending topics. By pushing ads during live events or TV shows we will back our way into two-screen advertising.
Video
We’ll see the first use of online video display advertising tech being used in broadcast television. Either a cable provider like Comcast, a satellite service provider like Dish or DirecTV, or a TV manufacturer like Samsung will be a part of it.
Content Marketing
In 2015 you won’t believe the one crazy trick that will trigger the downfall of link-bait headlines.
Data
Recency will become important as data buyers wise up. Out-of-date data will be exposed and devalued. Media buyers make audience buys all the time. In 2015 they should be able to target users who have recently been in the audience segments they’re buying.
Publishers
Publishers will continue the process of evolving toward the label of Media Companies. The old term of “publisher” will follow the fate of the actual (news)paper that once defined it.
Cookies
Browser makers will make efforts to replace the cookie with something similar to Apple’s ID for Advertisers. The end user will be given the option to reset this ID whenever they grow tired of seeing the same pair of shoes follow them around the web.
RTB
Real-Time Bidding will stop being expressed in words. Instead, OpenRTB will be referred to as the protocol used for programmatic buying and private marketplaces. Terms like “Bidding” and “Auction” will be almost forgotten.
