Streaming TV business model changes, shoppable ads, generative AI, and a stronger push for collaboration will reshape next year’s advertising landscape. Here’s how.

Ad spending roared back in the latter half of this year, indicating that there will be a healthy start to 2024. Yet, as ads proliferate, frustrated consumers have erupted with a collective “Enough!”  

As consumers take more control over their media use and consumption, there is a clear dynamic marketers and publishers cannot ignore: more than ever before, they need to attract audiences with relevant, engaging  experiences – including both content and advertising. Yet easier said than done in a world of fragmented viewing, increased privacy restrictions, and wholesale shifts in how people pay for and consume television. 

Pulling consumers in is especially important in the streaming TV space, where viewership is soaring. From May 2022 to May 2023, there was a 20% surge in total CTV usage, with viewership  jumping from 9.6 billion hours to 11.5 billion, according to Comscore. Not to mention the latest news from the  Netflix Engagement Report, revealing that viewers spent 100 billion hours on that streaming service alone. 

Although that’s all great news for our industry, our focus should be on new research from Parks Associates that the churn rate for streaming TV subscriptions stands at 47%. Many consumers cite cost; others say that they’re cutting subscriptions once a favorite TV show or season of a sport they follow is over, but regardless of the reasoning there’s no doubt that consumers are in control. Publishers and marketers need to align on putting the consumer first – and that means being ready, in lockstep, for what’s next. Here’s what the industry can expect in the year ahead. 

Prediction 1: Attention Metrics Take Center Stage  

This will be of no surprise to anyone reading this: People are bombarded with hundreds if not thousands of ads each day – and the vast majority of them likely don’t “stick.” Our responsibility as an industry must be the creation of better experiences, so that ads can be rewarded with true consumer attention. To succeed in 2024, advertisers would do well to embrace the Attention Economy but only if they fully understand what type of attention works best for their brand/KPI. If they don’t, their relevance and performance will suffer.  

Enter attention metrics. More than 90% of marketing professionals believe metrics that measure attention will soon augment legacy standards – like reach & frequency, impressions, and page views – if not replace them altogether. That’s according to a survey issued by The Attention Council (TAC), an organization composed of researchers, agencies, publishers, and holding companies focused on improving advertising-related outcomes. (Infillion is proud to be a member.)

Nearly 9 in 10 respondents to the TAC survey identified several promising use cases for attention metrics: media optimization (75%), measurement (67%), creative testing and optimization (64%), and planning (54%) as the most likely to successfully employ attention driven signals. 

That said, there’s more work to be done. Attention metrics’ utility isn’t set in stone, and 2024 will see significant moves in attempting to solidify them. Advertising Research Foundation is currently working on an “Attention Atlas,” which, as Adweek reported, will outline vendor positioning, methods, and deliverables so that brands can make more informed choices when exploring new partnerships. The Atlas was initiated to give brands and agencies access to greater insights as the slow death of third-party tracking cookies diminish the online signals marketers have relied so heavily on for the last two decades. 

Prediction 2: Shoppable Ads Go Mainstream

The past year has seen a tidal wave of shoppable ad announcements. Innovators like Kerv, Disney, NBCU, and Roku have revolutionized how viewers interact with content, turning passive watching into active shopping experiences. In the not too distant future, this shopping process is expected to become even more seamless, allowing purchases to be transacted with a click of a button.

We witness the rise of shoppable ads firsthand at Infillion every day. We launched ShopX, a shoppable solution for streaming video that allows viewers to add products directly to their carts at a selection of retailers, in May of 2022. By the end of the year we’d run a campaign in which over $1B worth of a single product was added to users’ carts.

That all represents a massive change in consumer behavior.

In 2024, shoppable ads will become the answer   for brands looking to engage consumers in “never been done before” ways, empowering innovation in a space that has been stagnant for decades… All eyes will be on the  retail media networks Amazon, Walmart, Target, Albertsons, and others to see how this trend potentially disrupts, in a good way, traditional ecommerce opportunities.

Prediction 3: Cross-Platform Measurement Gets More Intelligent — and Actionable 

Unfortunately, as streaming TV has taken center stage among viewers, the fragmentation in the marketplace has only gotten worse. The slow adoption of partnership across publishers, advertisers, operating systems, and devices is hindering ad innovation and scalability even as the demand for such solutions is becoming more urgent. 

As subscription growth has slowed for many publishers and churn has increased, the need to establish effective ad-supported options that don’t alienate audiences is a must solve for all streamers. Audiences have shown they’re “leaned in”. But this can’t be done unless there are effective partnerships, and the willingness to co-mingle tech reducing publisher burden across the industry.

Case in point, in 2020, technological advancements like the IAB’s SIMID technology, which promotes interoperability across platforms, never scaled. Today, in 2024, there is a revitalization in the format to make cross-platform interactive advertising from mobile to CTV more scalable and measurable. Without SIMID, ad tech innovators are forced to negotiate/integrate platform by platform, publisher to publisher causing universes of “walled gardens” within what’s supposed to be the open internet.

Prediction 4: Increased Scrutiny – and Potential Regulation – of AI Used In Content and Ads. 

As much as all major industries — along with a growing segment of consumers — are experimenting with generative AI, the advance of this technology has also been accompanied by fear and backlash. Concerns among advertising professionals that they’ll be replaced by machines is understandable, if only because AI is opening up completely new arenas for everyone from artists to analysts to technicians. 

As it relates to creativity, and our industry, that fear was a large sticking point in the drawn out “Hollywood Double Strike,” as the writers’ and actors’ unions fought the studios over the role of AI models in all facets of TV and movie production. As for advertising specifically, platforms have begun to flag political ads created with AI, seeking to maintain transparency in the digital ecosystem.

Both government and corporate regulatory measures that address AI are inevitable; the European Union has already agreed on its AI Act. It’s likely that – among other things – these measures separate genuine, professional uses of AI in creation from bottom-feeding attempts to leverage these platforms for quick gain. Even if regulators don’t take down bad actors, consumers will prize authenticity above all. 

It’s also crucial for the different siloes of the advertising industry to align on how AI can be helpful versus harmful to the industry. New research from Borrell Associates found that while both direct buyers and agencies are interested in the use of AI for content creation and optimization, agencies are more interested in predictive analytics and campaign planning. Agencies are also far more likely (70%) than direct buyers (43%) to already be using generative AI or to be planning to do so. These discrepancies in how AI is prioritized and deployed can cause friction when it comes to bigger-picture issues, like sustainability, and the environmental impact that all the processor power of generative AI is adding on to an already energy-intensive digital advertising industry. But when done well – and done mindfully –  generative AI can open up a renaissance in creativity. And that’s what it will take to gain meaningful attention, engagement, and loyalty from a brand’s audience.

There’s a lot ahead for streaming in 2024, given how much 2023 revealed some of the industry’s most pressing voids and disconnects. From subscriber churn to frustration over a lack of scalability, it’s evident that 2024’s biggest trends are going to point to the need to further work across departments, companies, and historic “siloes” of the business. After all, consumers are now in charge, and the answer for the industry is going to lie in unified progress rather than further fragmentation.

How do our 2024 predictions match with your own? Are there any we missed? Click here to reach out and let’s get a conversation started!

Perhaps unsurprisingly, advertising is a contributing factor. New research from Aprimo found that 58% of consumers say the onslaught of holiday marketing stresses them out – countdowns to the number of shopping days left until Christmas, or reminders that post-Thanksgiving deals are fleeting, can understandably induce anxiety.

“People notice a huge surge in marketing content around the holidays, and this is a double-edged sword,” Aprimo CEO Erik Huddleston explained. “It drives people to find deals and make more purchases, but brands also run the risk of overdoing it and turning people off, leading to consumers unsubscribing from email lists or developing a negative impression of a brand.”

Or, as Intermark Group CEO Jake McKenzie wrote in Adweek, “Extreme periods of stress change how we think — we begin to process information as if we are in a state of fear.”

That role of stress as a factor in advertising and its effectiveness is a curious one. “Stress spending” – making impulse purchases to alleviate stress or anxiety – is a well known phenomenon, with 52% of respondents to a survey saying they’ve partaken in the practice, and that number goes up to 68% for millennials. But it’s not a successful shortcut to customer loyalty or advocacy in our post-omnichannel world. The same survey says that 83% of stress spenders have regretted their impulse spending. You’re not going to make a repeat purchase if you’re regretful or embarrassed – much less tell your friends and family about it.

Plus, research from Yahoo in 2017 found that advertising can be 40% more effective when it reaches consumers who are in a good mood. So here’s a question for marketers: How much more effective could your advertising be if it aimed to truly alleviate consumer stress, rather than elevate it or provide a quick fix?

At Infillion, we have some ideas.

Harvard Business Review said it bluntly in 2020: “Advertising makes us unhappy.” But the real problem is that consumers are seeing too many ads, and they’re too interruptive. Marketing Dive found that 52% of consumers say that if they see an ad too many times, it hurts their perception of the brand. And in the battle for scarce consumer attention, the American Marketing Association found, advertisers responded with louder and higher-energy TV commercials – which consumers didn’t like, especially when they were trying to chill out. In short, if consumers are only paying attention to an ad because they have no way of avoiding it, brands aren’t really earning that attention.

The Infillion solution: Getting the right kind of attention – the kind of attention that consumers consciously choose to provide – is key. Fine-tuned targeting, particularly with first-party data that users provide proactively, can ensure that your ads are reaching the right audience without needing to rely on the heavy frequency that can make already stressed-out consumers tune out. Plus, you can offer them the option to see fewer ads by opting into an interactive experience that maximizes brand lift in less time. (That’s what Infillion’s TrueX technology does.)

Content that lends a helping hand.

We’re bombarded with so many ads that it’s difficult to pay attention to them all. But – speaking of interaction – making a video ad interactive boosts the amount of time consumers spend with it by 47%, according to IPG Media Lab. Maybe that’s because interactivity can be fun (think branded Tetris-inspired games) but it can also help provide more information that’s actually helpful rather than just a sales message. Around the holidays, that can seal the deal.

Consider this: Rather than just reminding you that there are only so many days left until Thanksgiving, an interactive ad for a CPG food or beverage brand can help buyers out by offering recipes (if it’s on TV, an easy QR code snap can ensure viewers can access it later). A mobile rich media ad for a wine brand can offer a store locator for easier buying. Or, for indecisive shoppers, a product exploration or quiz can help them figure out what they’re really looking for. 

The Infillion solution: Making ads interactive can seem daunting, but Infillion’s Creative Studio offers Blueprints, a set of frameworks that can take a brand’s existing creative assets and turn them into any number of engaging interactive units, from quizzes to multi-video experiences, in a fraction of the usual turnaround time.

Making gifting easier.

While impulse shopping to alleviate stress isn’t great for creating customer loyalty, an easy path to purchase is perfect for last-minute gifts. After all, 56% of consumers say holiday gifting stresses them out. And stressed-out consumers can find it difficult to focus, which means that they might see an ad for a product that would make a great gift for one of their loved ones but then completely forget to search for it later. (Being bombarded with more and more ads for other products probably doesn’t help.) 

The Infillion solution: With shoppable ads like Infillion’s ShopX, viewers can add an item to a shopping cart at any number of retailers directly from the ad. Shoppable ads are also great for purchasing gift cards, which consistently rank among the most popular (and most desired) holiday gifts.

Media’s changing fast. So how will the decisions the industry makes now affect its future in a few years? A panel hosted by Infillion at Advertising Week New York, titled “The Road Map To Media’s Connected Future,” took on this topic head-on. Moderated by Andrew Dawson, Infillion VP, the panel concluded that humanity needs to be the focus for an AI-obsessed advertising industry.

After all, at the center of these rapid changes in media is the question of where it matters to “be a human.” That issue underpins every major debate in advertising right now, from the increasing digitization and automation of what were once human-driven processes to the global restructuring of what we consider to be “work” – and what work need to be done not just by humans but by humans working together in-person as opposed to virtually.

Dawson was joined by a group of agency leaders from across the media buying landscape: Leah Askew, SVP and head of Precision Media at Digitas; Jennifer Dass, chief transformation officer at Initiative; Amanda DeVito, chief marketing officer at Butler/Till; and Samantha Hoffmann, programmatic practice lead at Wavemaker US.

“I think you have to double down on the human side of our business from a leadership perspective – emotional intelligence, soft skills,” said Butler/Till’s Amanda DeVito. “I think [automation] is going to free us up to be more creative, to allow more collaboration.”

The importance of staying human.

Agencies are also learning that automating absolutely everything – including when it comes to programmatic buying – isn’t always the answer when it comes to maximizing results for clients. Rather, programmatic is a powerful part of a more comprehensive, holistic media strategy. “Ten years ago I was ruthlessly trying to educate everyone on programmatic, and trying to direct every dollar to programmatic,” Leah Askew of Digitas said. “For years that’s what I was pushing for – technology and consolidation – and now I’m meaningfully taking a step back and saying, maybe not. Let’s talk about attention. Let’s talk about quality.” In Askew’s opinion, that involves a combination of programmatic and direct buying, incorporated thoughtfully into a media plan. 

Samantha Hoffmann of Wavemaker noted that because the programmatic landscape has gotten so much more complicated, that ironically makes it need more human guidance. “There was an ease when we had just a couple of platforms, a couple of DSPs, a couple of ways to activate supply,” she said. “But now, to the point of fragmentation, or trying to solve for privacy concerns or data management concerns, we have to be more consultative at every single piece. That may mean that I’m recommending that something be bought in a non-programmatic way.”

“We definitely don’t want to take the human aspects out of the business,” Jennifer Dass said. “We have to be creative and strategic. That hero creative [in a campaign] should still be from a creative mind that is actually developing the brand voice.”

Sustainability enters the spotlight.

There’s an unexpected upside to being able to lean on programmatic buying and other AI where it’s most effective: That means more time to focus on more “human” aspects of the business that may have been a “nice-to-have” at one point, but which now are imperatives.

One of those is sustainability. The energy consumption of an increasingly automated and AI-driven advertising industry, from water use to the strain on the electricity grid, has come under increasing scrutiny. And it’s a problem that humans have to solve, well, as humans.

“We have an entire sustainability practice,” Jennifer Dass said of Initiative’s business. “A lot of our clients hold us accountable to sustainability, and those metrics, and being environmentally friendly.”

From Amanda DeVito’s perspective, this isn’t just a sustainability imperative, it’s an advantage. Butler/Till, an independent and employee-owned agency, is a certified B-Corp. In a complex advertising world, this is a selling point for their business. It also holds them to a high standard.

“When we talk about our media partners and our technology partners, we have to talk about what their environmental practices are,” she explained. “We talk about supply path. We even talk about compressing images in display.”

Looking at company culture.

The overall culture of an agency, and its levels of employee engagement, can also have serious implications for its success in an era of rapid change. It’s an awkward time for this in advertising, considering that COVID-era work-from-home policies are ending and many agencies want employees back in the office in-person. Employees, in some cases, have pushed back.

“It’s not natural to be back in the office,” Samantha Hoffmann said of the post-COVID era, emphasizing that the workplace in addition to the business has to center humanity and give employees a reason to understand why human interaction matters. “You have to go above and beyond to create – whether it’s team outings, or trainings away from their desks – you end up getting better value out for the clients and the business you’re going to drive.”

“It’s a change. Everybody’s going through it,” Leah Askew said. “This is a relationships business. We are deeply connected to the market. I think being together drives creativity, but also fostering togetherness with all our partners is so important.”

“Bringing your authentic, whole, happy self to work really does make a difference,” Jennifer Dass concluded.

Want to learn more about being at the forefront of advertising, retail, and shopping trends? Follow Infillion on LinkedIn for our latest research and insights.

Women in media and advertising are all too familiar with fighting for a seat–and a voice–at the table. The silver lining is that once they’ve been seated, the fight doesn’t stop. Many of these women continue to make space for those who are underrepresented.

At Infillion, two of our core values are inclusivity and empathy. We strive to create a sense of belonging for all our employees and clients and honor the vast differences that make us better, in both our products and our culture. And that starts at the top; our CMO, Laurel Rossi, is a results-driven  advocate for women and people with disabilities in the workforce, and is eager to spread the word about how others can be advocates, too. During Advertising Week New York last week, Laurel sat down with Dara Marshall, the Head of JPMorgan Chase Brand Management, in a discussion entitled Off Script: How Female Leaders are Humanizing Stories, Trailblazing Journalism, and Pioneering Change in Media and Marketing, led by Joi-Marie McKenzie, Insider’s Editor-in-Chief.

The panel shed some light on how female leaders are shaping the future of media, marketing, and DEI efforts. Laurel and Dara spoke on their experiences working tirelessly toward inclusive and accessible evolution in the industry, with advice on some of the following:

The workplace must evolve in order for marketing and advertising to stay on pace.

Look around you. We are an industry looking to reach all kinds of individuals, so shouldn’t our agencies be made up of all kinds of employees? 

Laurel is the co-founder and Executive Chair of Creative Spirit, a nonprofit organization devoted to finding fair-wage jobs for individuals with disabilities, particularly those with intellectual, developmental, and learning disabilities (IDDs) who are profoundly unemployed. 

She spoke about her work connecting this organization with multiple agencies and companies, to not only make the workplace inclusive of individuals with IDD, but to make it fully integrated – physically, functionally and culturally. Through this work, Creative Spirit has helped place 1,100 individuals in positions across the industry.

Including people from all backgrounds makes advertising and marketing more accessible across the board. Not only is it the “right thing” to do, but everyone is part of the market. When the individuals putting thought into each brand and strategy look like those they’re targeting, ads ring true and feel authentic. 

As Dara mentioned, advertising has had to evolve to reach consumers that want to see themselves in branding–and not just as a one-off. She stressed that tone of voice, casting and messaging cannot just be “seasonal.” Brands need to show how they continually serve the society of today, reflecting truths about class, race, gender, sexuality, and more.

Triple the bottom line? Make it quadruple.

Infillion’s interactive canvas makes the most of user attention. Users must opt in to view one of our ads on a streaming platform, choosing this over the typical commercial break of multiple TV spots. And we don’t take that attention lightly. User feedback helps us tailor the ad experience to make it more relevant and interactive.

Humanizing campaigns gives them room to resonate. And that resonance isn’t just on one level; it moves beyond the financial bottom line. We’ve especially seen this on social media, which has become an integrated part of any ad campaign. With regard to this, Laurel brought up the importance of the “triple bottom line,” a sustainability-based accounting method. Infillion works with existing brand campaigns, and expands upon them by building out interactive elements and providing clients with metrics that allow for optimization. In this way, a campaign highlighting the “first female NFL coach” amplifies its empowering message on multiple platforms. This is what Laurel foresees as “making the bottom line more than triple, but quadruple or more.”

Inclusion is never a burden.

Sure, both Laurel and Dara are challenging everyone to work towards improved DEI. But this work should never feel like a burden. Instead, inclusion will lighten the load for everyone, as more informed discussion around a wider table can only result in more authentic marketing that more effectively reaches the desired consumer. In turn, the consumer feels heard and seen, and their needs can be met.

Our industry is one small sector serving a multitude of communities, and community impact matters. How can we positively impact the community, using our penchant for authentic storytelling? Infillion takes its social responsibility seriously, putting thought into action via TrueGiving, our charitable arm. TrueGiving pairs with community-based organizations and nonprofits to develop completely pro bono digital campaigns meant to garner donations and spread awareness beyond the usual channels. Empowering these organizations through targeted advertising allows them to be included alongside big for-profit players in ad campaigns of a caliber they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford.

Pro bono work is just one way of community building. On a personal level, we can make an impact by bringing our true selves to the workplace, inviting others to do the same. When asked a final question of their best advice to help others do as they do, Dara Marshall emphasized, “Show up as who you are. Authenticity and diversity of voices matter.” Laurel followed up by encouraging all those listening to “follow their passions and be vocal about them.” 

In a world where authentic, inclusive storytelling is the way forward, humanizing the workplace humanizes the work.

Want to learn more about being at the forefront of advertising, retail, and shopping trends? Follow Infillion on LinkedIn for our latest research and insights.

The need for more authentic and diverse storytelling emerged as one of the major themes at Cannes Lions and Infillion’s Inclusive Café in June. With global industry leaders in agreement, Laurel Rossi, CMO at Infillion, helped advance the conversation at one of Inclusive Café panels, asking how pledges to spend and invest more dollars with purpose-driven or minority-owned media can reach smaller and impactful publishers.

To address this topic and understand why the advertising and media industry is at an important juncture, she invited leaders in this space to not only consider the present moment, but to also share some of the actions they are taking to create authentic and diverse content that reaches and resonates with their audiences. Joining Rossi on the “Maximizing Impact through Purpose-Driven Advertising Investment” panel were: Damian Benders, General Manager at B Code Media, My Code; Dave Rosner, CMO at Audigent; Kerel Cooper, President of Advertising at Group Black; Mari Kim Novak, Trustee at Creative Spirit; Scott Kelliher, Head of Revenue at NewsBreak; and Susan Schiekofer, Chief Digital Investment Officer at GroupM.

“We’ve talked across the industry about purpose-driven marketing, where investments come from, where they go, where they should be. I know this panel is going to be about action,” says Rossi, who recently wrote a Fast Company article highlighting the need to “accommodate and protect workers with disabilities in systemic ways.”

Driving Increased Investment in the Multicultural Marketing Space

Damian Benders, General Manager at B Code Media, My Code, a multicultural, marketing and media platform focused on creating opportunities for driving increased investment in the multicultural marketing space, says, “Everyone involved in the space or in the process needs to be in the process of figuring out what it means for them. For My Code, we came into the space specifically to solve and address needs. There were opportunities for Hispanic, Black, Asian-Pacific Islander, and LGBTQ+ organizations, media companies, etc. We wanted to help them receive funds, support their businesses, and support their journalism… And we take that goal through our conversations with brands and agencies.”

“For us, the purpose originates with the people that are working in the company, people that are working at the brand, that are trying to develop that conversation. And we want to unearth what that is and give them an opportunity and a partnership to help that come to life. It takes a lot of work, but that’s the goal,” Benders adds.

Along with other companies featured on this panel, My Code was recently featured in an AdWeek article on how brands can lift up minority-owned business, adding that My Code leverages proprietary data and helps companies develop strategies, campaigns, and messaging that resonate with underserved audiences.

Dave Rosner, CMO of Audigent, as well as other panelists, emphasized the need for structure. “I think this conversation shows that we desperately need to get together and create some definitions, because once we have that structure, we can move together. And when we move together, we move much faster.” Rosner added, “Let’s move the money now that we have the pipes to do so.”

While Rosner says there will be challenges, Mari Kim Novak, Trustee at Creative Spirit, says driving awareness can drive change. “It’s a hard category, and you can’t do purpose-driven if you haven’t thought about it. [You have] to make conscious change in your investment, in your employment practices, your day-to-day [practices], the way that you think about any of these different underrepresented communities in the media,” Novak says.

How Do We Measure the Progress?

Over the past several years in directing investment toward purpose-driven or minority-owned businesses, Rossi asked what measurements are in place to gauge progress.

Novak, in addition to other panelists, called out GroupM, noting the company has forced change because of its high standards, requiring brands and others to “prove” themselves to work with GroupM. “Everybody is doing that on this stage because I think that’s a very, very honest way of saying how you’re seeing major change.”

Measurement is the first step to track progress, but Scott Kelliher, Head of Revenue NewsBreak, says he feels like “we’re only in early days in figuring out how to prove the efficacy of the media and the purpose. NewsBreak is a hyper-local news aggregator, whose mission is providing news across the U.S., particularly to local news deserts. “So as small publishers and small newspapers across the U.S. go out of business, our drive is to figure out how to get local communities the information they need in a quick and easy manner,” Kelliher says.

Even for NewsBreak, as Kelliher explains, the translation from “oh, that’s cool, that’s different”, when industry people hear about the company’s purpose, needs to backstop words with investments, and that goes for any company with a purpose-driven model looking to reach and serve diverse audiences.

Kerel Cooper, President of Advertising at Group Black, adds that besides moving beyond mere words, as Kelliher suggests, the industry needed to monitor the flow of investment in an“aggressive way.” He adds, “I don’t believe there’s a real universal approach yet, but each of our companies are doing their part to try to do that piece.”

Susan Schiekofer, Chief Digital Investment Officer at GroupM, suggests focusing on certain areas, such as Black-owned media. “So, we did look in terms of our spend total versus the industry (benchmarks). While ours was better than the industry at large, it still was small. It’s a couple of years later, and I would say we’ve had good improvement, but not yet enough.”

Regarding the news, Schiekofer adds, compared to where [ad budgets] were 20 years ago, averaging between 16% to 20% of overall budgets, it is dramatically down since then. The adverse political environment hasn’t helped, so many clients just want to stay away from controversial issues. You don’t have to be on the hard news page or the political page, but you know there is sports and entertainment. It’s gotten somewhat better, but we have a long way to go.”

The Shift to Programmatic Buying

Is the shift to programmatic buying making it difficult for smaller publishers to gain visibility with brands that can meaningfully support content? Rossi asked the panel to weigh in on the shift. Here are some of the responses:

” We recently did a very small test with DoubleVerify where we took ten of our clients that were running across group Black sites. We changed the blocking from the domain level to the page level, and it opened up 15% more inventory for that marketer to take advantage of, while sticking to what they deemed as brand safe. There are ways to do this and activate it. We have to get to the root of the issue, and I think brand safety and blocking at the keyword level, site-page level is still a big issue.”

– Kerel Cooper, President of Advertising at Group Black

“While we were deciding to focus very much on our DEI initiative a couple of years ago, we did an audit of all of our accounts and the exclusion keyword list. And what happens is that, let’s say it’s a small, happy campaign, you might have a ton of news keywords or underrepresented voices, keywords that were blocked for one campaign, but then they become part of an overall client list. We actually went through every single word and then removed words on the exclusion list to do the same exact thing. It’s something that all teams at the agencies or the clients need to do, like I would say, not just once a year or every couple of years.”

– Susan Schiekofer, Chief Digital Investment Officer @ GroupM

“I think that one of the dangers that we have in being in digital and programmatic is that we think the system is automatically going to be smart. And it comes down to the fundamentals of the building that were here long before the Internet. We’ve got to be thoughtful. If you’re launching a brand campaign, you have to look at the specifics of that brand and go in and change it. And that requires all respect to ChatGPT, a person who really is passionate and knows that brand.”

– Dave Rosner, CMO at Audigent

Underrepresented Groups That Are Largely Invisible

Some of the discussion revolved around underrepresented groups and visibility in the industry, because when people or consumers have a connection in terms of what is reflected in media or advertising, a brand can inspire people, and you take them along on the journey, creating loyalty.

Part of the solution, Novak explains, is hiring people with intellectual disabilities because of the needed and different perspective they bring to the creative process. “And that’s true of any underrepresented community. The only way we get the greatest ideas is with a great level of creativity, and that creativity only comes by having a diverse amount of creative thinking and experiences at the table.”

In wrapping up the panel discussion, Novak challenged the listeners: “I don’t think this is a conversation you should be having later. Let’s bring it into this generation, so that in five years and in ten years, this is in their DNA.”

Special thanks to our participants:

Moderator:

• Laurel Rossi, CMO @ Infillion

Panelists:

• Damian Benders, General Manager at B Code Media, My Code
• Dave Rosner, CMO at Audigent
• Kerel Cooper, President of Advertising at Group Black
• Mari Kim Novak, Trustee at Creative Spirit
• Scott Kelliher, Head of Revenue at NewsBreak
• Susan Schiekofer, Chief Digital Investment Officer at GroupM