As we move into the final quarter of the year, how are advertisers across verticals looking at their media mix, at the top trends, at their plans for AI? Insights from the Mediaocean 2024 H2 Market Report reflect responses from over 1,200 marketers to these and other key questions. While many trends from the first half of the year remain steady, growing emphasis on performance marketing, privacy concerns, and the convergence of media channels are reshaping marketers’ outlook. This article examines what has changed, what hasn’t, and how different verticals are adapting.
What Has Changed: Performance, Privacy, and Media Convergence
A noticeable shift over recent months is the increased focus on performance-driven paid media. Advertisers in sectors like financial services, retail, and CPG are particularly focused here, part of a holistic shift toward accountability. Responses show a broad movement toward tying media investments to real outcomes, and at all parts of the funnel.
Privacy and compliance have also become a more urgent focus, especially for pharma, tech, and telecom. Beyond GDPR and CCPA, a chorus of state-level privacy regulations are pushing brands to strengthen first-party data strategies. And amid uncertainty about the future of third-party cookies, even in the wake of Google’s retrenchment from its deprecation plans, brands are turning to multi-ID frameworks as a way to maintain effective targeting and personalization.
The creative-media gap is emerging as a major trend across verticals as brands increasingly seek incremental performance from their media investments. With media optimization plateauing, creative is now seen as a critical lever for driving campaign effectiveness. This is especially true for CPG brands, where multiple SKUs interact across various channels, making creative optimization essential to deliver personalized and impactful messaging at scale. AI-driven ad tech is helping brands bridge this gap, aligning creative production with media execution for better performance.
Key Differences Between Verticals: Unique Strategies and Challenges
Each vertical is responding to these industry-wide changes in different ways:
Technology and Telecom: Leading the adoption of AI, these sectors are using Generative AI for real-time optimization and personalization. Telecom emphasizes market research, while tech companies focus on campaign efficiency. Both are addressing signal deprecation by adopting multi-ID solutions.
Retail and CPG: E-commerce remains dominant, with brands investing heavily in omnichannel commerce strategies. Platforms like TikTok drive consumer engagement. The creative-media gap continues to challenge CPG, but AI-driven ad tech is helping synchronize these processes.
Automotive: The focus in automotive is on lead generation, particularly as the shift to electric vehicles (EVs) accelerates. Brands are using CTV, digital display, and social media in omnichannel campaigns. Automotive marketers are also embracing the convergence of linear TV and CTV to maximize audience reach.
Pharma and Healthcare: Compliance and privacy remain central as pharma brands navigate the balance between AI-driven personalization and strict regulatory requirements. Consumer trust is crucial in this sector, given the sensitive nature of healthcare data.
Financial Services: Performance marketing is central to this vertical, with a focus on channels like CTV and digital display that provide measurable outcomes. Ad verification remains a key priority, ensuring accountability for every dollar spent.
Entertainment: CTV and streaming platforms like YouTube and Amazon are core to entertainment marketing strategies. As live events shift to streaming, entertainment brands are leveraging granular performance metrics to blend brand-building with performance marketing.
What Hasn’t Changed – and Likely Won’t
Google’s decision to shift its plans to consumer choice for cookies in Chrome is reshaping data strategies across all verticals. Additionally, the media environment is becoming more competitive due to the U.S. election, increasing pressure on ad space. The outcome of the DOJ antitrust trial against Google could further influence the advertising landscape, with potential shifts in market dynamics on the horizon.
As we look ahead to 2025, advertisers will likely face deeper adjustments as they respond to these developments. Yet, even with rapid change as a virtual constant, some foundational trends are expected to remain with us well into 2025.
Omnichannel strategies, the growing integration of AI, the ongoing focus on privacy compliance, and the shifting power dynamics between big tech and the independent ecosystem will continue to define the broader industry context. These forces, which are shaping how brands engage with consumers and handle data, remain crucial in navigating a fragmented and competitive media environment.
While some factors may shift from one quarter to the next, these trends are likely here to stay for the foreseeable future. The convergence of media, the evolving impact of privacy regulations, the complexities of signal deprecation, and the integration of AI are not just passing trends but defining features of this modern era in advertising.
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