Though it’s only January, there are already 4 unmistakable trends shaping the media landscape in 2022. Overall, smart marketers are moving away from siloed marketing channels and refining their measurement methods – because people are consuming media very differently than just two short years ago. In addition, programmatic platforms continue to fragment, which means constant optimization to ensure you’re actually reaching your customers – and not showing up when they’ve already left!
Are you lagging behind your competition? Check in with these media trends to see where your marketing budget should be applied in 2022.
PREDICTION #1 – You snooze, you lose when it comes to CTV/OTT.
Companies that don’t figure out CTV/OTT as a key performance channel will find themselves playing catch-up with their competitors by the end of the year.
Ad spending on CTV in the U.S. continues to grow and we see that trend accelerating in 2022. eMarketer forecasts U.S. CTV ad spending to be $19.1 billion in 2022. That’s up almost 10% from the $17.44 billion they forecast in October 2021.
Television advertisers must make the shift to addressable video this year and re-evaluate their overall TV strategies to engage the full targeting and measurement potential of addressable TV.
We know that audiences are already consuming content on CTV. That includes your customers. So, if they’re already there, why aren’t you?
PREDICTION #2 – More addressable media platforms = more options = more confusion.
Expect the explosion of new programmatic media platforms to continue accelerating in 2022. Anyone with a first party addressable audience (or access to one) has already built or will begin to build their own programmatic media platform this year. Think e-tailers, publishers, OTT companies and more purpose-built DSPs.
All of these new programmatic platforms are going to create further fragmentation and complexity in an already confusing market.
So, strap in and get ready for more pitches, more testing, more ‘the best according to XYZ’. Brands and agencies should watch out for too many shiny new objects that promise more than they deliver.
PREDICTION #3 – Marketers MUST (finally) make the shift to audience-based planning and buying.
As marketers further acclimate to the audience-first world of converged media consumption, internal marketing teams (and, in many cases, entire management structures) must shift from developing and executing their plans around marketing channels to developing and executing them around audiences instead. This isn’t a new prediction. It’s been forecast for the last 5 years. Marketers who have resisted making this change in the past will be forced to adjust due to the pandemic-driven seismic shifts in the TV market and the end of linear Nielsen measurement as a standard.
Marketing teams now have little choice than to plan both media and communication around audiences firstr to reach and develop consistent messaging across all channels – Linear TV, Digital, Connected TV, CRM, etc. This will require removing the remaining silos within organizations to properly plan the whole campaign (messaging, cadence, and frequency of ads) and optimize the complete customer journey. Not doing so will only end up confusing or disappointing your audience and, most importantly, wasting marketing resources. And who can afford to do that?
PREDICTION #4 – Looking for a one size-fits-all solution for integrated media planning and measurement? Sorry, this isn’t your year.
2022 will see progress in finding this holy grail of media planning buying, but there won’t be one tool or industry standard for integrated planning optimization and measurement. In fact, I think it’s fair to say we may never fully get there. Instead, brands and their partners will have to evolve and build solutions and strategies using a combination of solutions to plan and measure traditional and audience-based media (Linear TV, CTV and digital channels).
This year will see further integration of awareness and reach measurement through to ROAS, performance and revenue than ever before. Brands and agencies who are leading their industries will refine what they see as the ‘single source of truth’ and slim down their measurement stack and conflicting KPIs.
Of course, the only thing anyone can predict with certainty is change; however, in performance marketing, it’s smart to have the perspective of a team that can confidently hypothesize, measure, test and optimize using your business expertise as guidance. Instead of a plug and play vendor, the way to win in 2022 is to find a collaborative partner.