Media 2024: Top innovations and trends for advertisers

Innovations are not only the backbone of the economy, they also make a significant contribution to the development of the digital media industry. Last year, the advent of artificial intelligence in particular demonstrated the importance and possibilities that innovations can have.

But what about this year? Will we see the widespread introduction of AI in 2024? What other exciting innovations are emerging in media planning and how can advertisers make the best possible use of them? Which trends are here to stay? Stefan von Gagern, AI expert and coach, Artur Lammert, Teamlead Digital Media Consulting at JOM Group and Markus Weber, Director Media Consulting at JOM Group, answered these and other questions in our JOM Impulse on February 1, 2024.

JOM IMPULSE in a Nutshell

Stefan von Gagern: How can medium-sized companies use AI?

2023 was all about artificial intelligence – a development that can also be attributed to the advance of Chat GPT. And it is foreseeable that generative AI will remain in the fast lane. The Gartner Hype Cycle predicts that 80% of companies worldwide will be working with AI by 2026. According to the Bitkom study, however, the German economy in particular is still hesitant when it comes to implementing artificial intelligence. One of the reasons for this is that many companies generally shy away from change, are overwhelmed by the rapid pace of change or do not have the necessary in-house expertise.

How can companies get started with AI?

First of all, it should be noted that it is not necessary to know all AI tools. Instead, companies should consider which use cases already exist in order to select the tools that offer the right added value. Probably the best-known application is Chat GPT. The tool is one of the large-language models that access a wide range of training data (e.g. from the internet). Chat GPT can generate new content from the existing data and is therefore considered generative AI. Communication takes place via natural language processing so that results can be achieved with simple commands. Chat GPT then analyzes the input, understands the patterns in the language and then provides answers that make sense. But what can AI look like in a professional environment? Meetings can be made more efficient with the help of artificial intelligence Chat GPT 4 can, for example, record to-do’s from key point-like meeting notes, while “Microsoft Copilot Pro” creates meeting summaries directly from Teams calls. The AI can also assist with research. For example, Perplexity AI can create extensive web searches including summaries and references. Midjourney or Chat GPT can visualize products or create illustrations that can be used in content planning for campaigns. Chat GPT can also help with topic planning and discovery.

However, there is also a lot to consider when using AI. Data protection, in particular, plays an important role. Companies should therefore seek advice before anchoring artificial intelligence in their structures in order to develop an AI strategy. In addition, usage guidelines should be defined to protect sensitive data. As the tools make their way into departments, it is also advisable to introduce AI ambassadors and train employees.

Artur Lammert: What other issues will advertisers be dealing with in 2024?

A major challenge at the moment is that the more an advertising medium is viewed, the less attention it attracts. The interplay between media and creation is therefore becoming increasingly important in order to generate awareness. Using the brand performance approach in creation, animations can be used to invite interaction with the advertising material. The size of the output device and the adaptation of the advertising material depending on the format and medium also help to increase awareness.

Another challenge is the so-called “banner blindness”, which applies to 86% of users. Advertisers can respond to this with high-impact ads. These are advertising formats that invite interaction with a brand – one option is the gamification approach. High-impact ads have the advantage that they achieve high advertising recall at low frequency and lead to an uplift in unsupported brand awareness. At the same time, they have a high recognition value and increase brand sympathy.

The combination of high-impact ads with AI-supported delivery is an exciting development. Artificial intelligence carries out real-time analyses that check, among other things, whether the mood, image and context match the brand. Only then is the ad delivered.

The Meta Advantage+ tool also offers advertisers the opportunity to optimize their ads in terms of conversion and interaction with the help of AI. A new feature is that ads can also be optimized by adding small animations to visuals, for example.

Another key issue for advertisers is the headphone generation. If you look at the music streaming market, it is clear that Spotify is by far the most used platform. For marketers, Spotify & Co offer the opportunity to make targeted use of moments beyond the screen. On Spotify, brands can place their advertising between active sessions via Instream Audio Ads and thus achieve 100% share of voice. Audio ads in the podcast environment, on the other hand, integrate seamlessly into podcast episodes and offer a targeted message that is perceived intensively and undisturbed by the listener. The Spotify Audience Network, on the other hand, offers advertisers the opportunity to advertise in podcasts outside of host reads, either via their own ads or Voice Talents ads. This has the advantage that the ads can be delivered according to socio-demographic and regional characteristics.

The possibility of placing ads on Spotify now goes beyond audio. Video or display ads can also be placed on the platform.

The video market will also change in 2024 and offer advertisers some (new) options. What has long been the case among younger target groups (14 to 39-year-olds) is now also becoming apparent among other age groups: The use of video on demand (VoD) will overtake traditional TV and many target groups can no longer or only rarely be reached via traditional TV.

VoD platforms also offer brands more and more options to reach their target groups wherever they are. Amazon Prime Video began displaying advertising in the standard subscription model at the beginning of February. The special feature of the launch is that all existing 16 million users can be accessed directly, as everyone with a subscription is automatically included in the ad-financed model.

The example of Netflix also shows that new streaming customers in particular are increasingly turning to the ad-financed option. After all, 40% of them use this option. Netflix is also becoming increasingly attractive for users: the streaming provider recently secured the wrestling rights and is thus entering the live sports content business.

The gaming sector is also exciting for media planning. The topic has long since arrived in society at large and it can be observed that younger people in particular regularly play games. Smartphones and games consoles are used particularly frequently for this purpose.

Looking at today’s gamers, they can be categorized into four groups: Casual mobile gamers only play occasionally and 53% of them are female. Console gamers play on the big screen and 44% of them have children. 61% of hardcore gamers are over 35 years old and invest a lot of time and money in games. Streamers have their own community with whom they share their games. 64 percent of them belong to GenZ and millennials.

Advertisers have various options for addressing their target groups around games. Brands can be integrated directly into the game via in-game ads. “Around the Game” ads are, as the name suggests, located around the game – for example in reward videos. Away from the Game ads can be placed in streaming environments such as Twitch, for example. In-game ads are particularly player-friendly, as they are not perceived as an interruption to the game.

Markus Weber: Worth the hype – Which traditional media have been taken to the next level by digitalization?

Retail media has been the topic of the last few years. And that’s not surprising, because according to a GfK study, 70 percent of purchasing decisions are made at the point of sale. But what exactly is retail media? According to the latest definition of the BVDW’s Retail Media Circle, retail media is “the unique opportunity to present brands and products where their relevance, perception and acceptance are high, their path to customers is very short and the context is most natural.”

In addition, the RMC has defined four building blocks for the retail media category:

• Insights: Information about insights into consumer behavior
• Partners: Intensification of customer relationships via loyalty programs
• Content: Design and production to increase consumer interaction
• Advertising: Media business on own or third-party channels (onsite or offsite)

While the opportunities for brands to be present at the POS with advertising used to be relatively limited, digitalization now opens up a wide range of options – for example in retailers’ apps or on digital steles around stores.

Why is retail media here to stay?

As retailers have enormous amounts of their own data at their disposal, Retail Media is independent of third-party data – this is particularly crucial in the post-cookie era. This data also provides exciting shopper insights that can be used for targeting. Proximity to the point of sale also offers enormous transaction benefits. Another advantage is that the measures within the customer journey are easy to measure and therefore allow the campaign to be evaluated and optimized. The trend towards retail media will therefore continue.

However, digitalization also brings developments for the Biggest Screen – cinema – that make the channel more attractive for advertisers, as cinema advertising becomes programmatic. Programmatic Cinema enables the fully automated, individual purchasing of digital cinema spots in real time and thus combines the advantages of classic cinema campaigns with those of digital targeting. The individual targeting options are based on static visitor data and dynamic target group data, which are weighted together. The campaign is only played out if there is a disproportionate target group fit. To ensure brand safety, genres or films can also be excluded in advance. Programmatic Cinema already has great potential, as it can reach 450 cinemas and thus 80% of visitors.

However, there are still challenges at present: Due to technical hurdles, the use of campaigns has to be checked on an individual basis. For example, geodata cannot yet be differentiated between cinemas and residential units or restaurants within buildings.

Digitalization is also having an impact on advertising around live sporting events. Whereas advertisers used to have to enter into long-term partnerships, digitalization now makes it possible to book advertising space around sporting events flexibly, allowing brands to buy presence for individual matches depending on budget and regionality.

Advertising around sporting events is particularly exciting for companies, as enormous awareness can be built up. The boards in the stadium are a learned medium and are perceived as likeable. In addition, spectators cannot zap away, which contributes to visibility. The process in the background is also transparent: The prizes are visible to everyone via a tool and are therefore the same for everyone.

Another huge advantage: the matches are no longer only shown in the stadium and on live TV, but are also shown in highlight clips, e.g. in the sports show, or shared via social media, which generates additional reach.

Conclusion

2024 will also be an exciting year for advertisers. On the one hand, audio streaming, new options in the moving image sector and the popularity of gaming will open up new potential for addressing target groups. On the other hand, traditional media are also changing as a result of digitalization, which means that there are always new opportunities to address advertising to specific target groups.

In addition, there will be a further transformation through AI, to which companies should react at an early stage. Only those who start to address the topic of AI now and develop AI strategies will be able to benefit from it.