4 Buzzing AdTech Trends

Apr 12, 2016 | Industry Updates

In 2015, mobile surpassed desktop in search volume, and augmented and virtual reality entered the mainstream, opening new creative possibilities for advertisers to engage audiences. Those two trends alone could have a huge impact on AdTech in Q3/Q4 of 2016. Here is what we think will rule the Adtech world this year and moving forward.

 

1. Mobile Programmatic Ad Buying Will Rule

Facebook brought home advertising revenue of $4.3 billion in the third quarter of 2015, a large portion of which was driven by mobile ads. eMarketer predicts programmatic ad buying for mobile in the United States will reach $9.33 billion in 2016.

While Apple’s ad blocking announcement last year had several advertisers worried, it could impact your advertising campaigns positively if you play your cards right. Ad blockers make it imperative to serve relevant ads to your audiences. More so, they could inadvertently help optimize your ad campaigns. People who deploy ad blockers are probably not your best audience anyway. In essence, you could actually be saving advertising dollars on useless impressions. “Spray-and-pray” advertising strategy isn’t going to work any longer, though.

 

2. Local Will Be the Buzzword

Last year, Google released its Search Quality Rating Guidelines, which give website owners a sneak peek into how Google ranking works, for paid as well as for organic results. One of the key takeaways from the guidelines is the inclusion of local search. While comprehensive data on the juxtaposition of mobile search and local intent is still trickling in, most recent data suggests that more than 50 percent of search queries on mobile have local intent.

Given the rise of mobile platforms, the cumulative figure for mobile searches with local intent will also rise, even if the percentage remains constant at a little over 50 percent. It becomes important for marketers to use tools such as Google’s My Business API, and ad extensions such as the call button, to convert local searches into store visits. In fact, take it a step further with call tracking, to optimize your ad campaigns for different keywords. Local also means brands could leverage the inclusion of native languages in their ad copies.

This is MatchCraft’s bread and butter, we are currently running over 300,000 campaigns on our AdVantage platform, operating in over 30 countries and support with a taxonomy library of 18 unique languages and dialects composed by natural language speakers.

 

3. New Platforms Will Open Creative Possibilities

In 2015, more than 50 percent of Americans connected their TV to the Web. Virtual reality made a foray into mainstream consciousness with Samsung’s Gear VR. Connected TVs have the potential of traditional TV volumes, while still allowing advertisers to track and measure results.

Virtual reality, on the other hand, opens a whole realm of possibilities for more immersive advertising. Wall Street launched its virtual reality app last year, and has already experimented with innovative ad campaigns for brands.

With the promise of creative messaging possibilities, while retaining the benefits of programmatic buying, we could see a surge in the use of new platforms by advertisers.

 

4. Multichannel Advertising Will Remain Essential

Modern digital consumers move in and out of platforms almost seamlessly. With the emergence of new platforms such as virtual reality, this continuous journey of a consumer will be even more fragmented across devices. For advertisers, it will become important to come up with a digital strategy that delivers cohesive messaging across platforms.

In order to create such cohesive messaging, A/B testing and analysis of ad campaigns across channels will gain even more precedence.
Overall, 2016 promises to be a tipping point in Adtech, with mobile finally being the “now” rather than the “future.” It remains to be seen how advertisers react to this shift, and what practices they adopt, to maximize their revenue out of ad campaigns.

 


Be prepared for the future of AdTech. Schedule a Demo of our AdVantage Platform and learn how to scale your digital marketing efforts. 

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