With 2015 coming to a close in a matter of days, many marketing and advertising industry professionals are reflecting on the year that was and looking toward the year ahead.
So what’s on tap for 2016?
Recently, our colleagues at MAW caught up with the mobile ad ecosystem experts at Manage to discuss the what the future may hold. And luckily for us, Maggie Mesa and Barry Coleman were willing to share their anticipated top five mobile advertising trends for 2016.
To check out Mesa and Coleman’s forecast of the trends soon-to-be at the forefront of DSPs, SSPs, ad exchanges and enterprise advertisers alike, along with advice on how publishers/advertisers should address them, take a gander below.
1) Disintermediation
With Facebook and Google expanding their services in the ad tech market and playing both “buyer” and “seller” of their own media, there will be a drive in 2016 for other players to offer an independent platform that offers more transparency in the process. The demand for greater transparency form advertisers (in media cost, placements, ad types, etc.) will encourage more disintermediation to reduce the number of go-betweens connecting the advertiser and the consumer to demystify what’s been a black box. Next year, advertisers will need to prioritize by cultivating their own first-party data. With additional platform options for programmatic buying, they will have more opportunity to gather data, target across platforms, and experiment with varying ad units.
2) Ad blocking
In 2016, advertisers won’t likely be as intimated by ad blocking – as in-app campaigns aren’t affected by mobile web. Those most likely advertisers to be impacted by ad blocking are those relying on cookie-tracking to target from web to mobile. App publishers investing in mobile ads for user acquisition will also want to know if they should shift their budgets. However, before overestimating the impact of ad blocking, advertisers should wait and track results over the next few quarters. Next year, it would be crucial to focus investments where they are trackable, i.e. in-app mobile.
3) Cross-device tracking and targeting
The cross-device tracking market still does not have a true leader. This means advertisers should seek to leverage first-party data combined with third-party sources for a best approach at cross-device tracking and targeting. Partnering with ad platforms that offer DMP capabilities helps to shortcut the process between leveraging multiple data sources and targeting ads to new audiences.
4) Self-service programmatic
Both advertisers and publishers are seeking more transparency in programmatic advertising. While advertisers want to see exactly what they are paying for and the return on their investment, publishers want access to data for analysis on what types of ads and companies are most successful with their inventory. Next year, this transparency will shift to a “must-have” instead of a “nice-to-have,” and programmatic providers should be ready to adapt. As for advertisers, they should look for programmatic partners that share data and offer greater options for targeting, price optimization, etc.
5) Ad units driving engagement
In 2016, popular ad units will continually evolve and change. With an increasing focus on user experience, publishers and advertisers alike will push for more native ad placements that are less disruptive to consumers. Advertisers will start shifting investments into ad units that better fit the medium (as opposed to a one-banner-fits-all approach), engage users and minimize distraction. On their end, publishers will start leveraging publisher platforms to test and scale new native or video ad units that drive higher engagement and yield to boost their revenue.
