dentsu released its annual media trends report, The Pace of Progress: dentsu 2024 Media Trends. The report, which was created with input from Carat, dentsu X and iProspect globally, defines the technological and behavioural changes that will shape the media industry in the upcoming year.
The continued rise of AI
The report predicts that generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) will increase in importance next year, with 91% of CMOs stating they believe the underlying technology is here to stay. dentsu expects increased prevalence of gen AI to lead to the rise of generative search, augment human creativity and simplify advertising production, targeting and effectiveness. Some potential use cases include using gen AI to scale media campaigns, to create personalised, consumer-facing AI-powered chatbots and to streamline the creative process by automating content delivery and administrative assistance. Marketers and brands will have to be careful using these tools since copyright protected material might involve reputational challenges.
The race to monetisation
As digital advertising spend slows down over the next couple of years, digital platforms will follow aggressive routes to monetisation, foresees dentsu. As social platforms become more uniform, brands will have to invest to keep attention. In 2023, many social platforms made changes towards this uniformisation — with Spotify introducing TikTok-like video features, Instagram launching text-based Threads and prioritising its video-based product, Reels.
As monetisation becomes harder for platforms, they will become more protective of their data and put forward new advertising offerings. The race to monetisation will be accompanied by an increase in ad-supported subscription products. CTV is expected to grow 32.2% in 2024, driven mainly by the rise of ad-funded video on demand (AVOD) and free ad-supported television (FAST). As platforms increase the number of ads they serve, brands will need to pay attention to striking a balance between grabbing attention and overwhelming the consumers. Gaming and digital audio present unique opportunities in this evolving media ecosystem.
Diversifying media plans
Finally, social and political tensions are changing what’s expected of brands, and their approach to sustainable societal contributions will become as important as hard economics. As societies become more diverse, the trend will be reflected on media consumption. Brands should respond by diversifying their media plans and paying attention to supporting diverse voices through media investments.
For more details, you can download a free copy of the report here.
