The AdNews end of year Perspectives, looking back at 2023 and forward to next year.
I think the digital advertising industry in Australia in 2023 can be summed up with four words: efficiency, revenue diversification and innovation.
We started to see signs of an economic slowdown at the very end of 2022 and 2023 has certainly been a challenging year. As well as revenue slowdown for many companies, we saw Meta’s “year of efficiency” tone embraced by other global platforms, ad tech and martech players alike. However, we’ve also seen areas of growth and some fantastic business transformations.
The retail media trend was the most obvious example of revenue diversification and transformation in 2023. But we also saw media companies launching commerce offerings and a wide range of corporates adopting deeper affiliate programs and marketing partnerships.
2023 saw most digital media and marketing with companies experimenting with ways that machine learning and AI could improve their operational efficiency, ad effectiveness techniques, as well as creative and copy development. Although we are at the start of the journey for generative AI and it’s just over a year since ChatGPT hit the market, it’s great to see so many companies taking the time to review how they operate and how automation may allow them to improve their offerings.
The digital advertising ecosystem plays a central role in Australia’s economy and society, enabling the delivery of free online content, products, and services to all Australians, so in 2024 you can expect that the IAB and all industry associations will be focused on ensuring that industry operates responsibility with a strong self-regulatory system.
Meanwhile media owners, agencies and marketers will all be redesigning and retooling to deal with current and upcoming changes in relation to data signals being brought by the combination of privacy regulation, third party cookie deprecation and the continued loss of signals within the Apple app environment. It will take testing, resources, and often new metrics, but finding new techniques for targeting and measuring that meet the needs and expectations of consumers and regulators will set up companies well for future growth.
Those organisations have not already started measuring carbon emissions will find that 2024 is the year to get moving. Building on best practice suggestions from organisations like IAB in 2023, companies throughout the advertising supply chain will find a range of new initiatives locally and globally to help identify ways to reduce impact.
As marketers continue to take on more sales responsibilities, we can expect to see a shift as the digital advertising industry continues to find improved ways for advertisers to understand the true economic impact of their media investments.
The digital advertising ecosystem is a very mixed market now with planning and media commitments definitely still short. However, marketers are still actively looking for marketing opportunities that can demonstrate growth and I am incredibly encouraged by the level of collaboration I’m seeing between media owners, agencies, and marketers to find ways of testing and identifying the most effective media and creative opportunities.
I am having many conversations with marketers deep in the details of data strategies, measurement techniques, finding new media opportunities with a high share of voice and rethinking their search investment due to product innovation. I am incredibly excited to see what innovative offerings and solutions come to market in 2024 and beyond.
Gai Le Roy is CEO of IAB Australia
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