2024 Targeting Predictions: Laying the Foundation for a Sustainable Future

After years of build-up, 2024 will mark a dramatic turning point within the digital marketing industry. Traditional targeting approaches will go out the window, and new rules and best practices will solidify.

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While change can be hard, particularly when it comes to navigating shifts involving consumer data and privacy, there’s good reason for marketers to be excited about the transformation our industry will undergo in 2024: When we emerge on the other side, our industry will be better aligned with consumers and operating on a more-sustainable foundation for the future.

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Here at Fyllo, we decided to get in on the fun and share our targeting trends that will reshape our worlds in 2024 and beyond.

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The Evolving Privacy Landscape

Let’s start with the elephant in the room: While no shortage of ink has been spilled over the deprecation of third-party cookies in Google Chrome in 2024, the implications for marketing going forward can’t be overstated. This time next year, brands and agencies will be operating in a fundamentally different way than they do today, as will the many data and tech partners that support their efforts.

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The companies that have been in preparation for this industry milestone in recent months and years will see the rubber hit the road, and it will be time to fine-tune their efforts to bridge the gap on audience addressability. For those less prepared, it may be a rocky road forward as former KPIs are upended and the cross-channel targeting and visibility of legacy cookie-based targeting programs dissolve.

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During this critical year of transition, contextual targeting will emerge as an important stabilizing force for those brands and agencies that pivot their investments accordingly. Contextual advertising spending will accelerate, as companies race to maintain relevance with their most important audiences.

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Emerging Data Privacy Regulations  

Of course, it’s not just the move to a cookieless world that’s shaking up the digital landscape next year. Every year, regulatory pressures mount when it comes to the handling and protection of consumer data, and 2024 will be no exception. Right now, there are a dozen U.S. states with notable privacy laws in place, including California and Texas, and a growing number of others have active bills working their way through legislatures. Although there’s still no overarching federal legislation governing data privacy in the U.S., marketers are still operating in a restricted landscape, made all the more complex by regional variance.

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As the digital landscape rewrites its playbook in the wake of third-party cookie deprecation, it’s going to do so in a privacy-first way. Tighter restrictions on consumer data collection and use are a matter of when, not if, and no one wants to rewrite their playbooks yet again when U.S. federal privacy legislation inevitably comes to fruition. In that sense, the pivots being made over the next year will be made with an eye toward future-proofing rather than mere reactivity and accommodation of existing restrictions.

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Gen AI and Identity Resolution

In the wake of all this privacy-centric upheaval, all eyes are understandably on identity resolution and ID-free targeting solutions. In both cases, generative AI is powering real-world solutions and will continue to do so on more fronts.

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Any marketers who have been hesitant to plunge head-first into the world of AI-driven solutions need to set aside reservations and keep pace. AI in marketing isn’t about replacing humans. It’s about helping us do more with what we have—particularly when it comes to targeting in a privacy-first world. ID-free targeting will become a more dominant focus as scale is lost within addressable media, and AI is helping already-strong spaces like contextual targeting become even stronger.

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New Programmatic Ad Channels

Speaking of automation, despite concerns about loss of addressability due to changes with third-party cookies and privacy regulations, we’re still going to see new swaths of inventory becoming more addressable as industry buying models evolve toward programmatic. In 2024, in particular, we’ll see this journey continue within the connected TV space, where a significant portion of inventory is still being sold via upfronts and direct deals.

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As 2023’s turbulent times for TV advertisers demonstrated, programmatic can and should play a larger role within the connected TV space, where bidding technology can improve the nimbleness with which brands and agencies can connect with their most valued audiences around the content they enjoy the most. Despite the traditional roots of the TV space, connected TV will continue to break away from legacy buying models, making its audiences more addressable as we move forward.

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How Fyllo Can Help

At Fyllo, we’re here to be both a partner and a solution for marketers as we move into what will be a pivotal year for our industry. If you’re looking to future-proof your campaigns against forthcoming market changes, Fyllo offers a resilient contextual targeting solution that can withstand any disruptions.

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Book a Demo Today.