2024 Trends: Mid-Year Update
At the end of 2023, Collective Measures brought together our thoughts and research to predict the top five marketing trends for 2024. In the first six months of this year, we’ve already (almost) banned TikTok, took a 180 with cookie depreciation, and added AI features to just about everything. As we enter the second half of the year, let’s check out how we did and see what alterations to make to stay on top of the current landscape.
1. Empathy fuels loyalty
2024 prediction
In 2023, we predicted that it would be vital for brands to use empathy to fuel brand loyalty. With external stressors and attention spread thin, approaching consumers with tactics such as user-generated content (UGC) could build trust, leading to loyalty. Brands will need to move faster to align with the changing preferences and expectations of consumers in the year ahead. Loyalty will be harder to capture and nurture than ever before, so the key is to ensure the customer is at the core of marketing efforts while remaining authentic and relevant.
Did our prediction come true? Yes!
Consumer loyalty continues to decrease in 2024, with over a third of consumers in the U.S. trying different brands and retailers for better value. While long-term loyalty is key to brands’ success, this is a time for brands to attract new customers who are branching out from their norm. With ongoing inflation, consumers are willing to try new brands to find better prices and discounts, with approximately 40 percent switching retailers. This means a brand’s values, product value, and consumer empathy must be at the forefront of marketers’ minds.
So how do marketers keep their consumers at the core? This can be done through inspirational marketing communications, mobile-first digital experiences, personalization, and humanized digital customer service. Ogilvy found that in 2024, experiences rather than traditional social media advertising have increased ROI by 70%.
Empathy is also a vital lens to look through when thinking about content and SEO equity best practices. Brands must abide by Google’s helpful content guidelines to ensure content truly adds value, is easy to understand, and answers common questions that inform new generative AI and voice search behaviors. Proven further in the Google algorithm leak in March, user-centric content is key. To rank well, brands must continue to create great content and user experiences that drive engagement. Creating engaging experiences for users and truly meeting the target audiences’ needs will encourage consumer loyalty in this disloyal environment.
2. Amplifying video and audio
2024 prediction
We predicted that long and short-form streaming video and audio would reign supreme as changes continue to accelerate within this space. With two major events in 2024 — the U.S. presidential election and the Summer Olympics — we expected sharp impacts on traditional and linear channel ad inventory, presenting challenges for marketers wanting to invest in linear TV. We predicted the market would evolve to allow for networks’ streaming properties to offer more holistic measurement, in turn, growing total integrated network performance.
Did our prediction come true? Yes!
As expected, there has been accelerated growth in streaming TV — especially streaming live sports. 42% of Gen Z sports fans watch three or more hours per week of live sports streaming, compared to only 24% who watch on cable and satellite TV.
After years of fragmentation in the streaming video landscape, some of the largest streaming services are beginning to acquire and consolidate content to bolster content offerings (think Disney+ and Hulu merger). In addition, platforms are adopting more ad-supported subscription tiers at a reduced price for consumers. Now almost 80% of Peacock users and 70% of Hulu users have chosen ad-supported subscription plans. With less fragmented platforms, streaming service growth is expected (especially at ad-supported tiers), which offers advertisers greater scale.
With the coming election and the Olympics, linear inventory is more expensive and harder to secure than ever. For an alternative to linear, marketers can invest in cross-channel and integrated network packages or programmatic platforms to reach their audiences efficiently. The forecasted 2024 CTV ad spend shows nearly a 19% increase, predicted to grow even further in 2025 (EMARKETER Forecast, March 2024). As we saw with this year’s March Madness, inventory is opening up for these large sports events, with 30% of Peacock’s ads being sold programmatically in the Summer Olympics. Brands can no longer deliver broad audience reach with linear TV alone. Testing new formats through integrated partnerships like biddable sports and other programmatic platforms can open up opportunities at scale.
3. Retail media networks are stepping on the gas
2024 prediction
We predicted that retail media networks would leverage their consumer data, expanding opportunities. Fueled by data depreciation, we saw retail media as a key piece in attaining first-party data and finding measurement and targeting solutions for the cookie-less world. We emphasized the importance of testing and learning retail media’s new ways to uncover insights.
Did our prediction come true? Yes!
81% of advertisers feel retail media is “very important” to their strategies, coming in higher than any other marketing channel. With advertisers seeing its value as it evolves to become a full-funnel offering, retail media is predicted to account for 16% of spend in 2025 and almost a quarter of all U.S. media ad spend in 2028.
Amazon is leading the charge (earning $46.9 billion from advertising in 2023), with Walmart, Target, and Instacart next to follow. As marketers become more comfortable with the usage of different retail media networks, they will become a key touchpoint throughout a consumer journey, especially for CPG brands. Marketers can drive awareness through channels like CTV, with U.S. retail media ad spend on CTV rising 335.5% YoY in 2024. Traffic and sales drivers like offsite display or social media, combined the usage of on-site retail media, will drive strong performance metrics.
4. The future of search is omni-channel
2024 prediction
We predicted that the search landscape would continue evolving to include using social platforms as search engines. Consumer behavior is changing, and social platforms like TikTok are even beginning to serve users with in-platform search ads. With the shift in where content is being discovered, marketers will have had to take a holistic approach, knowing search does not just mean Google anymore.
Did our prediction come true? Yes!
Despite Google still holding over 80% of the market share of search engines worldwide, younger consumers are going to social media, specifically as a source of inspiration for beauty and fashion product searches. Why are these younger generations moving to an omni-channel search approach? 80% of Gen Z agree that they are exposed to more brands and advertising than any other generation, which is why short-form video content on social platforms connects so well. It enables quick answers in real time, from real people, which is seen as much more authentic than optimized ads on traditional search engines. The proof: 57% of Gen Z discover new brands, products, services, and experiences through YouTube and 53% on TikTok.
Search engines continue to evolve to attract users. New generative AI offerings have the potential to spur major changes in consumer behavior, notably Google’s addition of AI Overviews and Apple’s partnership with OpenAI. Generative AI is here to stay, with a nearly 900% growth rate from 2022 to 2023. It is time to adjust strategies to use it as a tool and continue to learn as tools develop. Master ads in AI Overviews and learn how to show up organically in AI Overview answers by having optimal content to stay on track.
5. The cookie-less world is actually, finally, here
2024 prediction
Google had officially put a plan in place to bid farewell to third-party cookies. We kicked off the year with the removal of 1% of Chrome users from third-party cookies, with the original plan to completely eliminate cookies by the second half of 2024.
Did our prediction come true? No!
Nope! As of July 2024, Google has decided to keep third-party cookies in Chrome. While the cookie-less world is actually, finally, not here, marketers should continue adapting to a fragmented cookie environment. The ability to measure marketing tactics is the root of what marketers must understand with the future of privacy regulations. We predict that the role of cookies will shift from primary identifiers to supporting identity tracking as the industry moves toward privacy-focused and people-based models.
Creating a plan for first-party data collection, setting up a retail media system, and exploring execution through tactics such as email marketing are all still worthwhile tactics, even with cookies sticking around. Traditional cookie-based methods will persist but are flawed. Consider multi-touch attribution (MTA), media mix modeling (MMM), brand and conversion lift studies, and match market testing for comprehensive insights. Marketers should not feel their preparations were a waste, as foundational strategies for a cookie-free landscape remain relevant. The shift emphasizes developing robust first-party data strategies and adopting advanced measurement tools to stay effective in the evolving digital ecosystem.
What this means for marketers
As we reflect on our 2024 predictions and analyze the evolving digital marketing landscape, it’s clear that many of our predictions were accurate and continue to shape strategies for the rest of the year. 2024 has already brought many surprises — so congrats, you made it through the first half of the year! Staying adaptable and informed about these key trends will be vital to navigating our dynamic digital-first marketing world. As always, keeping the customer at the heart of these efforts and leveraging new technology to enhance their experience will be paramount for success.
