What to expect for the digital landscape in 2020?

As quarter-four settles in, All Response Media are looking ahead to what 2020 has to bring. Over the last few weeks, we have been exploring what exciting new things are coming next year…

1. Facebook is making the move into long-form video: After the successes Facebook has seen in the US with their Facebook-only content such as Red Table Talks and the successful rollout of Watch, Facebook has identified the opportunity to run more engaging content on their platform. Up until now, they had been focusing on what they had coined “on-the”-go” content. Their focus now is to move to longer-form content to encourage more engagement. This follows Instagram’s IGTV platform as well and allows Facebook more opportunity to commoditise video.
2. Instagram is upping the shopping ante: Once again after successful tests in the US, Instagram will begin rolling out more opportunities for brands to buy directly on Instagram. The focus will be on allowing purchasers to not leave the platform and be able to complete sales all within Instagram. Furthermore, plenty of ad formats are going to be rolled out that will allow retailers to increase sales through the platform – these include dynamic shopping within Stories and allowing buyers to purchase products directly from registered influencers posts.
3. Google focusing on taking on the traditional media channels: Earlier this year, Google increased its inventory for digital audio as they started selling inventory via AdWizz, the largest audio supply-side platform in the UK. Google is also looking into expanding their audio proposition into YouTube as they realise that the platform is used for music as much as it is used for videos. Separately from audio, Google is working with the digital out of home (OOH) partners to start allowing agencies to purchase OOH through Google. Finally, they are also working with the TV suppliers to start reselling BVOD inventory through their platforms allowing for more blurred lines between TV and digital.
4. Amazon to sell “TV spots”: Amazon has managed to secure the Premier League games for two weekends in December and will have exclusive rights to broadcast them via Amazon Prime. They are currently trading this as 30” spots similarly to TV, although they are adamant this is a test and will not be rolled out… for now.
5. Consent must be explicit: The ICO issued a report over the summer focusing on consent around real-time bidding (RTB) and although the report mainly focused on the fact that this space, in particular, is incredibly convoluted and needs to be more transparent, their main guidance was that consent cannot be considered “legitimate” for marketing reasons and that consent must be explicit. Therefore, over the coming months, it is likely that there will be changes made directly via the ICO and the IAB to standardize consent and create more transparency.

All Response Media viewpoint
We always keep abreast of the news within the industry to ensure our clients are at the forefront of new tests and innovation. In particular, the focus now for a lot of media owners to bring the various media channels together and move away from treating them as silos is an interesting one. All Response Media thrives in this area as we manage all media channels and focus on which media is right for our clients rather than looking at them in isolation. The only way businesses can achieve growth is to view media in a holistic approach and adopt a strategy that covers all areas.

Read more information on our digital services.