The digital advertising industry is moving rapidly and it’s time for the brands to catch up the bandwagon. Post-pandemic, there have been some major shifts in consumer behaviour which impacted the traditional ways of advertising. In 2022, the advertising landscape saw some innovative changes and the momentum is not going to fade away in 2023. This year, more brands move towards digital media.

From addressing the elephant in the room – the phase-out of third-party cookies to a transition towards a more customer-centric advertising approach, this year is expected to shake the advertising ground.

Check out the major trends in the digital advertising industry to look out for in 2023 and why brands need to shift their focus towards a conscious advertising approach.

Cookie-less future

The digital world has been in shock since recent Google’s announcement to phase out third-party cookies by 2024. For years, third-party cookies have helped advertisers and marketers to target the right set of customers and offer them a personalized advertising campaign. This helped them tap into people based on their interests and preferences.

However, after the phasing out of the third-party cookies, the advertisers will lose access to this gold mine of data. This also means that the digital landscape is moving towards a more secure and protected way of advertising where users’ data privacy will be taken into consideration. To get onboarded with this upcoming trend, marketers will require a more futuristic and customer-centric approach. So far, the most recommended approach is to collect the first-party data and use cookie-less signals like device IDs and IP addresses to target the relevant customers.

The brands will also have to shift their focus to creating relevant and contextual advertisements to capture the eyes of the people interested in it.

Conscious advertising

Brand safety will no more be a choice but become a necessity for the brands in 2023. Consumers are becoming smart and are inclined towards brands that are taking the right measures to give them a safe digital experience. Brands have to take conscious measures to ensure that their ad is shown in a brand-safe environment. On top of that, with the rising threats of infringements, the brands have to ensure that their brand assets are safe and not part of a fraud chain.

And with the advertising industry inclining towards first-party data, the brands will have to take the required measures to gain the trust of the users and retain them for a longer period.

Transparent advertising

In 2023, it is predicted that advertisers will be cautious about ad spends due to economic uncertainty. This means that advertising choices will shift towards a more precision-based, performance-enhancing, and sustainable programmatic technology. This means that brands can use innovative solutions to get detailed insights into metrics like engagement and exposure, screen touches etc – eventually replacing viewability as a metric.

By using this intel, the brands can optimize their ad campaigns better and make focused business decisions. However, focusing on attention metrics is not enough. The brands will have to broaden their programmatic advertising with a traffic verification solution that can help improve transparency and measurement, in turn improving the media quality. This will eventually not just help optimize the campaigns, but also protect the media buys from invalid traffic.

e-Commerce will power through amidst uncertain times

e-Commerce will be a thriving industry in 2023 despite the uncertain economic times. The brands have to become innovative in their approaches to attract the right audience and increase their sales. There will be a rising trend of creating authentic and relevant content around selling products, providing customers reviews and ratings, and offering exclusive discounts to engage the interested audience.

These initiatives will encourage the buyers to make purchases and stay loyal to the brand for a longer time. However, providing these benefits is not enough for the brands. They have to ensure that they are not becoming the next target for fraudulent activity. The eCommerce brands have to be vigilant and take action against instances like coupon and discount misuse, fake reviews, and bot traffic hoarding inventories. This not only impacts the brand’s image but also hampers the consumer’s experience eventually leading to a loss of trust.

2023 is coming with a lot of innovation keeping the consumer’s interest at the centre of the stage. This means that the way forward for the brand will no longer be just creating the growth plan for the year. The brands will have to move towards a more customer-centric advertising approach and ensure that their consumer’s interest is protected and acknowledged. Therefore, it is time that the brands enter the new year with the mission to create a seamless and secure experience for their consumers with the help of innovative solutions and contribute towards making the digital landscape a safe space.