Emerging AdTech Trends to Watch for in 2023
March 2023
Table of Contents
AdTech Trends 2023
Although digital advertising has existed since the 1990s, the landscape of global ad technology is significantly different now than it was even 12 months ago. With 2023 off to a transformative start, it is clear which emerging AdTech trends are leading the way.
Today, Insticator’s panel of professionals will give publishers a glimpse into the future of AdTech by highlighting 5 essential and upcoming AdTech trends in 2023.
Trend #1: The Era of First-Party Data Dominance Has Arrived
Google announced in mid-2021 that the company was going to phase out third-party cookies by the end of 2023. Although they have delayed phasing out until late 2024, the end of third-party data collection is still on the horizon. This second push back has presented itself as an opportunity to prepare for the future of Adtech and allow time for publishers to position themselves ahead of the curve. It’s important that publishers start strategizing how to collect and leverage first-party data and that time is now.
The Insticator Supply-Side Platform utilizes first-party data in a secure and private system that can be used to drive better ad bids and hone in on a more targeted audience. With over 100 million hashed email addresses and scalable ad space options, this supply-side platform is being utilized by a growing number of lead publishers who are looking to facilitate a better user experience and drive up revenue through first-party-informed ads.
Trend #2: CTV Advertising is Only Growing Larger
Also known as Connected TV, CTV defines any kind of advertising that happens through online streaming services. Whether a user is streaming video on Roku, Hulu, YouTube, or Netflix, they will undoubtedly come across some programmatic advertising in a variety of formats that can’t be found anywhere else. Publishers should incorporate a leveraging strategy of CTV bids to reach new audiences, bringing a better boost to their bottom line.
This year, the large streaming companies that have been running ad-free models for years will now transition to offer ad-supported levels of subscription. Netflix, for example, recently published an ad-supported tier at a lower cost for families and users. This is yet another opportunity for publishers to utilize a guaranteed transition to their benefit – to plan their path now to have a stronghold in Adech down the road.
CTV already takes up a huge chunk of advertising spend across the board. Currently, advertisers spend billions of dollars on CTV advertising alone, before investing in other ad spaces online. According to a report published by eMarketer, CTV spend alone is expected to rise to more than $26 billion over the course of 2023. This type of advertising has a very unique type of targeting, allowing publishers to reach users that may not otherwise receive dynamic ads catered to their interests.
Trend #3: Dynamic Ad Formats are Necessary, and Video is King
Speaking of CTV AdTech trends and other programmatic ads, there is a growing trend towards video formats as the most popular – and therefore the most cost-effective types of ads to publish online. Those looking to monetize their websites need to have engaging, compelling, and overall dynamic ad formats that can earn them up to 4x more income than they would earn without video-supported ads.
Custom content creation and first-party data insights are just a couple of powerful advantages of pushing video ad formats. The emerging AdTech trends for video ads include publishing “shoppable” or “clickable” ads, which allow users to actually navigate your website and purchase products without leaving their video player.
But the technology doesn’t stop there; video ads are constantly evolving to keep up with AdTech trends in 2023 and beyond. Stay apprised at all times by managing your ads through a supply-side platform offered by leading industry AdTech experts.
Trend #4: It’s All About Curating a Positive Customer Journey
Thankfully, the future of AdTech is seeing a huge shift away from impersonal, in-your-face advertising. Instead, advertisers are focusing on curating a unique, positive, and memorable experience for every user that comes to interact with their ads. Industry leaders have conceptualized the consumer journey, pointing out several significant landmarks where personalized advertising can excel.
The panel of professionals at Insticator recommend that publishers both large and small take advantage of this emerging trend in AdTech and drive attention to the consumer, helping to create an engaging and relevant journey for them.
This is best done by incorporating a multitude of diverse ad formats, including video ads, interactive ads, and even ads with commenting capabilities.
Trend #5: Google is Leading Us to the Future of AdTech
There is no doubt that Google is the number one advertising force across the world, and the company continues to move and shape the AdTech industry by leading the charge by continuing to roll out initiatives. Google revved up in 2022 and decided to launch new advertising initiatives that can help developers out in a number of ways.
Google’s new announcements and initiatives include:
- Third-party cookie depreciation deadline extension. As previously mentioned in this article, Google has decided to postpone the phasing out of third-party cookies until later in 2024, giving publishers the opportunity to prepare for the future of AdTech without any cookies.
- User privacy improvements with User Agent reduction and Client Hints for Chrome. These new privacy initiatives further protect users and will require most web applications to complete additional requests when trying to collect information. While this may seem like a hurdle for advertisers, in fact it’s an asset because it reduces the risk of excess data requests that often lead to a safety compromise.
- The introduction of Manifest V3 for Chrome extensions. Manifest V3 has the potential to stop ad blockers and ad-blocking extensions from working properly. This is another huge step in the direction of protecting user privacy.
Though these shifts could earn a win for further symbiosis between advertisers and users, they may also spell out the need for an advertising back-up plan beyond what Google can provide. Get your hands on a suite of privately collected and curated ad engagement products when you sign up with Insticator today.
Emerging AdTech Trends: Stay on Top them with Insticator Today
Are you a publisher seeking solutions to boost ad revenue across your platforms? Do you need a one-stop-shop for all of your ad management and bidding needs? Get better insight into the health of your ad campaigns and see how much your engagement can improve with Insticator by using our free engagement calculator online. Get in touch with one of our experts today to learn more about emerging AdTech trends and how to integrate them into your engagement strategies to successfully ride the wave of advertising in 2023 – and beyond!
Ad Interaction Through Your Website Comment Section
One of the top monetization strategies is to creatively push user engagement through data-driven advertising, especially when incorporated with a personalized and fully managed supply-side platform. A popular engagement solution where Insticator strongholds the market by utilizing 1st party data for their publishers in order to attract a more valuable and targeted audience. The benefits of this strategy is that the direction is completely controlled in-house through the facilitation of discussions within a comment section.
Rather than leaving users with only information and updates – without a place to provide their input – you can invite users to be a part of the conversation, to create a culture and community within a comment section. Encourage them to be heard. Not to mention, they will want to linger around a bit longer and ultimately boost your impression rates, among other things.
Boost User Dwell Times
Again, people who are more engaged with your content are much more likely to remain on your page. No matter what kind of metrics your data management and monetization strategy is keyed to track, one of them is bound to be the average user dwell time. Dwell time determines how long each visitor spends on a specific page before leaving your website or returning to their search engine page. Research has shown that publishers incorporating comment sections on their websites retain longer dwell times than those without.
Gain Incredible Insights
Consumer-focused campaigns are the way of the future, as a growing number of online digital publishers are looking for ways to stay current and create dynamic ad solutions to improve the user’s experience overall. But the end user is not the only one benefitting from the decision to add a comment section; publishers can learn key information by reading, moderating, and guiding user comments.
Comment sections can speak to trends, needs, and concerns that might otherwise go untracked by even the most advanced metrics systems and data-driven experts. It is also a good idea to take note of which topics are gaining the most buzz, so you know what types of ad content to produce in future consumer-focused campaigns.
Offer Rewards and Incentives
After adding a comment section to your website, one method to maximizing your audience’s potential and conversion into loyal members is by offering a subscription-based service. This acts as a major incentive for commenters to continue interacting on your website in order to earn exclusive awards. For instance, highly-active users in the comment section can be boosted with a badge or star next to their name, labeling them as top commenters or authority figures on the subject matter.
This helps to build trust within the community, between peers, and with your publisher brand. Those who aren’t sure where to start can partner with our experts to gain access to the best and most fitting WordPress website comment plugins for beginners and veterans alike.
Keep Readers Coming Back for More
There is a reason why successful online digital publisher’s build up a loyal follower base with a comment section as the engagement solution of choice. By facilitating meaningful conversations, your website will be known as a space where real talk happens and where real opinions are heard. Publishers who quickly respond to comments, questions, or complaints on their website gain trust in their audience and create more opportunities for their cohesive monetization strategy.
Customer loyalty is often a big metric measured by publishers looking to gauge levels of interest in certain interactive pieces of media on their websites. Higher engagements lead to more impressions, which can grow incrementally and automatically when users are known to return.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Your Users for What You Want
Engagement goes beyond responding in comment sections and boosting the accounts of users who remain loyal. It’s to ensure that the key parts of a site stay current; the way in which content is produced, and the position in which ads are placed. Publishers who add strong CTAs and intriguing closers are more likely to get the results that they want.
Why?
Because they were direct and asked their users to take action. Advertising is about bringing attention to the content that a publisher wants their audience to see, but also relating that content within their consumer-focused campaigns back to the users to gain a reaction. It’s okay to be transparent about that. Using Insticator’s custom ad engagement products is a convenient way to know which content types are going to spark engagement for your site while others may fall flat. Helping you to fine-tune an engagement solution to boost your user interactions and your traffic all at once.
Consider Your Comment Section and Connect with Insticator Today
With Insticator’s all-in-one ad management platform that focuses on interactive ad units and monetization strategies, you can take your website comment section to the next level. We will help you turn those comments into a community of loyal members to build your brand and spread the word to other future visitors. With seamless integration of website and mobile app designs, advanced first-party data collection services, and a slew of insights to help you discover what’s best, Insticator’s full ad management platform for publishers is a perfect solution for your site.
Request a demo of our platform to discover your opportunities!
Written by
Jenni Silva-Dunne, Head of Content & Project Operations, Insticator
