Executive Round Up: 2024 Predictions
2023 was quite the year, but a new year has arrived. Here’s what some industry executives are predicting what’s to come for 2024.
Artificial intelligence:
Mark Baillavoine
CTO, Video Network
Synamedia
If 2023 was the year that ChatGPT took over the headlines, 2024 will be the year where technologists across all industries, including video streaming, will go beyond the soundbites and start using AI to transform the user experience and business operations. For example, by the 2027 Rugby World Cup (where, as a Frenchman I believe France will fare better), ads will be less intrusive and super-targeted benefiting from AI-based dynamic ad insertion. AI will analyze your viewing behavior to understand your tastes, habits and preferences. It will then insert personalized ads directly into your programming. No longer will you see French captain Antoine Dupont wearing logos from brands you have no interest in.
Paul Pastor
Co-Founder/CBO
Quickplay
Obviously, AI will be a big story in 2024, but what we see in streaming are adoption curves that overwhelmingly favor those providers with these platform capabilities: rapid and seamless integration of the leading artificial intelligence marketplaces, including Google Vertex AI and others, and the ability to optimize results from Large Language Models (LLMs) to drive business and consumer relevance. AI will be part of every provider’s roadmap, so we believe the ability to be early to market with features that fill persistent experience gaps will be important to providers’ success and will improve consumer satisfaction.
Kelly Perone
SVP, Product Strategy
Effectv
AI has been a game changer with local advertising, as the applications of AI can help virtually every step of the process from pitch to pay. For instance, at Effectv, we are using AI for a variety of activities, from predictive intelligence for marketing, use in generating contextual metadata for both better optimization and content recognition, and we anticipate more widespread usage and adoption of AI in the local ad sector in 2024.
Streaming fragmentation/bundling:
Karen Babcock
VP, Strategy & Partnerships
Comcast Advertising
2024 is going to be the year of the rebundle. It’s too hard for consumers right now to find what they want. We’re going to see media and entertainment companies come up with even more new, creative and innovative twists on bundling. Bundling as a concept isn’t new—it originally started in TV—but companies nowadays recognize they have to continually find new ways to engage, attract, win over and keep customers coming back.
Sean Casey
SVP, Product Management
CSG
To win in 2024, streaming providers should explore new offerings such as ad-based plans or bundling. Streaming giants Netflix and Max have e.g. already teamed up with Verizon to offer bundled ad-supported plans that allow subscribers to watch additional content while cutting almost 50% of the cost! This is a great opportunity for cross-collaboration between CSPs and streaming platforms to deliver personalized journeys that drive brand loyalty. I anticipate the streaming services that creatively uplevel their offerings in the new year will be the most successful in 2024 and beyond.
Dina Roman
SVP, Global Ad Sales
Fubo
Fragmentation across streaming, and especially sports content, has reached an inflection point. Consumers have grown frustrated with the increasing number of subscriptions required to watch all of their programming and advertisers are challenged with reaching their strategic target audiences across a growing number of media partners and devices. Now is the time when the power of aggregation will show its value and we will see a return to bundling across streaming. We have to continue to work as an industry to make life easier for consumers and by extension, advertisers.
Advertising:
Jeremy Haft
CRO
Digital Remedy
Advertisers are finally going to come to grip with the fact that traditional media planning approaches no longer make sense when targeting younger audiences—particularly those that have grown up with streaming, YouTube and TikTok—and these brands are going to seek new and more effective ways to reach these consumers. Gen Z’s demographics and content consumption habits are markedly different, and thus brands will need to rapidly adjust and optimize their own strategies. That will require pushing more dollars into a broader array of platforms, including Performance CTV and influencer channels.
Jon Mansell
VP, U.S. Head of Demand
FreeWheel
2024 will be an interesting year on the political advertising front. Two reasons: First, it’s a presidential election year. Secondly, we’re seeing increased growth and interest behind CTV ad spend in the political sector from buyers and sellers alike. When these two factors collide, we will see CTV emerging as a major platform for this pivotal industry vertical in 2024.
Mike Seiman
Founder/CEO
Digital Remedy
While advertisers will continue to invest in linear TV, the expectations of the medium and what its role and purpose are in the broader ad ecosystem will largely evolve. That’s because increasingly Digital TV is no longer ancillary for brands or consumers. The medium inherently provides advertisers better ways to hold spend accountable to ROI in ways that linear simply can’t, which will impact spending allocations in a much bigger way in 2024.
Chris Vail
VP, Political Sales
Effectv
We’re going to see even more advertisers experimenting with—or upping their investments—in addressable TV advertising, particularly in the political ad sector. We’re already seeing evidence of this momentum, with 40% of advertisers expecting to spend more on this medium next year. When you add an election year into the mix, things get even more interesting. This is because addressable’s superpowers—namely, the ability to reach and target specific voter segments, including at the state level, where votes can go a long way—really come into play.
Audience measurement:
Larry Allen
VP/GM, Data and Addressable Enablement
Comcast Advertising
We’re in the midst of a critical inflection point in the U.S. as the measurement sector moves toward a multi-currency world, with new entrants emerging and players on both sides calling for advancements in solutions. Buyers and sellers are seeking more choices in order to accurately measure ad views across linear and streaming platforms in a consistent way. As we continue to pave the way forward for measurement, innovation will be key to bring about the greatest possible reliability and accuracy to cross-screen measurement both now and in the future.
Programming:
Jon Giegengack
Founder/Principal
Hub Entertainment Research
With gaps to fill due to the 2023 Hollywood strikes, we will continue to see increased popularity in foreign language content. Productions will even take it a step further with modifications so it can work better in the US and other markets. For example, the first season of “30 Coins” (Spain production) was almost exclusively in Spanish with relative unknowns, while the second season included several scenes in English, some set in NYC, and added Paul Giamatti as a prominent character.