By Fred Marthoz, Managing Director, Asia at Lotame
As we all know, this year unlike any other year has navigated massive changes. With that in mind, I wanted to share a number of key AdTech predictions and the list dwells into wider industry developments around digital payments, identity, third-party cookies, and more. Here goes.
Digital transformation accelerates in all aspects of life
The global pandemic made digital a necessity across all aspects of work and home life. This trend will show no signs of slowing across industries. For example, as remote work becomes the default, cybersecurity will take on even greater significance for companies of all sizes. Banks will need to flex their digital muscles as well, as fintech startups begin chipping away at their market share, similar to what DTC did to traditional retail. And, there’s no stopping gaming or streaming’s meteoric rise as more consumers seek variety for home entertainment. I’d expect gaming in particular to break through into new age and gender brackets as we all seek a safe form of adventure and fun.
This influx of customer data — behaviors, intent, interest — will be a real boon to brands as they work to get closer to customers. Data enrichment from quality providers will help them understand and find more of those best customers at scale and develop new products and services to drive engagement and loyalty.
Say goodbye to cash
The share of digital payments in 2021 will increase, as paper money transactions continue to decrease. With digital financial services in Southeast Asia expected to generate over $38 billion in revenue by 2025, we will see more supportive regulations to meet the growing demand and pave the way for consumers who are largely underserved by financial services and have no basic access, such as a bank account. The need for better financial services will give fintechs a large addressable market for their solutions, fueling adoption and growth of the sector.
Credit cards and other e-wallets will become the natural default payment for both online and the rare in-person transactions, with fewer vendors able to or willing to accept cash. Payments will be made either in a local currency or, as an alternative, in a decentralised currency, sometimes issued by a dominant industry player (similar to Facebook’s Libra).
Rubbernecking the cookie collapse
As we saw in 2020, digital advertising can’t look away from the demise of the third-party cookie. I anticipate the slow and drawn out sunset of the cookie to continue to dominate headlines in 2021. Misinformation will persist about the third-party cookie death being synonymous with the health of third-party data. As Google’s moveable cookie deadline draws near, we’ll see advertisers amping up the pressure for proof that cookieless solutions deliver measurable and transparent ROI.
Identity — Answer to Marketers’ Pain
Digital advertising once relied on context alone to satisfy marketer goals, but in today’s environment, context alone can’t meet their needs. For marketers to engage with real people (not a device or a one-time page visit), and accurately target and message customers, they must invest in identity resolution. From getting a real-time 360 customer view and solving frequency capping restrictions to precise measurement for conversion rates and privacy and consent, identity solutions can solve many of the challenges faced by marketers, publishers and consumers.
