2022 Media Predictions With Bruce Neve, President Canada Of True Media

How has the pandemic changed media consumption? If so, will it be a permanent change?

With mobility restricted, and many people working from home, and non-essential businesses closed, cinema, transit and outdoor were most negatively impacted We have already seen that outdoor and cinema have rebounded  this fall – although mobility patterns (less days commuting, more neighbourhood travel) will change the outdoor exposure footprint.

WFH also changed radio /audio tuning and although reach has returned, day-part average tuning levels have shifted – later, more evenly distributed throughout the day, and there is also more audio streaming and podcast time spent.

As people looked for more content during the lockdown, they found new services to subscribe to such as Disney +, Crave, Amazon, apple TV and the AVOD offerings of the major broadcasters (eg GEM, GlobalTV).

Sport schedules were all over the map, which negatively impacted linear TV, but as of fall 2021, all the leagues are back on schedule with fans in the seats, fresh new programmes returned and TV viewing and demand is back. However, the video streaming that accelerated during COVID, will continue to be strong and will negatively impact linear TV viewing especially among the under 35 audience. This same audience spent even more time on gaming platforms.

Mobile has been leading the channel consumers towards for content, will that change in 2022? If so, what will be the next channel that consumers turn too?

Ad supported offerings via Connected TV (CTV) are ramping up quickly in Canada and consumer appetite for big screen, Smart TV content is not abating. YouTube viewing is shifting and we expect the number of viewers who watch YouTube on a CTV at least once per month to account for over 50% of all YouTube viewers. A U.S. Comscore survey found YouTube was the second most watched service on CTVs in June behind Netflix, making up 21% of hours spent watching.

Mobile is much more than a channel, and will continue to be the 24/7 access portal for social, short form video, weather, recommendations, search, social / e-commerce, your mobile wallet, QR codes   and your everything COVID documents.

Social shopping – are we there yet?

North America is not “there” yet- but just watch the next 2-3 years! All the major platforms are making a play in the social commerce space, mostly U.S. side for now.

YouTube is making moves into social commerce by tapping its large connected TV (CTV) viewership. YouTube Holiday Stream and Shop on November 15 ( U.S.) —a weeklong live shopping stream where users can watch popular creators and buy items in-app. YouTube began beta-testing live shopping in February and has since hosted live shopping events featuring retailers, small businesses and sponsored influencer streams .

TikTok has found that its users are interested in purchasing products “live” when recommended by creators they trust. Pinterest recently got a major update, centered on further incorporating video into its platform and adding new social commerce features for influencers.

Interesting that QR codes made a comeback, as we all used during COVID and now they are prominent on Connected TV Interactive ads , outdoor, connecting mobile/online to IRL/shopping.

Facebook (now Meta) has certainly been in the news over the last year – any thoughts/ comments? Facebook owns 4 of the top 10 apps in the app store – what does this mean for media planning, today and tomorrow? Will planners be looking at Meta any different in 2022?

Prediction. A major global advertiser or two, not an agency, will pull major budgets from FB and it won’t have any negative impact on business results.

Planners and agencies won’t walk from FB and all their issues, but will test and /or increase spend in other platforms and look at the impact on KPI’s .The industry as a whole will exert pressure on FB to clean up there act – and our government will rake in the new 15% tax revenue.

Long form or short form content – which will win in 2022?

Both have their role. .Long form quality video has  better ad impact.

Short, “snackable” video content is fun, fast and sharable.

Depends on the screen . blurred lines between ads/content

What does metaverse mean for media planning in 2022?

I think the impact will be minor in the next 3 years but will have a major impact on marketing by 2030; beyond what we can even imagine today.

The metaverse can be the convergence of virtual and physical realities, persistent virtual spaces, or a digital twin of our own world.

Virtual venues can be created that offer new destinations —reimagining the future of events and experiences-for a few or a few thousand attendees.

Think virtual stores, fashion shows, real estate showings, new product launches (auto), all reimagined into hybrid digital/physical, AR/VR driven exciting, immersive, engaging experiences.

All the major players are making moves. In August 2021, TikTok announced that it’s building its own AR development platform, called TikTok Effect Studio.

Facebook (now Meta) has 10,000 people—almost a fifth of all Facebook employees—working on AR and VR under the Reality Labs division.

 Snap purchased Vertebrae, which helps brands create 3D virtual versions of their products, in July 2021, following the May 2021 acquisition of WaveOptics, the company responsible for the AR display in Snap’s new Spectacles glasses.

Brands are already starting to see the benefits of pioneering in this metaspace.  RTFKT , an NFT marketplace, sold 600 pairs of digital sneakers in just seven minutes, generating $3.1 million in sales during February of this year.

 A digital-only Gucci bag sold on Roblox for over $4,000—which is more than the physical bag costs. ( makes no sense to me!). Even Nike has patents pending fro downloadable virtual shoes and apparel.

A virtual real-estate sale in March 2021 for the world’s first digital home, sold for $500,000- which brokerage will be the first to start selling in the metaworld?

Travel and adventure is a great space for the metaverse to play making faraway destinations more accessible. ( think Total Recall).

Swedish travel company Lights over Lapland has introduced virtual tours, inviting anyone with a headset to experience the northern lights, an ice hotel and sledding trails.

Where will the industry go in a cookie-less future?

We have been preparing for this inevitable future for over 3 years: testing alternatives and new strategies and now google has delayed b 2 years the deprecation of 3rd party cookies.

Unified ID solutions will play a role, but aren’t perfect yet.

Plan for more contextual/inventory-specific targeting,

1st party data sets will be increasingly important.  And not just in volume of users, but they have robust metadata around each profile as well, from account information, purchase history and behaviour. 

There is an opportunity to lean into second party data in walled garden platforms, and rely less on retargeting. This allows for stronger prospecting and less reliance on audiences that were likely to “convert” anyway.

With a huge labor shortage in the industry – what does the agency model of the future look like?

There isn’t and won’t be one agency model- multiple models of large and small, independent and Hold Cos, full service and specialized will co-exist in a healthy eco-system.

Most agencies will work in a hybrid office/WFH mix with many workers opting for remote 100%.

 The top talent shortage will drive more freelance/contractual talent, perhaps a 4-day work week, longer “sabbaticals” /learning journeys.

Structures will be more fluid and flexible, with more partnerships established around specific clients/projects.

There seems to be a bit of a mass exodus from the industry all together, why is this happening?

Labour shortages are happening everywhere, in every category … not just advertising. And this is an overstated news headline to a degree.

Because of Covid we all reimaged our futures, re-evaluated what was important and meaningful and many people if they could, took a step away.  Also, Canada could only ingest 50% of its immigration targets during Covid- and we will rely on the 1 million new Canadians over the next 3 years to boost talent pool.) Ex. India where 3rd party outsourcing grew a worker base of talent that is now moving here)

As an industry we did ourselves harm by celebrating the 60+ hour week, the weekend /late nights pre- new business pitches, the low entry level pay.

We also lost a bit of the “creative innovative dynamic" halo we used to enjoy-time for an industry wide Brand campaign targeting Gen Z to ensure we attract the best brightest and creative diverse talent .