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Data, AI and advertising: 2025 predictions


In the new year, advertisers will be looking to improve ads and targeting to increase effectiveness. While audience expectations will continue to rise, so will the need to prove advertising effectiveness. We asked experts to share their thoughts on how new tools and strategies will help advertisers and agencies make the most of their data in the coming year.

Agencies are leaning in

Budgets will be tighter this year, so agencies will increasingly rely on technology to negotiate better deals for clients and measure the effectiveness of campaigns.

“I think agencies are moving much more aggressively into the data and technology space – because they think the size and weight compared to walled gardens will get them better deals for their clients and also help them accumulate enough data assets to build their own proprietary models. ” said Mike Froggatt, senior analyst director at Gartner. “There will be a lot more algorithmic media plans, especially in the design stages. Brands will expect some of these savings to be passed on, which will lead to some changes in agency and AOR relationships.”

Froggatt said marketers and agencies will “go back to basics” and implement rigorous testing regimes, media mix modeling and impact assessments.

Froggatt explained: “I think it’s part of getting rid of cookies and peer-based measurement. If Meta and Google are your only media buys, then these two platform analytics can provide a pretty good insight into the impact of that spend on your business. However, once marketers reach the limit of return on ad spend in these channels, using cookies (or even other identifiers) to measure their programmatic advertising across sites will be problematic. I think a return to ka/b/n testing, incrementality and paired market testing will provide a much more holistic view of the impact of advertising on the bottom line.”

Breakthrough of DCO

Advertisers have had access to dynamic creative optimization (DCO) for years. It’s likely to expand as other AI-powered advertising technologies take off.

“2025 will be a breakthrough year for dynamic creative optimization as generative artificial intelligence finally unlocks its full potential,” said Oz Etzioni, CEO and co-founder of digital advertising company Clinch. “Brands will go beyond basic personalization and use AI-driven tools to create and optimize thousands of customized ad variations in real-time, driving deeper personalization and engagement. A new wave of startups and innovations will simplify DCO adoption and make advanced creative strategies accessible. By integrating creativity with data-driven insights, marketers can revolutionize campaigns, achieve scale without sacrificing resonance, and set a new standard for effective advertising.”

“AI is transforming the creative process, with consumers divided on its impact — some embracing it, others noting its flaws,” said Julie Clark, vice president of media and entertainment at TransUnion. “In 2025, marketers will face pressure to adopt and experiment with AI, but its success depends on solid data.

foundation. The more powerful the data, the more intuitive, connected and accurate the marketing experience.”

More personalized offers and recommendations

“AI and machine learning are revolutionizing how brands communicate with consumers,” said Colin Bodell, chief technology officer at Bazaarvoice. “From personalized recommendations to automated customer service, these technologies offer insights and experiences at a scale previously impossible.”

According to a Bazaarvoice survey, personalized offers drive 45% of shoppers to complete online purchases. Brands and retailers will also need to ensure that the supply chain is flexible enough to deliver personalized offers.

“In 2025, brands that use AI to deliver hyper-personalized experiences and maintain a responsive and flexible supply chain will have a significant advantage in building long-term customer loyalty,” Bodell said.

These personalized experiences will be relevant throughout the customer journey and specifically for more personalized advertising.

“In 2025, digital advertising will be defined by transformational trends that are reshaping the way marketers engage with consumers,” said Aman Sareen, CEO of AI Solutions at Aarki. “Personalization based on AI and privacy will become the cornerstone of effective marketing strategies. Brands will move from collecting massive amounts of data to leveraging intelligent, contextual insights that respect user privacy and deliver accurate and meaningful experiences.”

Dig deeper: Customer Experience Predictions for 2025

Improving data management

To support a dynamic ad experience, marketers will take steps to improve data management over the next year.

“One area that will be disrupted in 2025 is content analytics and related data, with better data management and measurement as key enablers to unlock marketing’s full potential,” said Verl Allen, CEO of Claravine’s marketing data standards platform. “To unify data, marketers and their agencies need to align and prioritize data that is critical to decision making and collaboration. This may include negotiating with RMN and CTV platforms, optimizing their data stack and exploring data cleanrooms and AI tools. However, the success and speed of any of these strategies and innovations in a fragmented market depends on mastering the basics like taxonomy, metadata and ID across the experience supply chain.”

Using artificial intelligence for contextual targeting

Traditionally, targeting in digital advertising has been divided into deterministic and non-deterministic targeting – ads served either to a specific audience or in contexts related to the audience’s interests. Stricter privacy rules mean that new uses of first-party data and non-deterministic algorithms will be more widely used, bridging the previous gap.

“2025 will be the year where privacy, contextual targeting and artificial intelligence intersect,” said Vikrant Mathur, co-founder of digital advertising platform Future Today. “With increased regulatory pressures and consumer awareness of privacy, traditional audience building models based on persistent identifiers will need to be overhauled. The good news is that advances in AI and technology can now use first-party data and non-deterministic, PII-aware algorithms to effectively build audiences and target, in line with evolving privacy standards and consumer expectations, while still delivering on the promise excellent results for brands. We predict that this next wave of contextual targeting – Contextual2.0 – powered by advanced privacy-friendly technologies will gain wider adoption in the coming year.”

Omar Tawakol, CEO and co-founder of Rembrand, said: “Looking ahead to 2025, the focus is likely to shift from purely creative applications of generative AI to more contextual and seamless ad integrations. Advertisers are starting to realize that it’s not just about creating more content – ​​it’s about making sure that content fits naturally into the wider viewing experience.”

Tawakol added: “By embedding products directly into existing content, brands can maintain visibility even as traditional advertising formats become less effective. As this technology advances, it will offer advertisers greater flexibility and control over how their products are integrated, allowing for more sophisticated and contextually relevant placements. This approach ensures that ads are not only seen, but also feel like an organic part of the viewing experience.”

Programmatic consolidation around better data

“The massive explosion of alternative ID frameworks has created headaches for both the buy and sell side of the ecosystem,” said Bennett Crumbling, head of marketing at data cleanroom and collaboration platform Optable. “While the promise of more deterministic (better data quality) is strong, these frameworks are often complicated to implement and even more complicated to manage across a growing number of demand partners. We see it becoming easier to manage in 2025, and eventually the best demand-side partners will emerge as publishers gather information.”

AI-as-a-Service in Advertising

“Marketers, advertisers and media planners face increasing pressure to innovate while maintaining high campaign performance,” said Jon Schulz, CMO at Viant. “Artificial intelligence is poised to revolutionize advertising by automating the complex and time-consuming processes of media planning, bidding and optimization. Much like SaaS transformed software – making it scalable, on-demand and readily available – AI-as-a-Service promises to reshape advertising by freeing up time for media planners and buyers to focus on higher-level strategic tasks.”

Schulz added: “Beyond automating planning and decision-making, AI capabilities are expanding into measurement with the potential to analyze and derive actionable insights from campaign performance. We are just beginning to uncover the possibilities of AI-as-a-Service in advertising.”

Dig deeper: 5 essential priorities for marketers in 2025



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