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The topics and trends that will be the talk of CES this year


Although it serves as the unofficial kickoff to the advertising and media industry calendar, this weeklong Las Vegas consumer electronics show doesn’t necessarily set the industry’s agenda for the year. But it helps to set things in motion.

Advertisers and agencies come to Sin City with their budgets planned for the year, and against the backdrop of the annual tech show, they meet with publishers, platforms and technology vendors to map out exactly how to spend that money.

“You laid the groundwork back in October.” [when many brands set their annual marketing budgets]. That’s the ‘come to Jesus’ moment: ‘You entrusted me with a million dollars. What are we doing this year?” said Mark Wagman, managing director of data and technology at MediaLink, a UTA-owned consulting firm that will host a “Marketing Reinvented” session during CES. “It’s kind of like, ‘What’s on the table and what’s coming up?’

To that end, Digiday polled a group of industry experts about the topics and trends expected to be talked about during CES. Below is a selection of what they said (answers have been edited for length and clarity). And stay tuned all week for daily on-the-ground news from Digiday covering this year’s CES.

AI

“I think what’s going to happen this year is you’re going to see artificial intelligence incorporated into all technology to make things much more personal, to make them more user-friendly, and to make them more responsive to interaction and context, to improve the environment. for users. And I think that will happen on all different types of devices. Everything from the car experience to monitoring your child or baby to your health. I think artificial intelligence could and should make these things more accessible.”

– Brian Yamada, Chief Innovation Officer, VML

“Virtually every product on the floor last year was labeled ‘AI’ and that alone seemed enough to make us feel relevant. This year, expect this trend to be much more sophisticated. You will see small language models capable of running locally on devices, optimized for very specific and efficient tasks. In addition, new types of chips and AI agents will appear, capable of performing remarkable autonomous tasks. Prepare to hear the term “agent” repeated countless times. Conclusion: AI will focus more on utility and practicality in 2025.”

Dan Gardner, Co-Founder, Code and Theory

“Our conversations with clients and agencies will focus on how best to ‘sell’ AI with new technologies. It’s a big focus from brands that are pioneering AI innovation to those that are using AI capabilities within their own products.”

Matt Trotta, CEO of Future plc, an American trading company

Creative

“The creator and influencer space is going to be one that people don’t think is going to be talked about at something like this. But if you’re a marketer today, that’s where you want to spend more time. I lead our data and technology practice and I’m a hardcore nerd. But these CMOs don’t really want to talk about spots and dots anymore. They want to talk about these newer human-led influencer opportunities that can create these magical moments for them that can create a competitive advantage.”

– Mark Wagman, Managing Director of Data and Technology, MediaLink

Health

“This year, I expect to see new advances in AI products with a focus on health and disability inclusion, whether it’s Hand Sign Talk Talk’s sign language translation services that automatically translate oral speech in text and audio into sign language, or cervical language. cancer diagnosis and prediction platforms that can predict and prevent cancer in an individual’s home and are scaled to allow women in areas with insufficient medical infrastructure to receive medical services immediately.”

— Danisha Lomax, Head of Customer Inclusivity and Impact, Digitas

Live content

“From where I sit in media and entertainment, the power of live streaming will really dominate in 2025, starting with CES. Live content is communal – it connects people like no other medium, and every platform today is looking for ways to take advantage of the incredible reach and scale that live streaming provides. From NBCUniversal’s perspective, we are about to embark on the best 24 months the media company has ever experienced, with live programming dominating our programming slate. More than 1/3 of major event viewing in 2025 and 2026 will be on NBCUniversal, with highlights including the NBA and WNBA, Bravocon, the Milan Cortina Olympics, Super Bowl LX, the World Cup on Telemundo and more. And it’s all leading up to NBC’s 100th anniversary in the fall of 2026. So we’re using CES as our springboard to really bring the value and efficiency of live broadcasting to marketers. And we do all this at the core of partnership – listening to our clients and their needs and opening doors instead of building walls.”

Mark Marshall, Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships, NBCUniversal

Mobility

“My crystal ball says Vegas will be the talk of everything but consumer electronics. I expect mobility, health, AI, media consolidation and the future of TikTok to dominate the conversations in the corridor.

When it comes to mobility, I expect the conversation to shift from autonomy and connectivity to micromobility and solid state batteries. Cities around the world are becoming increasingly car-unfriendly, and this is revolutionizing how people navigate through their Google Maps. Meanwhile, on the line at Starbucks, I expect attendees to talk about how AI predictive analytics in health is finally becoming a reality, and how the long-awaited focus on women’s health is finally here. For those of us in the marketing and content world, the chatter in 2025 will pick up where it left off in 2024 with talk of consolidations.”

– Eric Weisberg, Global Chief Creative Officer, Havas Health

“Whether we look at established search players like Google and Bing or newcomers like OpenAI and Perplexity, it seems clear that the new search paradigm will be one of ‘answers’ rather than ‘lists of links.’ This has fascinating implications for the ad model, suggesting an opportunity for search to become more of a top-of-the-funnel brand advertising platform in the future.”

– Ben Hovaness, Director of Media, OMD Worldwide



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