• Marketing Land
  • Sections
    • CMO
    • Social
    • SEM
    • SEO
    • Analytics
    • Display
    • Retail
    • MarTech
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
  • SUBSCRIBE

Marketing Land

Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
  • Home
  • Newsletters
  • Home
CMO Zone

5 futuristic advertising channels and the first rule of advertising dynamics

To help you stay ahead and capitalize on future advertising trends, columnist David Rodnitzky rounds up the new marketing channels that he expects will emerge over the next three to five years.

David Rodnitzky on September 19, 2017 at 11:38 am
  • More

The average American sees several hundred ads a day (PDF) as they peruse the internet, watch TV or consume other ad-supported media.

Surprisingly, this number has remained fairly constant since the end of World War II. We may see ads in different places today than we did years ago, but the number of ads isn’t substantially larger.

Advertisers have traditionally been laggards when moving dollars from declining to emerging marketing channels, as Mary Meeker has shown time and time again:

This presents an opportunity for savvy advertisers: By shifting budget to growing channels before the crowds, a smart advertiser can capitalize on high inventory and low competition — an arbitrage play.

In the past, I’ve written about the arc of internet marketing channel adoption. The arc has three stages:

  1. No one cares; no one spends any money.
  2. Everyone cares (e.g., keynote speeches at marketing conferences!); no one spends any money.
  3. No one cares; everyone spends money.

Getting in on a channel in stage one or stage two is where the arbitrage opportunity exists. With that in mind, I thought I’d put on my futurist hat and try to identify some of the new advertising channels that will emerge over the next three to five years.

Here are my top five (ranked in order of likelihood):

1. Smart home devices

Google, Apple and Amazon are all investing billions of dollars into smart home devices, from Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa to the Nest thermometer.

To date, these devices have no advertising component to them, but it’s inevitable that this will change. After all, the devices are collecting incredibly valuable behavioral data about users that advertisers will pay handsomely for.

2. The sharing economy

While Airbnb appears to be making a profit, Uber clearly is not. To date, this has not fazed investors, who have pushed Uber’s private market valuation as high as $70 billion.

At some point — especially if Uber goes public — investors will start to expect the company to drive profit. At that point, it’s going to make difficult decisions that could impact growth, like raising fares or reducing payments to drivers.

Imagine, however, if every Uber had a video monitor that ran in-car ads (not unlike taxis), or even digital billboards on top of the cars. If Uber kept 80 percent of the revenue and gave 20 percent to drivers, they might be able to continue their growth while eking out a profit.

Airbnb, by the way, could also get in on the advertising game – why not have every AirBnB outfitted with a welcome basket with a suite of coupons for local attractions (all paying AirBnB an affiliate commission)?

3. Virtual reality (VR)

There are already plenty of mobile games that use in-app advertising to monetize “free” games. As virtual reality takes off (some say it will grow to a $75 billion business by 2021!), why wouldn’t we see VR ad growth as well? For example, a car ad that lets you walk around the car, sit inside, and even test-drive it — all from the comfort of your living room.

One company, Omnivert, already claims to have served more than 500 million VR ads to date.

4. Augmented reality (AR)

Not to be confused with VR, AR is technology that augments your everyday activities. Google Glass is probably the most well-known example to date.

Once this technology is commonplace, a walk down the cereal aisle at the supermarket will likely include some virtual coupons, right inside your glasses.

5. Connected and self-driving cars

Virtually every car produced today has Bluetooth technology. As self-driving cars become street-legal, expect your car to have a large computer-like screen and a strong WiFi connection. Given that “drivers” will no longer exist, a long commute will involve surfing the web, watching content, and — you guessed it — a slew of ads.

When thinking about these new channels, remember that they are likely to be replacements of existing channels, rather than supplements.

If history is correct, the number of ads we will see on a daily basis will not increase in the future, which means that — like the first law of thermodynamics — ads can neither be created nor destroyed; they can just be transformed from one form to another. So missing out on a new channel literally means a decline in your potential advertising opportunity.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.



About The Author

David Rodnitzky
David Rodnitzky is CEO and co-founder of 3Q Digital, a marketing firm with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and downtown Chicago. David is the founder of the LinkedIn Online Lead Generation Group, an advisor for Marin Software, and a regular contributor to the 3Q Digital blog. He can be found at numerous speaking engagements across the SEM community.

Related Topics

Augmented & Virtual RealityChannel: CMO ZoneHow To Guides: Marketing StrategyMarketing Strategies Column

We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.
See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

MarTech 2021: March 16-17

MarTech 2021: Sept. 14-15

MarTech 2020: Watch On-Demand

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

April 13, 2021: SMX Create

May 18-19, 2021: SMX London

June 8-9, 2021: SMX Paris

June 15-16, 2021: SMX Advanced

August 17, 2021: SMX Convert

November 9-10, 2021: SMX Next

October 2021: SMX Advanced Europe

December 14, 2021: SMX Code

Available On-Demand: SMX

Available On-Demand: SMX Report

×


Learn More About Our SMX Events

White Papers

  • The Media-First Approach Why visual media must be a primary consideration for e-commerce businesses
  • Visual Experiences That Connect: A look at the power of UGC and the tech needed to support it
  • Become an Experience-Led Business with an Agile CX Tech Stack
  • Transformational CX: Video-Powered Experiences Meet Consumers’ Demands
  • What Customer Experience Means in 2021
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • The AI Revolution Is Coming to Every Stage of Your Buyer’s Journey
  • The Fundamentals of Link Building for E-Commerce & Affiliate Sites in 2021
  • Your Customer is Calling: Make the Most of Your Marketing Spend with Call Tracking
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research

h
Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Channels

  • MarTech
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Mobile
  • Analytics
  • Retail
  • Display

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • SMX

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.