2025: The year of Twinkies, cockroaches, and chaos — Digiday Podcast looks ahead to a tumultuous year
Dec 31, 2024
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Seb Joseph, Executive Editor of News at Digiday, shares his insights on the chaotic landscape expected in 2025. The discussion features topics like the impact of cookie deprecation and AI on advertising, as well as significant mergers, including Omnicom's potential acquisition of IPG. The looming TikTok ban and evolving market dynamics raise questions about transparency and accountability in marketing. Marketers are urged to adapt strategies for a future shaped by these turbulent trends and shifts in consumer expectations.
The anticipated merger between Omnicom and IPG is expected to reshape the advertising industry and enhance operational efficiencies.
AI's growing influence in advertising calls for agencies to adapt their strategies, heightening concerns about their future relevance.
Deep dives
Predictions for 2025: Mergers and Acquisitions
The landscape of mergers and acquisitions is expected to significantly influence the market in 2025. Notable ties include the anticipated completion of the Omnicom and IPG merger, which could reshape the advertising sector by consolidating operations and resources. This merger may enhance Omnicom's scale in advertising, allowing it to create more effective campaigns through improved prompting and creative assets. Furthermore, with speculative discussions surrounding Comcast and Warner Brothers Discovery, the ramifications of undisclosed deals may also alter the media quickly and influence further M&A activities.
Impact of AI on Advertising Strategies
AI continues to dominate discussions about the future of the advertising industry, affecting how companies create and buy ads. The need for agencies to integrate AI-driven tools is becoming increasingly pressing, as traditional agency roles are challenged by major tech platforms offering direct advertising solutions. Additionally, businesses are heavily motivated by cost-cutting measures, which encourages them to streamline operations and divert resources toward high-margin opportunities in programmatic and affiliate marketing. As AI becomes more integrated into the advertising process, it raises questions about agency relevance and the sustainability of their business models.
The Resilience and Evolution of Third-Party Cookies
The future of third-party cookies remains a contentious topic within digital marketing, with Google’s recent policies allowing partial retention leading to ongoing debate. Although there will be discussions about their eventual phase-out, cookies show resilience, fueled by complex regulatory challenges and industry dynamics. The market is expected to closely monitor how Google implements these changes and what regulatory frameworks emerge around them. Predictions indicate that conversations about cookies will persist through 2025, highlighting their importance in digital ad strategies.
Challenges and Opportunities for TikTok's Future
TikTok faces significant uncertainty regarding its presence in the U.S. market as regulatory pressures mount, potentially affecting its operations by early 2025. Marketers are already anticipating a possible ban and formulating contingency plans to reallocate their budgets should TikTok become unavailable. Meanwhile, TikTok must address growing criticism over the saturation of advertisements on its platform, which could alienate users and advertisers alike. An evolution in TikTok's ad strategy may be necessary to enhance user experience and secure its place in the advertising ecosystem.
2025 is expected to be a hell of a year, if you ask the Digiday staff. After the whirlwind that was 2024, the new year seems to promise a cocktail of chaos and topics the industry can’t escape. Or as Digiday managing editor Sara Jerde puts it, “2025 will be the year of the Twinkies, the cockroaches, TikTok potential ban, and third-party cookies.”
Last year, several rocks were thrown in the water, ripple effects that’ll shake out in 2025 with everything from mergers and acquisitions, a la Omnicom’s proposed acquisition of IPG or BuzzFeed’s sale of First We Feast, to the proliferation of the social media landscape and the TikTok ban.
In this final episode of the year of the Digiday Podcast, host Tim Peterson, executive editor of video and audio at Digiday, is joined by Jerde and Seb Joseph, Digiday’s executive editor of news, to discuss what marketers, advertisers and the media need to know to ring in the new year.
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