Kantar, a leading data-driven analytics and brand consulting organization reveals the trends and recalibrations at play in the global media industry and it's expert predictions for this year.

The Media Trends and Predictions 2022 report gives a definitive view of industry trends using Kantar’s market-leading data, alongside evidence-based predictions and expert viewpoints to help media owners and brands build their plans for 2022 and beyond.

Keerat Dhillon, Associate Director & Media Effectiveness Measurement Lead, MENA, for Kantar’s Insights Division commented on the initiative explaining how the media landscape has always been dynamic, with the pandemic further fueling all the change. “Digital consumption increased massively, and while some newer players grew exponentially during this time, advertisers still need to think very strategically about how to steer and operate in this changing landscape. Content and context are now kings, so the key is to minimize intrusion while maximizing relevance for consumers. With clear evidence of the power of multi-media campaigns, customizing your creatives to each context and amplifying the campaign’s coverage is key to driving maximum impact in the Middle East,” he said.

Transparency in VoD viewership will transform media’s most dynamic market

From audience attitudes to commercial models, there will be multiple changes in the media’s most dynamic market. The transparency created as more actual VoD viewing figures are published at a programmed level will generate a host of transformations. Content owners and producers will command higher licensing and carriage fee negotiation rights than before. Streaming platforms for sport and e-sports will gain more traction with fans. Platform consolidation will continue, driven by the need to offer more (and better) content bundles to lure new viewers in a crowded marketplace. Sole subscription offerings will become scarce. The volume of deals will accelerate on 2021 levels as platforms, operating in increasingly overlapping ecosystems, will continue to merge and form partnerships.

Re-modeling of the commercial internet

For media owners and advertisers, the two-year reprieve from Google represents an opportunity to experiment with new approaches. In Kantar’s experts’ view, a serious recalibration of the commercial internet is now underway. Brands and agencies are experimenting with hybrid data strategies that fully encompass privacy, purposefully blending their owned consumer data with panel-based sources and other high quality – and fully consented – third-party data such as socio-economic, past purchase behavior, attitudes about other brands, and more. In targeting, expect a move towards contextual advertising. In campaign effectiveness, investment in direct integration-based measurement like Kantar’s own Project Moonshot will ensure advertisers can independently measure ad campaign performance through a range of publishers.

Performance media and marketing balancing act

Many brands adopted performance-based strategies to survive the pandemic. The question now is how to follow up on the 2021 rebound. We will see increasing competition for performance marketing spend with the growth of social commerce, local retail giants becoming more sophisticated e-commerce ad spend players, and metaverse gaining prominence. Kantar’s experts also anticipate a rebalancing of spending across performance media and brand-building campaigns. We will also see more advanced cross-media campaign measurement and in-flight optimization to boost efficiency as advertisers demand performance measurements on a platform-comparative basis.

New approaches to data – Advertisers’ attitudes toward data are changing.

2022 will see a renewed sense of value and urgency as the search for high-quality data becomes the fastest-growing issue for marketers. Those with ambitious data strategies will have the upper hand. Brands will lean into their direct consumer relationships to make the most of and experiment with their owned ‘first-party’ data. Brands will enrich behavioral planning with attitudinal overlays and refinements, and develop new methodologies to overcome the lack of competitive intelligence; all with the aim of developing the most rounded view of consumers.

Reshaping for COVID-era behaviors

Brand offerings will need to reflect and shape the changed realities of consumer behavior. Brands, products, and services will need to meet new consumer needs for convenience, value, sustainability, and innovation. The brands that invest – in data, insight, people, and marketing – will flourish.  The most successful brands will embrace the differences – diversity and complexity – of the audiences they’re seeking to reach. This presents a great opportunity for brands to develop in this recovery period: explore deeper segmentation and engage with communities beyond their existing audience.

Commenting on the predictions, Francois Nicolon, CMO, Media Division, Kantar, said: “2022 will see a refocusing of attention in the industry following a year of growth and agility in the face of the pandemic.

With some seismic changes afoot in terms of cookie deprecation and consumers’ attitudes and new habits, the industry will have to adapt and learn to find new strategies for success. Whether that’s through investing in more content to lure viewers in a crowded marketplace, rethinking commercial models, or experimenting with new approaches to better use data, adaptability and the ability to test and learn will be key.”