As 2024 draws to a close, executives from across media, marketing, advertising, and ecommerce provide their predictions for the year ahead.
Ed Wale, VP, International, LG Ad Solutions
“First impressions matter and next year, the Smart TV Home Screen will be a must-have first impression for CTV buys. Viewers take on average over 11 minutes to find what they are going to watch and are jumping in and out of all the different environments and content opportunities on their Smart TV. As a result, the Home Screen offers brands a prime opportunity to reach audiences in true discovery mode, allowing them to explore streaming, gaming, fitness, and music, all within a single interface. As the only touchpoint that spans every environment that CTV offers, it’s a prime real estate for breakthrough connections that enhance the viewer’s entire entertainment experience.”
“LG Ad Solutions’ recent study shows that 85% of viewers focus on these native ads for an average of seven seconds with engagement rising even further when video and QR elements are included. For advertisers, the Home Screen is no longer just another slot; it’s the essential space for capturing attention and driving unforgettable brand connections.”
Sandeep Raithatha, Head of Strategy, Innovation & 5G IoT Products, Virgin Media O2 Business
“Private network adoption will significantly accelerate in 2025, with the market projected to reach $6.4 billion by 2026. Standalone private 5G networks are expected to capture 40% ($2.8 billion) of investments, while the Shared Rural Network extends 4G coverage to 95% of UK landmass.
“As a result, we will see businesses increasingly adopt private 5G networks for secure, high-performance communication, specifically in industries like manufacturing, healthcare, education, and smart cities, which will leverage private 5G networks for secure automation and real-time operations.
“When it comes to private networks, we will also see the emergence of network slicing as the next evolution of private networks, enabled by 5G standalone architecture. This technology will allow for the creation of multiple virtual networks on a shared physical infrastructure, each tailored to specific business needs. This will provide high-quality connectivity and also empowers organisations to continue delivering exceptional service, while ensuring their connectivity solutions are both scalable and cost-efficient.”
Hugh Stevens, UK MD, LiveRamp
“With inflation expected to persist into 2025, marketing budgets will likely stay lean while demand for performance metrics and attribution will continue to rise. Accurate, transparent and omnichannel measurement that delivers actionable insights will be vital to optimising media spend. As a result, we will see a continued shift in spending toward both retail media and commerce media environments.
“Indeed, as advertisers increasingly leverage first-party data to mitigate signal uncertainty, the unique insights available within commerce media will likely close the gap between these networks and retail media. With high-quality datasets like consumer behavioural insights, key customer groups, and trending interests, these can provide a deeper understanding of target audiences and are highly valued by advertisers. While retail media currently holds the edge for scale and reach, increased usage of data collaboration and tools like clean rooms will enhance connectivity and propel commerce media as the go-to partner for advertisers.”
Jim Rudall, Head of EMEA, Intuit Mailchimp
“In 2025, it will be important that marketers embrace agility and invest in tools and strategies that allow them to adapt to changing customer trends. This will keep them on track with their north star commercial outcomes and aspirations. The most transformational and impactful tool marketers can use is AI-driven personalisation. Our Brand Trust report highlights that nearly half (48%) of consumers already expect the right products and services to find them — a figure likely to rise as competition intensifies in the coming year. While 74% of businesses currently utilise AI, revenue leaders distinguish themselves by using it as a strategic assistant to drive business objectives. Generative AI is set to revolutionise marketing, enabling hyper-personalised email and SMS campaigns at scale. Predictive analytics will allow businesses to anticipate different customer needs, crafting tailored, timely experiences that boost engagement and conversion rates. Those that embrace and experiment with these advanced tools will lead the way in 2025. By prioritising agility and investing in technologies that foster adaptability, marketers can position themselves to thrive and grow, even in a volatile economic landscape.”
Trish Riswick Social Media Strategist & Team Lead, Hootsuite
“2024 has shown us that social media isn’t just an awareness channel — it’s a performance channel driving business impact.
“As many as 71% of marketers feel confident in the ROI of their social efforts thanks to advanced tools like social listening, according to our Hootsuite 2025 Social Media Trends Report.
“But we’ve still got a long way to go.
“Some massive trends are entirely reshaping the way brands think about social.: We’re moving from chasing mega virality to cultivating micro virality with loyal followers instead. We’re saying no to hopping on every trend and focusing on building trust with original content. We’re making those “vanity” metrics work for us, instead of sitting in a forgotten spreadsheet.
“From my perspective, 2025 will be the year brands link all the hard work they do to get noticed, build community, and serve their customers with performance metrics that make their exec team finally understand social media’s business value.
“One thing will NEVER change: The need for astonishing and mind-blowing creativity. The bar for creativity is constantly rising. As Hootsuite’s social media team strategist, I see it every day and I am impressed by the creative work shared by social media managers. With a shift from social media management to social media performance, it’s time all their creativity gets credit for the business results it drives.”
Mateusz Rumiński, VP of Product, PrimeAudience
“As we look towards 2025, the impact of Generative AI only grow. We’ve already discussed some theoretical possibilities, and some practical tools have since emerged. Now it’s the time to increase the number of options available and, more importantly, scale the technology. Marketers are already aware of this, with recent PrimeAudience data revealing that 49% of UK and US marketers plan to increase the marketing budget spent on Gen AI in 2025 by at least 16%.
“There are an increasing number of powerful models available at lower price points. This development has transformed content creation, hyper-personalisation and campaign efficiency, empowering brands to deliver highly targeted experiences to individual consumers. If used effectively, these multimodal systems can streamline workflows and give smaller brands access to tools previously only available to much larger players.
“What is most exciting about this technology is its collaborative properties. AI has been designed to work alongside humans, enhancing the decision-making process in the long run for the entire advertising ecosystem. Those who adapt quickly will remain ahead of the game and set new standards for consumer engagement and brand experience.”
Matti Yahav, CMO, Fiverr
“In 2025, AI will redefine marketing and customer experience by mixing automation with precision and creativity. According to Statista, 52% of marketers use generative AI for content creation and 60% for predicting customer behaviour, highlighting a shift toward smarter personalization and ROI-focused strategies to uncover hidden customer journeys. Moreover, in an era of limitless technology, I think the real difference will be in how brands will use their creativity to leverage this incredible amount of technology output. Brands need to prioritize creative, engaging video content and invest in influencer-led campaigns to capitalise on the shift toward passive forms of advertising, but how to do it is the best part of it: create something that defines you more than anything else. To achieve that, businesses are increasingly recognizing the flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and specialized skills that freelancers bring to the table. Fiverr’s UK Future Workforce Index, 2024 revealed that freelancers now comprise 22% of the workforce, an increase of 5% on 2023. I assume in 2025 we will see this trend continue to grow.”
Richard Davis, CEO and Co-founder, 51ToCarbonZero
“There’s been a lot of focus around the devastating effect that advertising campaign emissions are having on the planet.
“As a consequence, progressive media players have put significant effort into estimating the emissions of their campaigns, raising awareness on this important topic.
“But it’s not enough. The first action point that Ad Net Zero suggests is for companies to reduce their own corporate emissions. This includes everything that they do, from how they power their offices to the materials they use in creative productions.
“In 2025, all players in the industry must commit to measuring and reducing their corporate emissions, because if these can be minimised across the board, then ad campaigns and broader Scope 3 emissions will naturally deplete too.
“Next year, we hope to see an uptake in advertising and media companies addressing both corporate and campaign emissions simultaneously. By reducing their carbon footprint as far as possible across all scopes, it gives the industry the best chance of achieving Ad Net Zero by 2030.”
Peter Bell, VP of Marketing EMEA, Twilio
“This year, the hype around AI and its possibilities has been inescapable, with both positive and negative perspectives. Businesses of all kinds have raced to develop an AI strategy, with senior leaders enthusiastically promoting its potential. However, outliers aside, there has been very little action and implementation to solve real-world business challenges so far. Expect this to change in 2025, as these strategies are finalised and executed, rather than just being discussed. The impact will still vary depending on the industry and the level of regulation they face. Increased regulatory pressure around transparency in the use of AI and its sources is to be welcomed, as it will aid adoption rather than hinder it. AI is finally emerging from the hype cycle, moving from theoretical discussions to practical applications that address genuine business needs.
“We’ve been discussing the potential of technology to make personalisation a reality for over 25 years, dating back to the dawn of the Internet age. However, while we’ve had a grand vision, we’ve often fallen short on execution. This vision hasn’t translated into operational delivery, and since bad personalisation can be worse than none at all, many organisations have either failed to achieve it or haven’t taken it seriously. Customers have an emotional ‘bank account’ with brands, which is all too easy to deplete with a bad experience. Thanks to AI’s ability to analyse and act on data at scale, we will finally see organisations begin to tackle the personalisation challenge effectively.”
Sam Richardson, CX Consultant, Twilio
“The term ‘digital transformation’ needs to be firmly confined to the history books. It’s an outdated, broad, and over-inflated term that suggests technology to be the end-goal, rather than a means to enable improvement. Brands are now adept at leveraging technologies to deliver effective applications. Take AI, for example. As we move beyond the initial hype, we’re seeing it deployed meaningfully by brands, resulting in small but impactful wins that truly enhance and elevate the customer experience. It’s not about completely transforming or reinventing experiences, but about continuously improving them. 2024 has seen some remarkable customer experiences – such as seamless, contactless returns and refunds, automated customer identification, and authentic virtual agents and Interactive Voice Responses – to name just a few. There’s growing excitement and optimism from brands about what they can achieve with technology in 2025 – without losing the personal touch customers expect.
“Trust is the cornerstone of brand-customer relationships and essential for building customer loyalty. However, we now live in an age where consumers are constantly (and rightfully) questioning the authenticity of every interaction or piece of content they encounter. This leads me to believe that trust levels will reach an all-time low in 2025, impacting how we view and engage with brands. In 2025, brands must focus on treating their customers with respect and understanding, recognising them as human beings. As consumers become increasingly cynical and less trusting, brands need to show respect by putting themselves in their customers’ shoes. It’s time to return to basics: keeping promises, following through on commitments, and creating experiences that feel reliable and supportive. In other words, we need to foster an ‘Ecosystem of Promises’ between brands and customers because as soon as a promise is broken, the entire relationship starts to fall apart. Having ‘Chief Trust Officer’ roles to navigate the complexities of establishing consumer trust will be crucial for businesses. These officers will rethink customer experience, marketing, and technology functions, prioritising trust as a key driver of business success.”
Elizabeth Maxson, Chief Marketing Officer, Contentful
“No matter what line of business you’re in, whether B2B or consumer, human connection can’t be overlooked. In 2025, marketers will need to rethink how they connect with their key audiences now that AI and personalisation tools have become the norm. As marketing teams pivot from a test-and-learn mentality to deploying powerful AI-driven experiences at scale, they will need to place even greater emphasis on maintaining meaningful connections with consumers to cut through the noise.
“CMOs who invest in truly understanding and optimising their tech stacks will find themselves ahead of the competition. We’ll begin to see marketers increase their investment in tools that enable them to take complete control of their workflows. This will allow them to fully scale their campaigns and own testing with less reliance on developers and engineers and provide the insight they need to convert clicks to sales and demonstrate ROI. We’ll see significant strides in what marketing teams can do for companies in 2025, and as a result, marketing leaders will have a bigger opportunity to drive meaningful business outcomes.
“While brands know that personalisation is critical, hyper-personalisation at scale is poised to take over in 2025. Brands will look to new strategies and evolving technology to understand how to hone in on the right time and person through as many relevant channels as possible to establish credibility and build brand loyalty. Marketers will expand their investment in tools to help them achieve these essential customer connections and really understand consumer reactions through tactics like A/B testing. As a result, we’ll begin to see more impressive, relevant, and impactful messaging across audiences from brand marketers.”
Christian J. Ward, Chief Data Officer, EVP, Yext
“Personalisation has often been a veiled term for surveillance, prioritising data extraction over genuine connection. In contrast, the “personal” represents a private, informed, and fair exchange between two or more parties. Whether between a consumer and AI or a human-powered brand, this interaction is intentionally private, with a clear awareness of what is being shared—often leveraging zero-party data. Thanks to advancements in AI and access to structured knowledge, truly personal interactions with brands can scale like never before. This marks the welcome demise of personalisation.
“As consumer behaviour diversifies across platforms—encompassing social media, chatbots, and reviews—traditional notions of search engines are no longer sufficient. This shift demands a different approach to how brands appear and are evaluated across the digital landscape. To get humans to trust your brand, you must first convince the machines. Brands are at the mercy of the algorithms on these platforms to choose what is trustworthy long before it is ever shown to a human. Focus on factors that help machines calibrate levels of trust with your brand data should be your absolute focus for 2025.”
Maor Sadra, CEO, INCRMNTAL
“There’s no question that 2025 will see the launch of programmatic networks that monetise generative AI (GenAI) to create videos on demand.
“GenAI’s ability to create content in seconds is ripe for exploitation, and an ad network powered by this technology would mean brands could inject product placements in cheap, real-time video ads that would be pumped out across channels.
“While this might raise brand awareness, there’s no guarantee it will build reputation, as these ads will be devoid of personalisation. What’s more, it’s a brand safety risk, as there’ll be little to no control over placements.
“A GenAI ad network is something big brands won’t touch with a barge pole, but smaller brands with less budget could be tempted by the idea of cheap, multi-channel video advertising.
“Rightly or wrongly, these ad networks will come into play and it’s up to individual brands if they want to risk their budgets on them.”
Mark Williams, Managing Director EMEA, WorkJam
“The UK government’s ‘new deal for working people’ is set to have a huge impact in 2025. The plans to reduce the use of zero-hour contracts, in particular, will require many businesses to reconsider their casual employment approach. Especially those that rely on flexible contracts to scale their workforce according to demand, such as the retail industry.
“If retailers don’t prepare accordingly, they will bleed hours and money. Over the next 12 months, these organisations should leverage new technology to create a more rewarding experience for workers, whilst delivering the scheduling agility needed in the current economic climate. This way workers can be on fixed contracts but still have the flexibility to choose and swap their shifts and pick up additional work when it is available. Retailers who utilise such offerings see huge engagement rates – as high as 90% with as many as 1,000 shift swaps and 1.5 million schedule views a month – proving that both frontline workers and employers alike can benefit from flexible scheduling. It allows employers to adapt shift patterns according to demand, puts employees in control of their shifts, frees up managers’ time, and has an empowering and engaging effect, increasing job satisfaction. By aligning the organisation with the workforce, retailers create a more rewarding workplace that attracts, supports, and retains employees more effectively.
“It’s not just about upgrading workers’ rights in the UK but enhancing the quality of employee experience – regardless of whether they are a full-time, part-time or casual worker. Those that make these changes now will be the winners in the long run.”
Lucho Escudero, VP Media Engineering, Globant
“In 2025, we’ll see media companies doubling down on AI, which will not only boost their capabilities but also influence them to become truly data-driven. With more advanced AI tools, companies will gain deeper insights into their audiences, making it easier to connect with them and keep them engaged. For viewers, AI will go beyond simply recommending what to watch next. This could include getting custom highlight reels, commentary tailored to your favourite sports team, or even suggestions based on your favourite actors. We expect AI to also level up search features; for example, providing recaps and summaries that align with viewers’ unique interests. In short, streaming will feel more personalised and immersive than ever. On the business side, AI will streamline editorial workflows, speeding up how quickly content moves from concept to release. We’ll also see a rise in AI-powered content creation, making it an even bigger part of how media is produced and delivered.”
Simon Kvist, CEO and Founder, Adnami
“The infinity scroll has unleashed an unlimited flow of ads, intensifying the race to capture consumer attention. As we look to 2025, data-driven strategies will dominate, and brands will optimise ad spend by prioritising impactful, high-performing content over sheer volume. Advances in technology and optimisation tools, such as ensuring video ads run only when visible and are compressed, will redefine advertising efficiency and effectiveness.
“Traditional advertising metrics like viewability and CTR have offered some useful insights but often fall short in connecting to key business goals like brand recall and awareness. The answer lies in measuring attention – a game-changing metric that reveals whether an ad has the chance to capture consumers’ attention, going beyond viewability and creating meaningful impact.
“The evolving landscape of cookie and privacy regulations is driving advertisers and publishers to adopt more privacy-friendly solutions. An effective approach is to focus on high-quality ads and attention data, eliminating the need for third-party cookies. This shift offers a chance to strengthen transparent consumer relationships and foster effective collaboration among advertisers, publishers, and tech providers.
“By focusing on quality over quantity, advertisers can reduce digital clutter, cut unnecessary resource consumption, and minimise the environmental footprint of advertising. This approach also enhances consumer experiences, setting the stage for a smarter, sustainable, and more responsible future.”
Peter Harris, COO/CMO, Pipedrive
“The good news is that pretty much every tool available to marketers is introducing AI features as a matter of course. This is great, but also can create confusion on what is truly differentiating – make sure you do due diligence on any AI tool or feature you come across. Find out how what kind of AI it is, what data it was trained on and whether it’s able to actively crawl the internet. The scope of an AI tool’s access will help determine both how powerful and how secure it is. “Over the next few years, content marketers are going to need to become more and more knowledgeable about AI, which will have two main consequences: 1. An educated audience will force tool vendors to be more transparent and descriptive about exactly how their solutions utilize AI; and 2. A skill gap will emerge, between those marketers who have learned how to harness AI and those who haven’t reacted quickly enough.”
*This article features a combination of Bluestripe Communications (owned by Bluestripe Group, publisher of NDA) clients and external contributors.
