The pace of change is set to increase again in 2007, according to advertising executives surveyed by the American Advertising Federation (AAF).
The AAF surveyed ad execs worldwide, and more than half said that they expected significant changes to the media landscape to happen even faster than they did last year.
YouTube, mash-ups and Second Life were among the innovations that ad execs said took them by surprise in 2006.
eMarketer CEO Geoff Ramsey noted the challenge of keeping pace.
"Like it or not, marketers today are on a constantly accelerating treadmill where they need to get data faster, make decisions faster, execute faster, measure faster and even make mistakes faster. Particularly in digital marketing, the game is not won by endlessly debating what might work, but rather constantly iterating within the marketplace," said Mr. Ramsey.
It is more important than ever to get the right data, quickly. Yet it is more challenging as well. The information-gathering process at most businesses is neither efficient nor effective, according to a survey of more than 1,000 middle managers in the US and the UK conducted by Accenture.
More than half of the respondents said that having to go to numerous sources to compile information made managing the information difficult. In addition, four in 10 said they accidentally use the wrong information at least once a week.
With 11 months to go, you can look forward to many Next Big Things this year.