Depending on who you ask, digital 2016 was the year of hacks, Snapchat, fake news, WeChat, podcasts or programmatic ad buying.
But it would be just as fair to refer to characterize 2016 as the year of video—whether digital, TV or some mix of the two.
In the latest episode of “Behind the Numbers,” senior analyst Paul Verna and contributing analyst Gerard Broussard take a look at how the marketplace evolved in 2016 and what’s at stake in 2017.
Video figured in many of the year’s key stories, even if it was not always the cover story itself.
Digital video ad spending figures to be the fastest growing format in 2017. eMarketer estimates that US video ad spending will grow almost 21.8% in 2017, far outpacing overall digital ad spending growth. Meanwhile, as time spent with TV inches down, the minutes spent with video across devices continues at more than five hours per day—“peak TV” has given consumers more choice, across more channels and devices.
Verna and Broussard recap election and Olympic spending, for both digital and TV, and consider the outlook for 2017, which inevitably will force tough year-over-year comparisons with no quadrennial special events to bolster spending.
Also up for discussion: The unexpectedly healthy upfront market in 2016 and the early indicators for the market in 2017, the evolving role of the newfronts, the debate over ad avoidance and metrics, trends in cord-cutting, cord-shaving and re-bundling.