Pure-play digital advertising had the most significant share in 2022: Shrenik Gandhi

It’s time to review the most significant industry developments as the year 2022 draws to a close. Adgully is reviewing the year 2022 for the M&E, advertising, digital, marketing, PR, and communications, along with leading names in the industry as part of our annual Rewind series.

Recapping the year, Shrenik Gandhi, Co-Founder & CEO, White Rivers Media, shares how the year 2022 was a pivotal year for the Digital Industry, his projections for the trends in 2023, and much more.

The Advertising ecosystem in 2022

We have seen the advertising ecosystem evolving tremendously this year. Brands understand the importance of digital presence to have a strong footing among their audiences, but this understanding has translated well into wise digital spending this year. During the past year, the entire marketing communications ecosystem has grown at an alarming rate, and we can safely assume that this growth will continue. Pure-play digital advertising has the most significant share (close to 49%) in 2022; it can go even higher with time.

Key trends and developments

The year has seen a whirlwind of growth in trends and technologies in our advertising industry. One of the most talked about developments was Web 3.0. Though the implementation is slow, businesses have now started exploring the Metaverse. Web 3.0 can provide brands with a platform to build a highly engaging online community, which may lead to high engagement rates and conversions. Artificial Intelligence has also made its way into the digital advertising ecosystem to make the entire process much smarter and more productive.

The year 2022 has also expanded greatly in terms of social media. With a small attention span of viewers, short-form videos have blown up like never before. The spending on video marketing is expected to go as high as $295+ billion by 2026. Influencer collaborations have also become a well-understood option for brands to put across their product/ service with the trust-building quotient.

White River Media’s performance in 2022

Our agency has progressed persistently by ‘Being The Most’ and putting in all our talent to come up with some groundbreaking creative ideas and campaigns. We also got 3 massive wins at the most coveted global awards – Campaign Asia-Pacific’s Agency of the Year Awards 2022, which included 'Independent Agency of the Year'. We marketed movies and web series that went to the IMDb’s Top 10 list like ‘The Kashmir Files’, ‘Major’, ‘Rocket Boys’, ‘Gullak’, ‘College Romance’, and ‘Apharan’. We came up with some disruptive campaigns like Dream11 with Khaby Lame, Shark Tank India Season 1, Realme with Khali, and Brahmastra Part One: Shiva. We also got into business with industry titans like Netflix, Pernod Ricard, Amazon miniTV, ITC, CavinKare, and Astral Adhesives.

We encourage all team members to achieve the most of their potential and deliver effective work that hacks subcultures and helps brands expand in leaps and bounds. We are also geared up with the best technology tools to remain adept in this fast-evolving digital space.