What we can expect from the Ad Tech industry in 2022

Authored by Ankit Oberoi, CEO & Founder, AdPushup.

The year 2021 followed the footsteps of 2020 and was just as unpredictable. We saw a myriad of new developments, continued on a few trends that emerged at the start of the year, and witnessed the continuation of other general ad tech practices. 

The effects of COVID-19 on the industry cannot be overlooked, of course. We saw a tremendous rise in the number of virtual audiences. This further led to a quick adoption of new strategies to leverage the increased online presence. 

Now that we are at the start of another year, still in the shadows of COVID unfortunately, it’s time to look at the trends that will shape it up. 

Supply Path Optimisation (SPO) - Bolstering Transparency

SPO is not a new concept, however, with the surging focus on transparency, its adoption is expected to rise significantly in 2022. Over the years, programmatic advertising has gained considerable traction, especially due to the introduction of header bidding. But the air around the programmatic technology is not all positive. In fact, it is due to a serious lack of transparency that several large marketers haven’t been too keen on shifting to programmatic. 

SPO can take care of this problem by determining which parties in the supply chain actually add value to the auction. All the variables that don’t contribute to the process but take a chunk of money can be eliminated easily with the help of SPO. 

Publishers and First Party Data

We all know that third-party cookies won’t be a part of the ad tech industry for too long. Google is all set to phase out third party cookies and publishers and advertisers are trying to get onboard with alternate solutions. 

For publishers, first-party data is one such solution. In 2022, the ad tech industry is expected to see a rise in the adoption of first party data as publishers can collect user data without violating any policies. It may very well become a potential revenue source, since first party data will be a key medium for behavioral targeting. 

Core Web Vitals and Monetization

Core web vitals were one of the most important updates that were rolled out in 2021. A lot of publishers are still getting the hang of the entire concept. But one thing is certain, Core web vitals aren’t going anywhere and are predicted to be in the limelight in 2022 as well. 

Google may even introduce a new metric since the majority of the websites are doing well in terms of First Input Delay. Google is going to put more emphasis on user experience and the publishers should expect more updates around SEO in 2022. 

Re-emergence of Contextual Targeting

Contextual targeting, while big for a few years, lost its position to third party cookies. But due to the third party cookie deprecation, publishers may find themselves relying on contextual targeting once again. 

It is just one more solution that will come under limelight, in addition to first party data and ID solutions, once third party cookies are out of the picture. Artificial intelligence is further expected to add to the appeal of contextual targeting. 

Increasing Focus on ROI

The way we measure outcomes in the ad tech industry is also expected to change in this year. Return on investment (ROI) is going to be the main focus when it comes to measuring outcomes. This can be majorly attributed to the changing cookie scenario. 

Cookie deprecation is not only going to affect the way publishers collect user data but also how they build their measurement strategies. 

In Conclusion

As we have seen, a lot of developments in 2022 will be due to cookie deprecation. It’s no surprise that it’ll be a major event in the industry, but we are already seeing the repercussions of this yet-to-come change. 

Rising adoption of first-party data, contextual targeting, and changes in terms of measurement and attribution are all projected to occur due to third party cookie deprecation. 

Apart from this, the growing focus on making the web user centric is something that will have a hand in molding the ad tech industry in 2022. We have already seen the importance of Core Web Vitals and undoubtedly, Google is going to double down on its efforts to make user experience a priority for website owners.