Key trends shaping the advertising landscape in 2025

In a forecast that anticipates a period of significant fluctuations in the advertising industry, Wes Morton from Creative Strategies outlines several key trends expected to shape the landscape in 2025. This analysis comes amid a backdrop of transformative changes driven by artificial intelligence, evolving media consumption habits, and substantial shifts within advertising businesses.

Highlighting the challenges facing global ad agency holding companies, Morton points to the recent mega-merger between IPG and Omnicom. This merger is designed to create the world’s largest advertising agency holding company, boasting annual revenues exceeding $25 billion. However, Morton asserts that the rise of independent agencies, which provide lower-cost solutions and innovative services, continues to encroach on the market share of traditional holding companies. “Independent agencies and big tech will continue to take market share from legacy hold cos,” he states.

A significant transformation in media consumption is also underway, particularly in the transition from traditional cable to streaming services. As Morton notes, WarnerBros Discovery has initiated a restructuring that separates its traditional TV and streaming units, a trend expected to be mirrored by other media conglomerates like Disney and Fox in 2025. He predicts that legacy cable assets will attract private equity funds at discounted rates as they seek to capitalise on remaining cash flows.

As the advertising ecosystem evolves, the scrutiny surrounding big tech intensifies. Morton highlights the ongoing antitrust cases facing tech giants such as Google, which has suffered consecutive legal defeats. He foresees further legal challenges for major companies like Apple and Nvidia due to their dominant market positions. “Big tech companies now receive more than two-thirds of all advertising dollars,” he reports, a statistic that underlines the scale of power concentrated among a select few firms in the industry.

Morton also identifies “transmedia” as a critical buzzword for 2025, as the entertainment sector acknowledges video games as the leading form of entertainment, surpassing traditional media in revenue. This shift has prompted a reevaluation of how intellectual property (IP) is leveraged across different platforms, with characters migrating seamlessly between video games, television, and film.

The pursuit of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within corporations appears to be losing momentum. Morton observes that many companies have laid off employees dedicated to DEI initiatives, impacting the visibility and advocacy for diverse practices in corporate culture. He suggests a more cynical interpretation of corporate motivations: “If they did care about diversity in the first place, they would have employed diverse professions in actual positions of authority.”

Amid these changes, the role of artificial intelligence in media and marketing technology has emerged as a focal point. Morton anticipates that 2025 will witness a surge in the practical applications of AI, which he believes will revolutionise market research by enabling firms to process and analyse vast amounts of online opinion data. Other developments could include software for faster animation, data processing solutions, and even tools to distinguish between human and AI-generated content.

Reflecting on the accuracy of his past predictions, Morton notes the underwhelming presence of the Metaverse and the ongoing prevalence of hybrid working models as notable trends that came to fruition through 2024. He summarises, “Never forget: where there’s chaos, there’s also opportunity,” indicating that the turbulence characterising the advertising and media landscape may also pave the way for new market players and innovative solutions in the upcoming years.

Source: Noah Wire Services