Insider Intelligence’s (formerly eMarketer) Trends to Watch for 2024 predicts inflection points for retail media networks, smart TV viewing and generative AI. Paul Briggs, senior analyst for the research, data and insights provider, is the author of the report and expects retail media networks, in particular, to reach a milestone this year.

“We’re forecasting strong growth and wider investment in different formats within retail media – search and display, both on site and in store – as well as expansion of the investment from advertisers and expansion of the types of ad units available from retail media networks,” says Briggs.

The researcher says one of the trends he’s seeing, more so in the U.S., is the use of retail media first-party data to target audiences in various connected TV platforms, like Amazon for example.

“Shoppable ads are definitely part of what we were talking about, with retail media and CTV ecosystems pairing up to have a have an ad in a video platform that can be shoppable,” he tells MiC. “In Canada, Smart TV penetration is greater than 50%. Because they come with internet-driven capabilities, it opens up new opportunities for CTV advertising in particular as a complement to linear TV advertising.”

The Insider Intelligence report calls AI a game-changer for content marketers. Focusing on generative AI solutions such as ChatGPT, Briggs says a lot of testing is going on and he expects this year we’ll see a lot more AI being used in marketing materials and brand communications.

“We’re seeing marketers using it for drafting of press releases, product sheets or marketing collateral,” he says. “The generated data is really not ready to go out the door, so a lot of human oversight is required at this point to ensure that all the data presented from a generative AI solution is accurate and reflects the inputs provided.”

Search terms provide interesting insights into what marketers and media buyers are thinking about, adds Briggs. “The top five most-searched terms on our site in 2023 are Tik Tok, connected TV, retail media, Gen Z and YouTube. That’s what our audience is asking us to deliver content about. That’s what you’ll see in 2024: execution of programs and execution of new strategies will be in those key areas.”

The Trends to Watch research covers what’s next for the Canadian media industry and includes charts for retail media ad spending from 2022 through to 2027, digital ad spending, streaming content by device, and how marketers are using or experimenting with AI.