Where Digital Media is Going and Why You Should Care

By Jay Friedman, COO, Goodway GroupJust 15 years ago, families and kids would probably spend a lazy Saturday riding their bikes up and down the street, creating masterpieces with sidewalk chalk and later curling up on the couch to watch a movie together on the VCR. Such a simple and pleasant time to be alive, right?Flash forward to the Digital Age. It’s 2016 and children and adults spend just about every waking moment consuming media through televisions, phones, gaming consoles and tablets alike. In the past 10 years alone, the pace of technological developments affecting content devices is nothing short of staggering – and with it, the way in which people absorb information and use technology has changed for every age group, young and old alike. And if we’ve learned one thing from the rapid pace of the digital age, this rate change is now a constant. If the past offers any sort of predictive analysis of the future, before we know it even tablet computers will be old news.Along with general change in technology comes a shift in the way people consume content, which will effect content producers, publishers, businesses and consumers. Let’s look at two prime examples that illustrate the evolving nature of digital media:Cross-Device TargetingFrom a digital advertising and marketing perspective, there will be more and more push to advertise to individual consumers via multiple devices such as phones, tablets and video game consoles. No longer are PCs and televisions the primary source for consumers. With the amount of time spent on smart phones and tablets, successful businesses will direct advertisers to shift their campaigns to reflect this changing landscape of usage. Targeting an individual consumer across their many different devices, known as cross-device targeting, will soon become the new normal.While cross-device targeting isn’t an entirely new concept, it’s one that will become more and more popular, as advertisers begin to realize their digital campaigns aren’t doing as well as they could or should be. Over time, it will give publishers, advertisers and business owners a much clearer picture of how – and when – actual conversions (read: sales) occur.Publishers in ControlWhile the digital advertising industry has been plagued with issues such as ad blocking, fraud and viewability concerns, publishers are now in a unique position to use these issues for their benefit and can expect to have more control going forward. Smart publishers, in fact, will have the ability to use the market to their advantage and create advertisements and campaigns that will not only make money, but will keep users satisfied as well.Because ad blocking has become such a craze (akin to trench warfare between users and advertisers), good publishers can work this to their advantage. Some publishers plague users with excessive tag loading on site pages, as well as obnoxious non-relevant ads that slow down and distract from the typical website browsing experience. Smart publishers are now in a position to come in with tame, but effective, ads that resonate with their user audience. If implemented correctly, this strategy has the ability to cut out ad blocking concerns and establish a true happy medium between publishers and users. The user will no longer be annoyed by ads and will actually look at them, thereby increasing viewability. In turn, these smart publishers can command higher revenue rates because of how relevant and non-intrusive their ads are; they’ll simply get a better response.The world of evolving digital media is at a unique crossroads in the current Internet landscape. Publishers and marketers who pay attention to these new trends of content consumption and are cognizant of users’ behaviors will come out much further ahead in the long run.[author]About the Author: Jay Friedman is the COO of Goodway Group, a leading managed-services programmatic partner to local, regional and Fortune 500 brand agencies. He is also the author of 30 Days to Digital Media Expertise and 30 Days to Digital, available through Amazon and Scribd. As a dynamic and engaging professional speaker, Friedman has spoken to audiences at JD Power, iMedia, AAPC, George Washington University, Digital Media Wire and the Interactive Media Conference. He also presents regularly to regional AAF groups across the country. [/author]