Data is playing an increasingly critical role across a vast range of advertising and marketing applications. Marketers, media buyers, publishers, and digital advertising technology executives said that a renewed focus on measurement and attribution will be the centerpiece of their efforts in 2017 —a shift from 2016, when “cross-device audience recognition” took the lead position. This second annual benchmarking report explores how digital marketing and media practitioners are using audience data, and how they intend to evolve their data-centric practices in the year ahead.
Research Highlights include:
Over the coming year, users said they expect “cross-channel measurement and attribution” will take center stage in the organizations (57.1%)
“Difficulty in proving ROI of our data-driven programs” (45%) and “lack of internal experience (at the functional/operational level)” (45%) were cited as the two biggest obstacles impeding panelists’ efforts to leverage audience data in 2017
More than two-thirds of respondents (67%) increased their spending on data and related services from 2015 to 2016—and even more (71%) anticipate bigger budgets in 2017
