Brands spent the last 18 months leaning into agility as they weathered pandemic-induced swings in consumer behavior, the economy, and their businesses. Looking ahead to 2022, advertisers and publishers will look for ways to extend those innovations to match consumers’ willingness to experiment with new experiences and products (now at an all-time high). Among our predictions for 2022:

  • Retail media category revenue will balloon to $50 billion globally. Retail media has generated buzz in the past year for its big-name entrants such as Best Buy and Dollar General. But next year, this category’s momentum will surpass the revenues of media giants like Netflix and YouTube. As zero- and first-party data becomes mission-critical for marketers in 2022, data-rich retail media networks will rise to the occasion.
  • Interactive video ads will accelerate the rise of shoppable experiences everywhere. Shoppable advertising is the next frontier for brands aiming to speed up the customer acquisition process from discovery to purchase. Social media platforms have already begun to capitalize on this with their social commerce features, such as dedicated in-app shopping tabs and commerce integrations. But Amazon’s and YouTube’s new interactive video ads will trigger a slew of shoppable ad content on other connected TV platforms and beyond.
  • Advertisers will throw money at the “metaverse” buzz. While the metaverse started out as a sci-fi concept, major companies like Epic Games and Facebook are working to bring the metaverse to life with blended digital-physical experiences. Consumer screen time shows no signs of decreasing, and marketers at Fortune 100 brands will jump at the chance to access new ad placements, formats, (younger) audiences, and innovation opportunities in the virtual world.

Read the full report to catch all five of our media and advertising predictions, and set up an inquiry if you have questions about your 2022 media strategy. To understand the major dynamics that will impact firms across industries next year, download Forrester’s Predictions 2022 guide.