Spotlight
Welcome to the April Spotlight, your monthly deep dive into the latest developments shaping the future of adtech and digital marketing.
This month, why YouTube’s latest ad experiment is a wake-up call for customer-centricity, how publishers are navigating an “uneven” revenue landscape, and why the next frontier of growth is hyperlocal.
Reports have surfaced this month of YouTube testing 90-second unskippable ad blocks on connected TV. While this aligns the platform with traditional linear TV “pods,” it arguably ignores the very reason viewers migrated to digital in the first place: control. At Novatiq, we believe that forcing attention through duration is a missed opportunity. The path to ROI isn’t longer ads; it’s smarter ones. By leveraging telco-verified, first-party data, brands can deliver hyper-personalised experiences that feel like content rather than an interruption, proving that when advertising is customer-centric, it doesn’t need to be unskippable to be effective.
New data from Akamai highlights a sobering reality for publishers: AI bot activity has surged by 300% in the last year. These “third-party scrapers” are increasingly sophisticated, often extracting data without ever delivering a human visitor to the site. This “abstraction layer” means publishers are losing out on both traffic and revenue. It reinforces the pressing need for publishers to verify users at the source. In an era where bot traffic is growing eight times faster than human traffic, knowing for a fact that you are engaging with a real person is the only way to protect the integrity of the digital ecosystem and continue to curate advertiser value.
The Media Leader reports that while digital publisher revenues increased by 5.1% year-on-year, the growth is far from uniform. Subscription and sponsorship gains are propping up the numbers, even as a majority of publishers report declines in traditional advertising. This volatility underscores why “business as usual” is no longer an option. As OpenAI expands its ad pilot further and launches its own ads manager, publishers must find new ways to communicate the quality and potential of their unique audiences, showcasing deeper, consent-based insights.
The IAB UK has refreshed its forward-looking Futurescape predictions report, identifying “localism” and immersive media as the key growth drivers for the industry ahead of 2030. The report suggests an accelerating shift away from broad demographic targeting towards “near me” discovery and hyperlocal signals. Whether it’s through XR experiences or neighbourhood-level relevance, the future of digital advertising lies in relevance and community. Brands will need to move beyond one-to-one targeting and instead engage with audiences in the participatory, localised environments where they actually live.
As OpenAI continues its pilot, it has lowered its minimum spending threshold to $50,000, opening the door for more brands to experiment with conversational ads. With a projected $100bn in ad revenue by 2030, the stakes are high. However, the industry remains divided; while OpenAI leans into ads, competitors like Anthropic are championing ad-free models to build user trust. For marketers, the lesson is clear: transparency and user privacy are no longer optional extras. They are the foundation of the next generation of AI-infused commerce.
For more insights on how to navigate the evolving identity and privacy landscape, head over to our blog; our latest thoughts on how telco data can power CTV have just gone live.
Telcos are looking for greater revenue streams than their current models provide. Could a smart digital strategy, providing telco-verified ID solutions at scale for publishers and brands, be the answer?
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