Whether we’re talking about market moves, technology innovation, or regulatory manoeuvres, 2024 has been an eventful year for the adtech industry. In this blog, we’ll dive into a few of the big 2024 adtech trends that are reshaping the industry and explore their implications for the future of adtech.
Google’s volte-face on cookie deprecation
In case you missed it, 2024 was the year in which Google gave up on cookie deprecation once and for all. Following years of missed deadlines and false starts, the failure of Google’s Privacy Sandbox to get past the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) seems to have been the final nail in the coffin for deprecation. A distinct lack of support in the industry for the Privacy Sandbox will no doubt have also played a part.
So, as we head into 2025, things are more uncertain than ever. It seems tracking cookies will remain, but with a new opt-in mechanism (similar to the approach Apple took with its ID for Advertisers). Currently, however, there is extraordinarily little clarity over how this mechanism will function in practice. What seems likely is that it will have a massive impact on the future of adtech (see the below comment around signal loss).
Google’s antitrust woes
One of the biggest adtech stories of 2024 was Google’s antitrust case. At the time of writing, we are awaiting a decision on whether the Department of Justice’s (DoJ) contention that Google is an adtech monopolist has been upheld.
If the DoJ wins its case, thoughts will turn to what happens next. In 2025, it’s possible that Google will either have to sell off parts on its adtech business or open up its stack to third parties. Either way, the effect will be to increase competition within the adtech ecosystem, and that can only be a good thing.
Signals decline as privacy ramps up
As well as trying to level up the playing field, regulators around the world have continued to tighten up privacy laws and make digital advertising more consumer centric. In the US, for example, 2024 saw the passing of GDPR-style privacy laws in Montana and Oregon. The country, once a privacy laggard, is fast catching up with the rest of the world.
As a result of global regulations and increased consumer demand for digital privacy, advertising signals continued to decline in 2024. According to analysis from ID5, authenticated signals are already too low to be of much use: in H2 2023, 41% of publishers reported having less than 10% of users logged in, while 20% said they have between 10 and 20%.
This is having a significant impact on the industry. According to one study, 6% of respondents face limitations in audience targeting in regions where data privacy laws are in place, and nearly 40% report challenges related to audience data availability in these locations.
In 2025 signal loss will likely accelerate. Take tracking cookies as a case in point. The percentage of people who will opt in to third-party cookies when Google introduces an opt-in model is likely to be low, similar to the response to Apple’s app tracking transparency feature.
Indeed, almost two in five (38%) British consumers have already said that they will reject third-party cookies when Google introduces its one-off opt-in model. A further one in five (22%) report that they are undecided, meaning that as many as half of consumers could opt out. It’s reasonable to think that these figures will be replicated elsewhere. If so, it spells the end of tracking cookies as an effective ID.
The onward march of telcos in advertising
One of the biggest adtech trends of 2025 will be the battle around how to secure user consent for advertising IDs and how best to deliver ID mechanisms in a clear and transparent way that meets the needs of brands to reach users at scale with engaging, personalised content.
This is a huge opportunity for alternative solutions like telco-verified IDs that are ready and waiting to fill the signal void. This year, we saw bold moves from telcos like MTN in South Africa, which is launching its own verified IDs to deliver privacy-first addressable audiences and user recognition to publishers and brands in the country. Building on earlier successes from companies like e& UAE and KDDI in Japan, telco-verified IDs will be the alternative solution to watch in the year ahead.
AI comes under scrutiny
In 2024, it was hard to avoid the hype around generative AI. And to be fair, brands and agencies have found some success using AI to improve the targeting, performance, and personalisation of ads.
However, this success has come at the cost of sustainability. AI is hugely resource intensive, and ultimately hard to square in an industry whose stated aim is to achieve net-zero emissions. Privacy issues have also been largely overlooked, and there is little if any clarity over whether personal data is being used to train AI models.
In 2025, we can expect much greater scrutiny into the workings of AI, and the focus of the industry will shift to integrating AI with robust privacy standards. Above all, AI will need to respect consumer protection and data privacy requirements if it is to be of use over the long term.
