Mid-year trend update shows cross-device and third-party data targeting is on the rise

Choozle, a self-service programmatic ad platform, released the findings of its 2021 mid-year digital advertising trend report. The report, which includes insights gathered from over 4,000 advertisers during January 1, 2021, to June 30, 2021, explores the trends of digital advertising campaigns run through their platform to better understand channel usage, tactics, and performance metrics.

The results revealed that as consumer behavior continues to shift from desktop to mobile, marketers are also changing their overall strategies to target across multiple devices. It also brought to light that many consumers are unaware of how these developments affect them.

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Some of the key results were as follows:

Device Types & Usage 

• Mobile has continually been the leading digital advertising device in 2021, taking up 49 percent of the budget allocation. An increase of 16 percent since the end of 2020 shows that consumer behaviors have shifted to being outside of their homes again, and marketers have responded by moving budgets to mobile devices in order to stay in front of consumers.
• Connected TV usage in digital advertising campaigns continues to increase in adoption, growing by 21 percent since the end of 2020. The increased usage coupled with strong video completion rates (VCR) at 97 percent highlight the benefit it provides for marketers.

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Targeting Tactics & Performance 

• Marketers seem to be testing more targeting strategies as they prepare for the end of third-party cookies. Trends show that more digital advertising campaigns have used third-party data (from 35 percent to 42 percent) and contextual targeting (from 6 percent to 16 percent) since the end of 2020.
• Despite higher CPMs, marketers have increased the usage of third-party data targeting because they see higher CTRs, highlighting how this targeting strategy enables reaching the right audience.
• Marketers have moved on from IP address targeting in 2021 with usage decreasing by 20 percent as businesses offer more hybrid work options, which impacts the effectiveness. Instead, marketers are using account-based marketing or third-party data strategies to reach this core audience.

“The survey showcases a broad shift in the digital advertising landscape since the start of the year,” said Megan Sullivan-Jenks, Choozle Senior Director of Brand & Product Marketing. “While consumer behavior adjusts to being more multi-channel, results did reaffirm that consumers are expressing a greater affinity towards connected devices and being served advertisements through streaming services. However, it may be in the best interest of marketers who have pillared their efforts in trends such as video or voice to revisit their strategies to incorporate all device types if they wish to stay ahead of ever-changing consumer behavior.”