An outlook for the 2017 advertising year

What were the most significant changes in the past year? On a social and political level, the most moving events included Brexit, the election of Trump as the new US president and the deaths of numerous musical icons such as David Bowie, Prince and Leonard Cohen.In the digital world, the general transformation of the media industry, which has been going on for years and is accompanied by new user habits and content formats, continued to play a major role. Industry news such as adblocking and the ever-increasing demand for mobile and video content also set the tone. Markus Frank, Managing Director DACH at the media technology company AOL takes a look at the new year and provides insights into the areas that will dominate discussions in the media landscape in 2017.Mobile is and remains importantThe mobile sector was not only the focus of the advertising industry last year, it will undoubtedly remain so in 2017. Looking at the increase in smartphone use in Germany alone, it becomes clear just how important this market is: while, according to Statista While only 36% of the German population owned a smartphone in 2012, this figure had risen to 76% by 2016. This means that the proportion has more than doubled within five years. "More and more Germans are using their smartphones to make purchases. It is therefore no wonder that advertising for mobile devices will also be the future this year," explains Markus Frank. "The Spending on mobile advertising While it was only 208 million US dollars in Germany in 2012, the advertising industry already recorded three billion US dollars in 2016." The smartphone is the primary source of everyday life for many users, and the variety of functions also means that new and specialized advertising formats are constantly being developed - 360 degrees, virtual reality, augmented reality and live videos are omnipresent as we get closer to 5G technology. Advertisers can thus reach mobile users in a varied, sophisticated and holistic way.Video advertising remains dominantThe video sector is also growing steadily. According to Cisco's Visual Networking Index three quarters of global mobile data traffic will be generated by videos by 2020. Sales from video advertising in Germany are also increasing significantly: 362.6 million euros are expected for 2017 and mobile videos even account for 88 million euros. "Music and moving images are the elements that are most likely to appeal to users emotionally across all end devices," explains Markus Frank. "Advertisers will continue to use this channel in 2017 and new video technologies will be developed to further shake up the market."The power of publishersUntil now, most technologies have been developed with advertisers in mind, but in 2016 the focus has increasingly shifted to the interests of publishers: more flexible platform technologies, more user-oriented formats and tailored targeting options. At the end of last year, AOL announced in a . "Germany is still lagging behind internationally in the field of programmatic advertising, but a lot will happen on the publisher side in 2017," explains Markus Frank. "Header bidding will become increasingly important in 2017. 43% of publishers already use it and over half of those who do not yet use it plan to do so next year (57%). If more publishers use it in future, this will give programmatic advertising in Germany a considerable boost."Adblocking"The topic of adblocking is still a difficult area for publishers and advertisers," says Markus Frank. "But in Germany in particular, we can see that fewer and fewer users are using services of this kind and this trend will continue this year." According to the Online Marketing Circle (OVK) in the BVDW only 19.11% of display advertising shown on the desktop was blocked in the third quarter of 2016. In the same period in 2015, the figure was 21.16 percent. "It is important that we work together to enable individualized and exciting ads for users that use the new formats. Only then will users allow them and lead to success for publishers, advertisers and technology partners."