Recap: How These 5 Hot Digital Trends Played Out in 2016

2016 has come and gone! Well, we do have a few days left until it’s officially over, but we can all agree it’s been quite a year. At this time last year, we shared with you 5 Digital Trends to watch out for in 2016. Let’s take a look back at what these trends were and how they panned out over the year.

Video Ads

Video in general continues to grow in popularity when it comes to people’s preference in retaining content. And video ads are no different. eMarketer reports that video ad spending will reach $10.3 billion this year, representing 14.3% of total digital spending. That figure is expected to climb to 15.1% by 2017.

A study recently done by YuMe found that “…video ads deliver real returns against sales metrics (…) consumers respond well to video by engaging, sharing and buying products, at a rate that is 1.7x more effective than other forms of digital advertising.” Here are a few more insightful statistics on video ads gathered from YuMe’s study:

66% of digital video viewers took action after seeing a digital video ad
Video ads are nearly twice as effective in driving purchases than image or text ads
73% of respondents remember more from video than other types of content
Over 50% of digital video viewers are more likely to pay attention to a digital video ad than ads with images or text only

And with social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat continuing to refine their capabilities in this space, it’s safe to say this trend isn’t going anywhere.

Apps, Apps, Apps

New York Times reports that “more than four million applications are available in the Apple and Google app stores, including games, productivity tools and weather apps.” And this doesn’t include the additional 1.5M+ that exist through Windows, Amazon and Blackberry. If this isn’t a growing phenomenon, I don’t know what is!

Micro moments, specifically on smartphones, are happening at all times during the day and will only continue to increase as our world becomes more and more digital and dependent on technology. Apps allow for many actions to happen easier and faster, which seems to be the growing desire of basically everyone. Those in the banking, medical and retail industries can attest that having an app is pretty much a must now-a-days.

Virtual Assistants

It’s estimated that nearly 10 – 12 million Amazon Echo and Google Home virtual assistants could sell this holiday season. Holy cow! With the technology of these virtual assistants only getting better, you can expect virtual assistants to become a regular household item very soon. I mean, if Alexa can tell us what to make for dinner by simply hearing a list of what’s in our fridge, it seems like having one of these around is kind of a no-brainer.

And with these virtual assistant devices taking over, remember to consider voice search in your marketing efforts, as voice commands vary from traditional search queries.

Wearable Technology

Consumer use of wearable technology is expected to grow 35% per year between 2015 and 2019. No surprise then that the Consumer Technology Association forecasts 12.6 million wearables will be sold this holiday season alone.

Smart watches continue leading this industry, with fitness devices beginning to lose some ground due to multipurpose watches providing an array of functionality. And virtual reality headsets are definitely a hot tech item to have this year. But wearable technology will only continue expanding its reach. Imagine your clothes being able to interact with your digital devices and smartphone…seriously?! We need to keep our eyes and ears open, as the possibilities of wearable technology seem to be endless.

Increase in Advertising Budget

Last year it was expected that digital advertising would surpass TV ad spend by the end of 2017. Well, hold on to your hats, because it is now expected to surpass TV spend for the first time in U.S. history. That’s right! According to the report published by eMarketer, by the end of 2016, advertisers will have spent $72.09 billion on U.S. digital advertising, while TV spending will account for $71.29 billion. This will give digital a 36.8% share in media ad spending, slightly higher than TV's 36.4%.

As you can see, we were right on the money about these trends. So stay tuned for our 2017 Digital Trends blog coming your way in January. And if you need any assistance in putting together your 2017 digital strategy, contact Anderson Direct & Digital.