Advertising Trends From the 2024 IAB NewFronts

Authored by: Alana Schept, Senior Field Marketing Manager

Last week the 2024 IAB NewFronts showcased the latest trends, innovations, and opportunities in digital media and advertising, bringing together brand marketers, media buyers, publishers, streaming platforms, ad tech companies, and more to explore the future of digital media. This year’s presenters provided a glimpse at the latest CTV advertising trends, from immersive, non-traditional advertising experiences and cost-friendly streaming models to investment in growing multicultural audiences through diverse media content.

Let’s dive into a few highlights from the event and explore the driving forces shaping how brands connect with consumers.

Innovation Takes Center Stage

As consumers continue gravitating toward free-ad-supported streaming subscriptions, brands are exploring new avenues for integration. From interactive, shoppable, pause, and in-show ads, publishers, MVPDs, and OEMs like LG Ads have begun leveraging immersive experiences to captivate their audiences. 

Innovation was a hot topic at the 2024 NewFronts, and we were excited to help drive the conversation. Along with many other presenters, TripleLift explored how brands are leaning into innovation, forging deeper connections with consumers via personalized, engaging, non-intrusive CTV ad formats. 

With industry experts from iSpot.TV and VaynerMedia, Andrew King, VP of Product Management at TripleLift, took the stage to explore the latest in CTV advertising, including our High-Impact CTV formats. Bought programmatically, these exciting formats can be measured against, and even outperform iSpot benchmarks. In March 2024, 50% of the impressions TripleLift delivered were incremental to linear TV. Our strongest categories for incremental performance included travel, electronics & communications, education, lifestyle & entertainment, and retail. It has never been clearer: keeping up with modern consumer behaviors and reaching audiences at profound levels of attention and engagement requires investment in non-standard ad formats.

FAST Focus

The ad-supported CTV landscape is at a tipping point. Premium publishers and platforms like Netflix, Roku, Amazon Prime, and Disney now offer ad-supported tiers. Their significant investment in ad-supported streaming tightly follows user behavior: cord-cutting has passed the point of no return. Viewers, especially younger audiences, can no longer be reached at scale on linear TV alone. 

Free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) continues to take over the streaming market, with the number of global FAST users more than doubling between late 2020 and 2023. 

Several players took the stage this year to announce new FAST channels, content additions, and advertising solutions to their platforms, with LG Ads sharing that 8 in 10 people in the US are using ad-supported TV, with 69% of people who prefer ad-supported TV models over subscription models. 

Revry, a global streaming network that focuses on queer content and creators, announced PrismRiot Ad Network, its new FAST channel offering brands unprecedented access to the LGBTQ+ community, reaching over 110 million US households. Similarly, MyCode announced its Hispanic unit, Remezcla, and introduced its new FAST channel dedicated to Gen Z Latino audiences. 

To support this wave of inventory, SSPs like TripleLift are here to help publishers monetize, measure, and protect their inventory. TripleLift’s trusted partnerships with top publishers allow brands to scale CTV campaigns across an expansive library of premier CTV publishers, including FAST apps like Revry, Pluto TV, Canela Media, and dozens more.

The abundance of new, ad-supported content and the permanent, secular shift of cord-cutting creates an opportune moment for brands to embrace streaming. Advertisers, regardless of size, stand to benefit.

Reaching Multicultural Audiences Through Media

Companies like Revry, Canela Media, and Estrella TV, highlighted initiatives cultivating inclusivity and equity through advertising that authentically reaches marginalized communities. 

According to Nielsen, black adults spend 31.8% more time with TV each week than the general population. However, these viewers feel that they are underrepresented in the advertisements targeted to them. 

Brands must connect with viewers organically. Fortunately, partnerships with diverse-owned content providers, publisher partners, and data and solution tools are resources that can be leveraged to achieve that desired organic reach. 

As an NMSDC-certified minority business enterprise recognized by the ANA, all spending with TripleLift can be counted towards advertiser supplier diversity goals.  Through minority-owned inventory deals, diversity tentpole packages, and robust contextual targeting solutions, TripleLift satisfies diverse spending goals, increasing monetization for publishers, and helping advertisers support historically marginalized communities. 

As consumer behaviors continue to shift, marketing strategies must evolve. At the close of the 2024 NewFronts, attendees left excited about the future of media and advertising. Consumers are showing both a need for and an interest in new technologies and innovative advertising formats. At TripleLift, we believe we are well-positioned to continue to help advertisers break through the noise and succeed in today’s complex television landscape.

Want to learn more about TripleLift’s CTV offering? See more here.

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