• by Tobi Elkin , Staff Writer @tobielkin, November 27, 2015

In case you’ve never heard of it, RadiumOne is a global multichannel programmatic advertising company. It builds software that automates media buying and strives to deliver actionable data for digital marketers — basically, all marketers.

Using insights and data intelligence, RadiumOne aims to help marketers get consumer engagement going in real-time with contextually relevant and personalized offers, messages, content and ads across devices, locations and screens. The company’s chief operating officer, Dave Zinman, shared some predictions for 2016 with me:

1.  Emergence of IoT Data

Zinman: “There are more than 1 billion smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops. By 2020, it’s projected that there will be more than 200 billion IoT devices. The amount of data coming from the IoT universe will dwarf the size of what Google or Facebook have assembled. In 2016, we’ll see the initial applications of this data as they relate to digital advertising.”

2.  Joining The Ad-blocking Battle

Zinman: “Yahoo Mail recently started testing restrictions against consumers who have installed ad-blocking software. This is the beginning of a battle. In the industry, we all understand that ad blocking is a form of stealing. Yet until now, publishers were taking punches from a fetal position.

“In 2016, we’ll see publishers begin to emerge from their defensive crouches and take on the problem of ad blocking more directly. Those publishers with differentiated content who aren't playing a comScore ratings game will be first to follow Yahoo's lead and simply block the ad blockers. Other publishers will experiment with half measures.

“One of my favorite approaches would be for publishers to identify users with ad blocking and replace their ads with locally served PSAs that deliver stinging messaging: ‘Ad blockers enable theft, ad blockers track everything you do and are accountable to no one, ad blocking hurts small businesses, etc.’

That way, consumers don't get the benefits they expect from ad blocking, and the publishers get to educate consumers about the harm being caused by their poor choices.”

3. Cross-device Attribution Matures

Zinman: “80% of consumer time is spent in-app vs. 20% in a mobile browser. Seventy percent of mobile digital ad spend is invested in-app vs. 30% in mobile browser ads. Yet when it comes to tracking conversions, the landscape of cookies offers advantages over device IDs. There are many reasons for it, but this weakness is what keeps in-app ad spending suppressed.

In 2016, we’ll see the maturation of attribution technologies designed to account for real-world conversions by channel. It can't come too soon!”

4. Viewability Becomes Just Another Measure

Zinman: “The debate over viewability has raged for a few years now. It’s been widely accepted by advertisers that viewability is important, but it’s only now emerging that viewability is not an end unto itself. It’s simply another measure to balance in the effort to drive return on investment for advertisers.

“If a placement has 50% viewability, it can still outperform an 80% viewable placement if it has 2x the performance or half the price. And this is a common occurrence!

In 2016, advertisers [will] change their behavior to incorporate this knowledge into their planning and optimization. Measuring viewability will be important, but acting on it will become conditional.”