• by Tobi Elkin , Staff Writer @tobielkin, December 30, 2015

Josh Walsh is co-founder of AdTheorent, which describes itself as a learning technology firm that produces data-driven predictive solutions. Walsh took a little time out to share his predictions for 2016 with RTBlog.

1.  Attribution measurement will become much stronger and closer to allowing complete transparency into the whole "advertising to purchase" cycle.  "Today, we measure a lot of media using digital signals only.  Geo-data is being adopted as a way to understand if a given user went to a location (a store). In 2016, multi-environment ID-bridging will allow for transparency from ‘advertisement to the cash register.'"

2.  Mergers and acquisitions will continue to consolidate media companies. "The industry has traditionally been very acquisition-heavy, and this will continue. Smaller companies will need to join forces to remain competitive. 

"A lot of smaller companies have only one piece of the puzzle, and they’re competing with larger players that have the complete tech stack.  The companies that will survive are those that bring the key pieces of technology together. The three critical components are: advertising, attribution and ID-bridging technologies."

3.  Viewability and in-demo will become standard and not a “nice to have.” "If the user cannot see the ad, advertisers will not be willing to pay for it.  Also, advertisers will not be willing to pay for ads shown outside of their demographic target (and therefore outside of their contracted audience)."

4.   Screen type will become less of a consideration.  "With more accurate attribution, performance (not strategy) will dictate the screen that’s most appropriate for a given advertisement and a given user."

5.  Brands will build in-house programmatic teams and work with media companies. "Both parties will integrate and collaborate directly."