Last year, I argued in B&T that CMOs must break down silos between programmatic and search to unlock the full potential of digital media. That point still stands, perhaps now more than ever. However, a new challenge has emerged: the growing disconnect between online and offline media. It’s time for CMOs to push beyond digital silos and create a fully integrated media strategy that unites all customer touchpoints, from digital search ads to in-store experiences.

The State of Play: Programmatic & Search Are No Longer Enough

When we think of omnichannel marketing, we often default to digital-first strategies. And it’s true: programmatic display, CTV, social, and search continue to dominate. But for many brands, digital alone doesn’t tell the full story. Customer journeys are fragmented, spanning mobile, desktop, in-store visits, and even call centres. A programmatic campaign that isn’t connected to offline behaviour is missing a huge piece of the puzzle.

According to the latest IAB Australia Digital Advertising Expenditure Report (2024), while 42% of content publishers’ display inventory is purchased programmatically, over 50% of media spend in Australia is still dedicated to traditional channels such as TV, radio, OOH, and in-store promotions. A study from McKinsey further highlights that brands leveraging cross-channel measurement see up to 35% higher return on ad spend (ROAS) compared to those operating in silos. This underscores the ongoing need for robust media attribution models to accurately assess performance across both digital and offline channels.

The Next Phase: Online and Offline Convergence

Smart CMOs are moving beyond digital silos, integrating offline data into their programmatic and search strategies to create a truly connected ecosystem. Success lies not in simply running TV and digital campaigns simultaneously but in ensuring all channels work together to drive measurable business outcomes.

Brands like nudie illustrate this approach, using programmatic display and video to retarget customers exposed to offline ads while leveraging engaging content on platforms like Meta and TikTok. By integrating digital with out-of-home (OOH) advertising through geofencing technology, nudie achieved a 12% uplift in sales, a result made possible by aligning digital and in-store purchase data. This demonstrates the tangible impact of cross-channel synergy and highlights the need to refine digital media attribution models to reflect real-world consumer behaviour.

To achieve this level of integration, brands must focus on three key areas: leveraging retail media for data-driven targeting, optimising CTV, OOH with other digital channels for seamless cross-channel engagement, and bridging search with in-store behaviour to create a full-funnel strategy.

1. Retail Media & Offline Attribution: The rise of retail media is a game-changer. Brands can now leverage first-party data from major retailers to target consumers based on their actual shopping habits, whether online or in-store. Linking programmatic advertising to real-world purchase data allows marketers to optimise in real time, ensuring digital budgets are spent on audiences that matter.
2. CTV, OOH & Cross-Channel Targeting: Connected TV (CTV) has become one of the most powerful tools for brands, yet many still treat it separately from their broader digital strategy. However, the true potential lies in the convergence of CTV, Linear TV, Broadcast Video on Demand (BVOD), and Ad-Supported Video on Demand (AVOD). The best-performing campaigns seamlessly integrate these formats with digital out-of-home (DOOH) and online signals, ensuring that exposure to a Linear TV ad is reinforced through targeted digital touchpoints. For instance, someone who watches a CTV ad at night might receive a relevant mobile ad the next morning on their commute, while BVOD and AVOD retargeting further strengthen brand recall. By bridging these gaps, marketers can create a unified, cross-channel experience that maximises audience reach and engagement.
3. Bridging Search & In-Store Behaviour: Search has long been the backbone of digital advertising, but what if it could work harder? By linking search intent to in-store footfall data, brands can close the loop on attribution. For example, major retailers like Woolworths and Coles are leveraging AI-driven predictive modelling to connect online search behaviour with offline purchasing habits, improving their ability to deliver hyper-targeted advertising. A recent case study from Google Ads showed that businesses integrating search and foot traffic data saw a 22% increase in conversion rates, proving that search can be a powerful driver of offline action.

The Full-Service Future: Why Integration Matters More Than Ever

The shift toward integrated media is no longer optional for marketing leaders. It’s the only way to compete. As we move into 2025, CMOs must demand better cross-channel measurement, more seamless online-to-offline attribution, and a media strategy that reflects the way consumers actually move through the world.

The future of paid media isn’t just about optimising digital channels, it’s about breaking down the final barriers between online and offline, ensuring that every touchpoint contributes to a cohesive, high-performing strategy. As consumer behaviour becomes increasingly fragmented across devices, platforms, and environments, brands must prioritise full-funnel integration, cross-channel measurement, and media attribution models that provide a holistic view of performance.

The most effective paid media strategies will be those that unify search, social, programmatic, TV, OOH, and retail media into a single, seamless ecosystem. If you’re ready to future-proof your paid media strategy, diving into real-world case studies of omnichannel success, or booking a consultation with our experts to discover how we can tailor an integrated approach that drives meaningful business outcomes. The brands that embrace this shift will stay ahead of the competition and create sustainable, data-driven media strategies that maximise impact across all channels.

The post Breaking Down Silos: The Next Evolution of Programmatic Advertising & Search appeared first on Bench Media.

Utilising a multi-channel approach, including Digital out-of-home, Audio, Online Video, and BVOD, they conducted a brand lift study to gauge the effectiveness of these channels in elevating key brand metrics. These channels ran in tandem with RMIT Online’s in-house channels, Social and SEM, to provide a full-funnel activation.

Ori Gold, CEO & co-founder of Bench, argues that “the age of untargeted advertising is over. Digital TV and video, with platforms like Connected TV (CTV) and bite-sized social media content, offer advertisers a laser-focused approach to connect with their audience directly. Imagine scrolling through TikTok, captivated by a funny skit about a new product. Minutes later, a compelling video ad seamlessly appears on your streaming service, just before you dive into a documentary, providing more details about the same product. Meanwhile, subtle display and audio ads on your favourite news site and podcasts keep the momentum going in the days after. This cross-channel journey, which blends control over ad frequency and storytelling, allows advertisers to truly resonate with their audience across every touchpoint. It’s the difference between shouting into the void and having a captivating conversation – an unparalleled communication outcome.”

Key findings for RMIT Online revealed a significant increase in brand favorability among the 18-34 age group, expanding the brand’s reach to a younger demographic while maintaining relevance among the 25-50 age range. Brand recall and likelihood of recommendation also saw notable improvements within their target demographic.

BVOD proved to be the standout performer, exceeding the initial expectations as a standalone channel. Notably, individuals exposed to BVOD and later retargeted on Online Video showed impressive engagement metrics, including a Click-Through Rate (CTR) of 0.33% and completion rates surpassing 60%. These findings highlight BVOD’s effectiveness in capturing audience attention and driving significant brand impact.

Furthermore, the results of retargeting audio, digital out-of-home (DOOH), and online video (OLV) audiences to BVOD were equally promising. Despite BVOD’s traditional role as a prospecting channel, each audience segment exhibited completion rates of over 97% when retargeted on BVOD, alongside competitive Cost Per Mille (CPM) achievements.

“These outcomes validate our targeting strategy and underscore BVOD’s importance in reaching and resonating with the target demographics. In the realm of brand awareness initiatives, where quantifiable results can be challenging, BVOD’s performance in RMIT Online’s case stands as a testament to its effectiveness in driving meaningful connections and delivering tangible results,” continues Ori Gold.

In reflecting on the activation, Marc Charlery, RMIT Online’s Head of Acquisition, underscores the strategic synergy achieved in partnership with Bench. “Our collaboration showcased a strategic blend of innovation and effectiveness,” notes Charlery. “Through their multi-channel approach and emphasis on BVOD, we witnessed a distinct uplift in brand awareness, and this campaign worked as the perfect complement to our existing performance activity. The campaign not only served to drive consideration earlier with our existing target segments but also expanded our reach to new demographics. Our collaboration with Bench Media helped solidify RMIT Online’s position as a leader in online tertiary education.”

The post RMIT Online partners with Bench to amplify brand reach appeared first on Bench Media.

The below trends reshape the advertising landscape and redefine our interaction with technology and consumer engagement. Together, they paint a picture of a future where marketing is more integrated, transparent, and intelligent, promising a very exciting 2024 for us marketers.

Streaming Success: CTV’s $30 Billion Ad Revolution

Connected TV (CTV) has already revolutionised global advertising and will continue to be the main disruptor of the communication world in 2024. Ad spending is projected to reach $30 billion, driven by AI integration, ad-supported tiers (AVOD) growth on major streaming services, and a shift towards blending into performance marketing. CTV programmatic buying alone is expected to hit $43.59 billion by 2026. Enhanced targeting and shoppable ads are key innovations, integrating seamlessly into cross-channel strategies. In Australia, the focus is on premium and local content, tech rollouts of all major networks, automated buying processes, and interactive video ads. CTV video advertising has grown by 15%, with an expected shift to open-market buying. These are significant opportunities for medium and large brands to incorporate CTV into their cross-channel and performance marketing media mix.

Retail Media’s Digital Leap

Retail media is emerging as a pivotal force in advertising, with Australian retailers like Woolworths and Coles leading the way alongside global players like Amazon and Uber. This booming trend is expected to generate $1 billion in ad revenue by 2025. The real magic of this sector is the ability to leverage customer relationships to offer high-margin advertising avenues. Beyond FMCG, it is expanding into areas like consumer electronics, fashion and medicine, empowered by digital and data technologies. Retail media’s growth is also driven by e-commerce and privacy legislation changes, focusing on closed-loop attribution and direct spending-to-transaction analytics. Key trends in this area are partnerships with retail media networks, transactional data targeting, dynamic creative options and new shoppable ad formats in video and display channels. These are blurring the lines between above-the-line advertising and bottom-of-the-funnel performance activity.

Digital Democracy: Beyond the Walled Gardens

A significant trend to watch in 2024 is the shift from the dominance of digital ‘walled gardens’ like Meta and Google to a more open web approach that will counter the over-reliance on a few platforms. This moves away from closed ecosystems, where big global tech platforms control data and insights, and addresses concerns of transparency, privacy and anti-competition raised by consumers, local businesses and governments. Marketing teams diversify their efforts across multiple platforms to mitigate risks like policy changes, increased ad costs and user behaviour changes. Embracing the open web allows for broader data access, the reach of new audiences and more control over advertising strategies, This trend signifies a move towards greater transparency and ownership of digital and ad tech capabilities, offering a competitive advantage to early adaptors.

From Hype to Reality: AI’s Transformative Role in Advertising

2023 was the year of ChatGPT, with AI’s hitting a boiling point to revolutionise many aspects of our lives, specifically marketing and advertising. In 2024, brands will start leveraging AI tools for brand safety and compliance to ensure consistent messaging across various channels. We’ll also see new data management tools developed using AI for normalising and standardising disparate data sets, automating tasks usually managed by data science and analyst teams. This will extend to AI-driven reporting tools with rapid analysis and prompt client delivery.

AI has always played a key role in programmatic advertising and is anticipated to broaden mainly to ease the production of targeted ad messaging via language and image models for enhanced ad versioning and optimisation. And another AI-driven area that is on the rise in voice search advertising with the widespread adoption of voice-activated devices such as Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Sonos One. It is reported that 55% of the total households in the US have one of these three voice system in use. This is a great ground for a new audio based ad-format tailored for voice-activated devices to emerge.

Overall, 2024 is set to bring more grounded and actual application using advanced AI technologies after the 2023 acceleration and hype.

The Future of Privacy-First AdTech

The adTech industry, both globally and in Australia, is undergoing a significant transformation driven by stricter data and privacy regulations. The EU’s GDPR, established in 2018, has set a precedent, influencing similar laws worldwide and impacting thousands of advertising and marketing technology platforms. These changes, prompted by both consumer and government concerns around transparency, particularly in AI-driven data processing, impose tough penalties for non-compliant actors. The evolving landscape in the US, marked by the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) of 2020, added further complexity to this international privacy ecosystem. In Australia, launched last year, the proposed Online Privacy Bill and Privacy Act Review aims to redefine ‘personal information’ and requirements of consumer consent and enforce stronger penalties, with fines reaching up to $10 million. The year 2024 is pivotal for the local industry, which is keenly awaiting the outcome of this review and anticipating a shift towards tighter privacy protections that will reshape digital marketing strategies and the overall advertising industry in Australia.

The post Five emerging digital advertising trends to watch in 2024 appeared first on Bench Media.