Around 52% of data planners, strategists and activators involved in programmatic advertising think there will be an industry solution to replace third-party cookies, although there’s little evidence that will happen. The group also tends to underestimate the share of traffic on browsers that already block cookies (it’s 44%).  Over a third (the largest group) say they have considered alternatives but found them lacking in scale and accuracy.

Although on-site advertising will remain the central retail media strategy, off-site advertising will play a larger role in 2024. About a third of advertisers plan to shift funds into off-site advertising — including display, online video, CTV and social — in the next twelve months. Retail media will be the fastest-growing ad channel in the US in 2024 according to an October 2023 eMarketer forecast.

It’s deal-making time for generative AI model builders and publishers who can provide them with quality data.  Germany publishing giant Axel Springer is trading access to its data for Microsoft adtech, AI, and Azure hosting solutions.  Meanwhile, The Financial Times has struck a deal with OpenAI to license its content with attribution of summaries and quotes.