Millward Brown expects ‘significant’ change in media in 2014

Millward Brown anticipates significant changes in the media landscape around the world in 2014, revealed this week in its annual digital and media predictions for the year ahead.

The report – which aims to help marketers maximise audience and deliver cost-effective reach across devices – expects video to become a fluid medium with notion of marketing activity being online, offline or mobile ceasing to be a meaningful debate in 2014 as products such as Chromecast and AppleTV make syncing content across screens “effortless”.

The global research agency predicts that as mobile spend rises dramatically – particularly among youth-targeted brands – brands will create more mobile-friendly and readily shareable content, and many will experiment with micro-video platforms such as Vine.

Other predictions include the shift of video budgets from TV to multi-screen, and the rise of screens in all aspects of our lives, which Millward Brown says will encourage many marketers to attempt “genuine marketing firsts” via creative uses of digital outdoor or via the new possibilities presented by wearable screens such as smart watches and Google Glass.

“In 2014 we’ll see more marketers seeking to generate interaction between screens via interesting approaches such as TV ads with hashtags,” said Duncan Southgate, global brand director for digital at Millward Brown.

“However, the most successful marketers will build a cohesive, clear and consistent presence across screens and closely align advertising expenditure with the time their audience spends on each device.”

A full list of Millward Brown’s 2014 digital and media predictions can be found here.