Media Horizons: The key trends influencing media’s next 12 months
Partner content
New insights series Horizons explores consumer behaviour in the coming year and the ways in which brands can respond.
Politically, economically and socially, it’s hard to find an element of modern life that feels like it’s not in flux. It’s what has made working in the media industry since 2020 both fascinating and frustrating in equal measures. It has also made it increasingly challenging to plan effectively.
This is why Mail Metro Media has just launched our new insights series, Horizons. Working with our trusted foresight partner Trajectory, we have combined the insights from its “horizon-scanning” analysis, with research from our own reader community to explore how consumers are likely to behave across a broad range of categories in the coming 12 months and beyond.
With the media industry already dealing with many headwinds, we identify the trends we believe will most impact the landscape and explore ways in which brands can respond to them.
Economic: Fragile consumer confidence
‘Awful’ April, which saw household bills increase significantly, and the ongoing international political uncertainty mean that consumer confidence remains low and is continuing to impact spending and economic growth.
However, while consumer confidence in the national economy is low, it is higher for household finances. While consumers are downbeat about the outlook for the economy, they’re more positive about their own financial situations. Our recent Horizons finance research showed that three-quarters described their finances as “healthy” or “OK” and Trajectory’s optimism index score for April was higher at 48 than it was a year ago at 46.
The truth is that people are emerging from the cost-of-living crisis at different speeds and this requires a strategic approach that is adaptable. Factoring this into planning will require a good, long look at audience data to understand who might be more amenable to spend and who is still counting the pennies — something our commercial audience data team can help with.
Technology: Social fragmentation
A more politicised, atomised internet looks to be here.
Social media algorithms, designed to keep us in online spaces we feel comfortable in and align to, alongside a step back from the more stringent online moderation of the 2010s and early 2020s, look set to create an internet in which neutral online spaces are increasingly a thing of the past.
Although we may see some reaction to this and the creation of more open communities online, in the meantime many agencies are re-evaluating their media mix. With eight in 10 Brits encountering “fake news” daily, news brands could become an increasingly relevant medium for planners with their Ipso-regulated content.
Thinking needs to go beyond “traditional” audiences engaging with news brand content. Daily Mail TikTok channels have over 30m followers, nearly half of whom belong to the Gen Z audience — central in many brands’ plans.
Demographic: Millennial nation
Millennials are now the biggest generation in the UK, recently overtaking baby boomers in number. And, after last year’s election, they have finally got what they voted for!
This group is now the demographic centre of the country and, over the next few years, will begin to start setting the agenda. This has implications across multiple categories and means that brands will have to continually adapt to this demographic shift.
Our Horizons travel research shows millennials to be 70% more likely to be interested in health and wellness holidays, while our supermarket research shows them to be more demanding of healthy living initiatives from supermarkets and the most supportive of proposed regulations on less healthy foods.
And our own business has already responded to this shift through investment in our podcast and video offerings — essential in enabling us to reach and engage more than two-thirds of millennials monthly.
Consumer: The age of inconvenience
Disrupted supply chains and the end of the era of cheap money mean life is becoming more inconvenient for people. From rising prices for services that were once very affordable like streaming services or food deliveries through to the myriad of subscriptions needed to watch live sport and the end of free delivery, inconvenience is raising its head more frequently.
With cost-of-living legacies still evident in consumer spending habits and likely to remain throughout 2025, many are demanding that brands make it easier for them to help save money. Our Horizons supermarket research showed that one in two consider a good loyalty scheme as one of the main reasons they chose a particular supermarket.
In fact, the success of the Daily Mail’s ecommerce arm links to this desire for ease. Including over 2,270 articles over the last 12 months, our shopping pages keep our readers up to date on upcoming events and bargains, with 63% saying it helps them find the best deals and offers.
The Horizons series identifies many more trends that will shape specific sectors in the coming weeks and months, some of which are industry-focused and others much broader influences on society and the world at large.
We will be releasing specific overviews of these factors regularly and are always on hand for brands looking for more specific advice on navigating the potentially choppy waters ahead.
Luke Hand is insights director at Mail Metro Media
This is the first in a series of partner content with Mail Metro Media that will run all this week