Tinuiti's CES 2024 Hot Takes
The Consumer Electronics Show, CES 2024, is the premier conference when the world descends on Las Vegas to showcase the latest tech innovations – from the practical to the outlandish.
Tinuiti brings you a compilation of tech trends and takeaways that rose above the rest. Insights from Tinuiti innovation leaders uncover what you should care about and marketers’ biggest areas of opportunity.
Tinuiti has also made some bold predictions to start the year in our “5 Big Bets for the CMO Report,” where we lay out the five most seismic transformations in digital advertising– and the conversations at CES have already shown that those are being realized.
Read on to find coverage of Generative AI, Streaming, Commerce, Amazon, and the marketing ecosystem at large.
Trend 1:
The tech is finally talking back: How we find answers to questions, complete household chores, and entertain ourselves is all being revolutionized.
2024 could mark the first year where the saying “Just Google it” begins to lose its luster. Consumers are increasingly ditching the search engine supergiant and beginning their search in other places: Amazon, TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, and even ChatGPT. Whether shopping or simply gathering info, users are gradually moving away from the Search behemoth – and with Google’s varied presence across so many stages in the buyer’s journey, this has huge implications.
At CES 2024:
Walmart introduces a Generative AI search tool on their iOS app.
- Functionality: Allows users to search for products based on specific use cases rather than brand names.
- Examples: Searches like “help me plan a Super Bowl party” or “help me plan a birthday party for my 2-year-old son” yield curated product lists.
- Timing: Scheduled rollout on the website and Android app later this year.
AI Integration in household appliances:
- Samsung: Integration of AI technology in consumer products like fridges and washer/dryers.
- Fridge Features: Recognizes restocking needs, suggests recipes, and personalizes based on usage patterns.
- Ads Integration: Anticipate in-environment ads triggered for immediate needs (e.g., restock detergent, order from DoorDash).
- Product Discovery: Consumer electronics become hubs for product discovery and searches.
Samsung’s Robot Ballie and Pet Camera:
- Ballie’s Return: Samsung re-debuts the personal robot Ballie.
- Features: Ballie answers questions, triggers events (e.g., fitness video), and functions as a smart home hub on the go.
- Pet Camera: Debut of a pet camera for virtual vet examinations, reducing the need to search for answers on Google.
Automotive Concept Cars:
- Electronic manufacturers display cars with immersive HUDs delivering real-time content, recommendations, and promotions.
- Eliminates the need to “Google” for answers while on the move.
Wearables and AR + VR Experiences:
- Show highlighted a strong emphasis on wearables providing immediate answers.
- Blend of AR + VR experiences allowing users to play in virtual reality while engaging in real-time interactions.
From Tinuiti Big Bets:
- Driven by GenZ and their distrust for the sponsored results of “Big Search,” TikTok and Instagram have seen a surge of users turning to the platform in their Search journey. 40% of GenZ searchers will use these social platforms before using Google. (Source, Source)
- ChatGPT is starting to give Google a run for its money. It recently beat out the search superking in a series of increasingly complex searches, displaying why it could soon become the dominant alternative for more thoughtful, nuanced queries. (Source)
- When shopping online, half of all searches begin on Amazon. (Source)
What This Means For Brands
Google’s waning influence marks an inflection point in how consumers organically find your products and therefore where you should be putting your digital ad spend. Customers have come to expect more than sponsored search results and PPC ads. Many brands are therefore diverting dollars toward more effective campaigns on social media, streaming platforms, and other web-based arenas. Ecommerce will likely see a huge shift, as brands start to use Amazon’s extraordinary reach to engage customers through contextual, non-endemic advertising.
Trend 2:
Amazon Prime Video’s entry into the ad-supported streaming space loomed over its competitors, and presents an enticing, if complex, opportunity to media buyers.
The sell side of advertising is all about scale; if you want advertisers to be interested, you need to offer audiences of meaningful size. Major players, notably Netflix and Disney+, have changed course from a subscription-only model and introduced ads. They’ve been methodically if slowly, building up their respective ad-supported footprints. Prime Video, by being bundled with Prime, is already in well over 100 million homes in the U.S. Amazon’s approach of defaulting those homes into its ad-supported tier – as opposed to offering a cheaper tier that users would need to proactively opt into – means Prime should have much larger audiences to offer advertisers right off the bat. With Amazon also going to market with competitive pricing relative to its peers, it has quickly become an extremely formidable competitor for TV budgets.
From their large presence at CES, including a late-night concert courting advertisers with Ludacris, Amazon made it clear that for them, it’s game on.
At CES 2024:
- Amazon made clear that it plans to prioritize Prime Video over its other streaming properties, including free streaming service Freevee.
- Amazon will be offering CPMs for Prime slightly lower than the rates charged by Netflix, Disney+, and other major streamers.
From Tinuiti Big Bets:
- Last year, Nielsen showed linear TV dipping below 50% of total household TV usage – for the first time ever. (Source)
- FAST (free, ad-support television) subscribers are projected to grow 4% year-over-year, serving more than 104 million people in the U.S. – or 31% of the population. (Source)
- In a November 2022 study, nearly 1 in 5 U.S. consumers dropped a paid subscription service for a free, ad-supported service due to economic conditions. (Source) his trend is projected to continue.
- As brands exit Linear TV advertising, CTV and its ad-supported options will pick up the slack, with ad spend expected to grow by around 20% in 2024. (Source)
What This Means For Brands
Prime Video is a gigantic video surface that is now becoming addressable, with at least 100m homes at launch. For both brand and performance advertisers, evaluation and testing will be paramount. A key question for performance advertisers will be measurement – Amazon is a walled garden, with all of the attendant measurement complexities that come with that.
A key economic implication for advertisers is Amazon’s effect on market pricing. Injection of new supply in large quantities and Amazon’s aggressive pricing strategy will put pressure on other platforms to reduce prices.
If you’re an advertiser who wants to make a big splash on the biggest screen in the house this year, Prime Video could be the move. Finding an agency partner who knows how to grow your brand in this channel – and measure performance – is key.
Trend 3:
Retail Media is leaving home.
You don’t have to sell on Amazon to advertise on Amazon. Along with other retailers like Kroger, Amazon is encouraging non-endemic brands to advertise on their platforms – disrupting lead generation as we know it. First-party data – especially Amazon’s – can provide very powerful behavioral data for the advertiser. For example, service and non-CPG brands can now advertise to tailored audiences on Amazon with managed and self-service options, driving them back to their own websites or personalized landing pages. Partnered with a lead generation team, we can expect some wild results. Link your Amazon ads to some very curated landing pages, customized product recommendations, and carefully crafted targeting specs…we might just have a solution to the crumbling third-party cookie.
At CES 2024:
- “Retail Media” was rarely uttered and in a good way. The proliferation of retail media was prevalent with partnerships like Walmart and Microsoft for GenAI and updates to services like frictionless purchasing, pick up, delivery – more drones. If you’re in the Dallas/Fort Worth area – you may be able to take advantage of this pilot, which is being executed by FAA-approved partners.
- Shopper technology, like Instacart’s Caper Cart, which recognizes and weighs items as you shop, allowing for user savings, was on display, making checkout faster and easier – rolling out for wider distribution this year.
- Not to be outdone, Sam’s Club is building on the scan-and-go feature of their app by removing the receipt check at the door and replacing it with potentially a gated exit that knows via the app or your face that you are exiting, making it potentially similar to Amazon’s just walk out technology? Still TBD.
From Tinuiti Big Bets:
- An increasing number of states have data privacy regulations in place – and it’s not slowing down. (Source)The marketer’s third-party cookie is falling apart.
- As a result, 2023 saw a transformation in the world of shopping and marketplaces. Non-endemic advertising on platforms like Amazon opened new avenues for brands that were previously excluded from marketplace advertising. (Source)
- Though Amazon is leading the charge, brands like GoPuff, a CPG and food delivery company, have gotten in on the game, enabling brands to target audiences by demographic and location (with Hulu, AdoreMe, and Noom announced as some of their launch partners). (Source)
What This Means For Brands
Signal loss, shmignal loss. Non-endemic advertising enables brands to reach their audiences by strategically aligning with complementary products and platforms. By finding the right overlaps in their customer base, marketers can target the users who have willingly opted into retail media platforms powered by user-provided data. For example, a brand could target customers who have opted into subscription-based dog food purchases on Amazon to advertise pet toys to the same audience. This circumvents the crumbling of the third-party cookie, allowing marketers to initiate and continue their conversations at every step of a user’s buying journey.
Trend 4:
Amazon will be viewed as a true media platform – not just a retail solution.
Amazon is much more than a retail supergiant, it’s a marketing powerhouse and the industry is starting to take notice. Amazon’s DSP has been rated a leader in omnichannel marketing, and with Prime Video’s entry into ad-supported streaming, they bring STV inventory to the marketing masses. Along with Amazon Marketing Cloud continuing to grow in scope and sophistication, the retail giant has evolved into a marketing heavyweight fully able to grow brands on and off the platform.
At CES 2024:
- Big Prime Video and Thursday Night Football presence.
- Identity solutions are being brought to the forefront due to cookie depreciation.
- DSP functionality improvements are actively prioritized to go up against competitive DSPs.
From Tinuiti Big Bets:
- The Forrester Wave recently named Amazon Ads a leader in omnichannel DSPs, citing immense inventory offerings and a “verifiable revenue impact” for brands. (Source)
- With more than 200 million members worldwide, Amazon Prime’s introducing ads into Prime Video offerings represents a new way to reach a slew of viewers – all backed and targetable by first-party subscription data. (Source)
What This Means for Brands
Brands not yet advertising with any of Amazon’s offerings should look more closely. The third-party cookie is fading, but Amazon’s sheer scale and offerings (all supported by users’ zero- and first-party data) are an obvious way to solve this issue. Present in display advertising, retail media, streaming, cloud marketing, and so much more, Amazon represents a powerful opportunity to continue reaching customers wherever they’re shopping…or just hanging out.
Trend 5:
Last year, AI was the new kid that just moved into town – this year it’s the cool kid at the lunch table.
We’ve finally had a full year to see what GenAI is capable of – and it’s a lot. As the biggest thing in computing since the mobile revolution, GenAI is poised to redefine the marketing industry. From measurement and content creation to the simple act of Search, it’s already transformed the marketing experience for both brands and consumers. How it integrates into (or completely upends ) what we know will finally start to coalesce. The ability to communicate with devices with natural language opens up how people will communicate with a multitude of devices (wearables, appliances, etc.).
CES showed AI must be built into the core of all products from here on out – from the cars we drive to the laptops we work on.
At CES 2024:
- VW announced that its vehicles will integrate ChatGPT, allowing drivers to have back-and-forth conversations. But it’s not quite there yet – more of a harbinger of what consumers can expect in the future.
- Enter your HP laptop into the chat: there’s a new assistant in town. HP announced how its new laptop will integrate AI into everyday tasks like writing emails with context, transcribing meetings, and helping boost user efficiency.
From Tinuiti Big Bets:
- Consumers are already enjoying AI as their own personal shopping assistants. AI can research and compare products, shop for groceries, and organize travel plans – in a fraction of the time it takes humans. (Source)
- Marketers are constantly finding new ways to employ GenAI in content creation. From tailored messages to enhanced targeting, GenAI can help marketers refine their content tactics. (Source)
- Voice search is becoming increasingly commonplace, and AI is only getting better at deciphering our needs. This represents the hand-in-hand need for both content and context in a brand’s represented products. (Source)
What This Means for Brands
Brands need to learn to speak robot. GenAI is weaving its way into every piece of the consumer journey. Strange as it seems, it’s emerging as one of the most important consumer groups to be marketed to. AI is on its way to being the middleman between marketers and their audiences. For brands to stay relevant, they must learn to capture the attention of these robotic consumers – or risk going the way of Internet Explorer.
