Tinuiti at 20: Forecasting the Future and Defining Digital Marketing
This post was written by Andy Taylor, VP of Research at Tinuiti and Emily Sullivan, Content Specialist at Tinuiti.
This past August, Tinuiti celebrated a major milestone—20 years of business, growth, and innovation in the digital marketing space. As we mark this occasion, we’re not just reflecting on our past accomplishments, but also looking ahead to the future.
For two decades, Tinuiti has been a leader in digital marketing, consistently delivering forward-thinking insights and bold predictions. From market disruptions to industry-transforming trends, we’ve built a reputation for anticipating what’s next. In this post, we’ll revisit key moments where our research not only helped businesses navigate change but also accurately forecasted the future of the industry.
Throughout our history, Tinuiti has been a trusted partner, spotting emerging trends before they hit the mainstream and guiding businesses through challenges to seize new opportunities. Read on as we highlight some of the most significant moments where Tinuiti’s research shaped success—and as we prepare for what’s next in 2025 and beyond.
Breaking the Story When Amazon Hit the Ad Brakes in 2020
March 2020 was a time of mass uncertainty, with people around the world questioning what life would look like in the days and weeks ahead as COVID-19 spread across the globe. With travel screeching to a halt and myriad supply chain interruptions, advertisers had to adjust plans on the fly to account for the volatile new reality.
One such advertiser was Amazon, and in the second week of March the ecommerce giant made the move to suspend its Google advertising as it faced a flood of online demand that forced it to focus warehouse storage on essential product categories like health and personal care products. Tinuiti caught it first and broke the story in a blog post, with major publications like Bloomberg and The New York Times picking it up and relying on Tinuiti data to tell the story. It would be three months until Amazon turned ads back on.
Dissecting the impact of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency Rollout
When Apple started to show its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt on iOS devices in Q2 2021, the marketing world braced for impact as users started to choose which apps they’d allow to use mobile ID’s for the purposes of tracking and targeting. As expected, many users opted out of tracking when presented with the option in this way, with Meta expecting a $10 billion revenue hit as a result.
Tinuiti extensively tracked the impact of the update, including the precipitous drop in Meta tracked conversions due to broken tracking and a widening gap in the cost of ad impressions for Android device users compared to Apple device users. These insights made their way into The Wall Street Journal and Wired, helping advertisers and others better understand the shifting landscape as ATT’s impact took shape.
The Early Impact of Inflation on Average Order Values
One of the key themes of the American economy over the last couple of years has been the rising cost of goods and services. Inflation has impacted consumers from all walks of life, and it’s clear when looking at Google average order value (AOV) that digital marketing wasn’t left out when it came to spillover effects. AOV soared by double-digits year over year during multiple months in the middle of 2021.
As inflation has slowed, so too has AOV growth, and throughout 2023 and 2024 has come in in the low single digits. Looking ahead, Tinuiti will be keeping a close eye on how things move as interest rates are set to fall in the coming months.
The Rise of Vertical Video
TikTok’s meteoric rise in popularity displayed the appeal of vertical video feeds, particularly with younger generations. Other platforms like YouTube and Meta quickly took note and rolled out formats like Shorts and Reels.
Since the inception of Reels, Tinuiti benchmark reports have kept tabs on their importance across Facebook and Instagram, providing insights to The Economist and others along the way. Reels now account for over 20% of all Meta ad impressions, and Tinuiti will continue to provide updates on this key format moving forward.
Temu’s Emergence as a Major Advertiser in the US Market
Back in the beginning of 2023 when Tinuiti started quantifying the ad presence of Temu, many Americans hadn’t even yet heard of Temu. By the end of that year, Temu was one of the most prevalent advertisers in Google shopping auctions, and the number of advertisers that saw it as a competitor in Auction Insights reports rivaled that of Amazon.
Temu has since pulled back on its investment in Google ads, but remains a key player across many product categories. The Tinuiti quarterly benchmark reports continue to map this progression with insights into how Temu stacks up against other major shopping advertisers like Amazon, Walmart, Target, and eBay.
From Past Predictions to Future Bets: What’s Next?
As we celebrate 20 years in business, it’s clear that our success has been built on our ability to stay ahead of the curve, identifying key shifts and trends that shape the future of marketing. From the rise of vertical video to the impact of inflation, we’ve seen our predictions play out time and again. But we’re not stopping here.
Our Big Bets for 2025 report dives even deeper into the trends shaping the next chapter of marketing. Curious to see which of our forecasts will shape the future? Download the report to discover the next big shifts that could redefine how we do business and the strategies that might just be tomorrow’s game changers.
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