Mediaocean, the mission-critical platform for omnichannel advertising, has released its H1 2022 Market Report. The report underscores the biggest issues facing marketers, which include the adoption of emerging identity solutions as well as cross-channel planning and measurement.

Most notably, the findings of the study show a concern about how the advertising industry will adopt privacy-friendly identity solutions in a post-cookie environment. Marketers who responded to the 2022 survey say they are highly focused on restoring a multi-signal view of digital audiences – a view that has noticeably shrunk with the decline of cookies and other identifiers. Despite these challenges, marketers show optimism around the future of new cookieless solutions.

When asked about which marketing technology innovation will be most impactful for advertising in 2022, the largest number of respondents (26 per cent) cited measurements centered on non-cookie methods such as media mix modeling, federated learning methods, panels, etc. Meanwhile, 22 per cent of respondents believed that improvements in integrated media planning and execution would be most effective.

“2021 was an unpredictable year for marketers, while 2022 has some pent-up demand balanced by economic uncertainty. Our research reflects cautious optimism of industry leaders as they try to adapt to fast-paced technological advances,” said John Nardone, President at Mediaocean. “Our survey found 60 per cent of marketers are confident in the viability of cookieless solutions, which is close to what we saw in Q4 2021. It’s encouraging to see that our respondents maintain a positive outlook moving into the second half of the year.”

When asked about their largest area of concern with regard to media and marketing, 24 per cent cited a “decline in ability to measure effectiveness on tech platforms and open web” as their biggest fear. Some 21 per cent referenced “talent retention and access to expertise,” making finding the right people and teams the second biggest worry, while 16 per cent cited “lack of preparedness for a cookieless future.”

Other key findings show the advertising industry is continuing its investments in digital channels. Connected TV is poised for massive growth with 60 per cent increasing their budgets, and 70 per cent of advertisers are increasing budgets for digital display and video. Meanwhile, social is the fastest overall with 72 per cent planning to grow their budgets this year. When respondents were asked what the biggest opportunities to improve execution in social channels were, it was a three-way tie among better creative and production tools, resolving social identity across platforms, and better ad performance.

The survey was conducted using TechValidate to gather insights from 600+ leaders at brands, agencies, media providers, and tech companies around the most pressing issues in the advertising industry.