12 marketers predict what’s next for TV, AI and retail in 2025

It’s been a litigious year for adtech.

In August, a judge ruled that Google had a monopoly over search. In the fall, Google faced a second antitrust trial over its alleged adtech monopoly. Meanwhile, Elon Musk pressed on with his lawsuit against World Federation of Advertisers. You might say it’s been a year defined by the courtroom.

What else? Streaming platforms finally broke through to profitability. The NBA signed a $76 billion media rights deal, which signaled that streaming live sports is a high priority for Disney, NBCUniversal’s Peacock and Amazon Prime Video.

After this landmark year, The Current spoke with 12 advertising executives about their biggest predictions for 2025. Taking control is a clear through line of their messaging, from revenue streams to data. Here’s what they see defining the industry in the new year.   

Evolving monetization models

“In 2025, publishers will face increasing pressure to diversify their revenue streams to balance user experience with profitability. With the rise of live shopping and more sophisticated subscription enablement, a mix of ad-supported and direct-to-consumer models will offer greater financial resilience. Publishers that integrate vertical video ads that seamlessly blend into the mobile experience will see higher engagement rates and a more native advertising approach. This shift towards vertical video will allow publishers to tap into new revenue streams while providing a more immersive and user-friendly experience for their mobile audience.” 

— Jenn Chen, CRO, JWP Connatix

“Google’s monopoly in search advertising has been unchallenged for years, but — between antitrust action and big-name rivals getting a foothold in AI search — this may be about to change in 2025.

Publishers are facing unique challenges, with Google’s recent announcement that it is testing the removal of publisher content from search results in Europe, which will have many publishers concerned over the coming months that they will face yet more hurdles in generating site traffic. Between this and the further inapplicability of cookies, first-party data is about to become an even more critical asset for publishers — and they should prioritize improving, packaging and selling their first-party data effectively. Broadly, the aim will be to reduce their reliance on revenue streams over which they have little control.”

— Sergii Denysenko, CEO, MGID

“While cheap reach provides scalability, it often comes at the cost of poor engagement, ad fatigue and misplaced messaging. In contrast, quality media can be pricier but encourages brand equity and empowers brands with long-term value. In 2025, marketers will need a tactical approach that maximizes effectiveness, combining both the broad reach of cost-efficient media and the trust and credibility of high-quality platforms.”

— Jason Warner, managing director, UK and EMEA, SBS

“While supply path optimization (SPO) was a major focus in 2024, with spend going through the same one or two DSPs, 2025 will see a shift towards the demand side, with new technology enabling marketers to optimize the entire supply chain, including demand-side operations. Operational bottlenecks will be eliminated, allowing marketers to become truly DSP agnostic. This will enable budgets to flow to the best-performing combinations of DSPs and SSPs.” -

— Mike Hauptman, co-founder and CEO, AdLib

Moving beyond the AI buzz

“With tens of thousands of AI companies flooding the market, it’s easy to get swept up in the hype. But by 2025, the industry will no longer be able to lean on ‘potential’ as a selling point. AI will have to prove it can actually drive results. Business leaders need ROI, not just new buzzwords. AI must move beyond flashy headlines and focus on tangible, actionable outcomes that improve the human experience and solve real business problems. The future of AI in advertising isn’t about grand visions, it’s about getting down to the fundamentals and showcasing all the value and benefits that these tools can deliver.”

— Josh Campo, CEO, Razorfish

“What I hope our industry steers away from is AI employed to chase vanity metrics or as a mere cost-cutting tool. AI’s true potential is to enhance human creativity and deliver measurable business outcomes. The future of advertising lies in the seamless integration of data-driven insights with emotional storytelling, whether that's through streaming content, social commerce or emerging channels we have yet to imagine.”

— Jon Cook, global CEO, VML

Advancing TV

“The shift from traditional broadcasts to livestreaming has the potential to redefine the fan experience. However, too many streaming services are basically providing the same linear TV experiences on digital. The future is around giving sports and creators unprecedented opportunities to build brands and offer fans premium content combined with authentic, behind-the-scenes access. Athletes and influencers are now engaging audiences in real-time, providing a blend of sports, storytelling and personality-driven content that deepens fan loyalty and boosts viewership. We could see an LLM-like service but for sports fans, where AI can enhance engagement and streamline interactions between fans and their favorite teams.”

— Wim Sweldens, co-founder and CMO, Kiswe

“In 2025, we’ll see a greater emphasis on technology and data utilization to create a more seamless and engaging ad break experience within streaming. For both consumers and marketers alike, ad-supported streaming services will need to leverage technology partnerships to help create a friction-free environment where streaming is used as an interactive point of engagement. This will be the catalyst for more investment on connected TV and a requirement for publishers to best monetize their content; after all, every king (content) will need their queen (data) to thrive in this ever-growing, crowded market.”

— Ria Madrid, VP, advertising partnerships, Wurl

“While CTV has been thriving, a lack of trust remains, especially from advertisers who struggle to understand the true performance of campaigns on the channel. In 2025 this needs to change. The crucial missing piece of the puzzle is a universal ID advertisers can use to anchor their strategies to genuine audience insights, regardless of the service provider, device owner, or viewer’s location. A single, stable identifier will create a strong foundation for campaign planning, informing advertisers' own ID graphs and ultimately boosting campaign success.”

— Charlie Johnson, VP international, Digital Envoy

Widening the scope on data privacy

"My hope is that we see a fundamental shift in how the topic of privacy is perceived in 2025. To date, there's been too much focus on third-party cookies but there are bigger issues that need to be addressed.

Players that take liberties with customer data — while positioning themselves as privacy-centric — will find themselves under much greater scrutiny in 2025.”

— Lauren Wetzel, CEO, InfoSum

Rewiring retail

“2025 will see social commerce rewrite the rules of retail, accelerating the industry to new heights. Players such as TikTok are leading the charge and setting consumer expectations for seamless, interactive shopping experiences that combine both discovery and purchase. However, the evolution of social commerce doesn’t indicate the death of traditional retail — it lays the groundwork in establishing new consumer habits and expectations and provides an opportunity for the adoption of new, modern strategies to capture consumer attention.”

— Nick Morgan, Founder and CEO, Vudoo

“By 2025, we’ll see a complete democratization of how people shop. It’s no longer just about going to a physical store or relying on major platforms. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands are rising and they’ll continue to thrive as new tools make it easier than ever for consumers to discover, engage and purchase across different touchpoints. The seamless purchase funnels available now — especially in mobile apps — will give DTC brands a chance to stand out in ways we haven’t seen before.”

— Rafael Vivas, VP Sales, eCommerce at AppLovin