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2025 ad tech predictions from an airline guy

A browser window with 3 airplane windows inside, with a rotating view of different planes seen through them.

Illustration by Robyn Phelps / Shutterstock / The Current

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: 2025 outlook and predictions. But before we get to what’s to come, I’d like to reflect on what’s happened this year, as experience is a phenomenal teacher and has no bias. In 2024, we saw that:

  1. Signal loss continued. The cookie is going away, seriously — we’re just not sure when. While first-party data and other identifiers are gaining momentum, the cookie is still prominently used in media plans.
  2. Some walled gardens played nice. Amazon and Pinterest took a community-garden approach through supply and audience extension, along with marketplace tools.
  3. The AI narrative was toned down from overhype and drama to practicality and utilization. Fears of machines taking over the world aren’t a common topic anymore (although I still say “Please” and “Thank you” to Alexa just in case). We’re better at understanding how AI becomes a resource, not an enemy.
  4. Not all first-party data is created equal. Owning first-party data is only part of the equation: Accuracy of, organization of, intelligence and insight from, and outcomes for the data are the keys to successful data use.
  5. M&A came back and will increase. IPG and Omnicom, Experian and Audigent, Viant and Iris.TV, Zeta and LiveIntent, LiveRamp and Habu were some 2024 highlights. We’ll see more in ’25.

History has a way of repeating itself, but I don’t think 2025 will follow suit. Ad tech is a funny ecosystem where everything changes yet nothing is different. Still, there are themes that are shaping what we should expect for the year ahead. For instance, we’re finally out of the recession that never happened. A new administration is coming in and the markets are optimistic about it. Google’s potential divesture creates potential for a range of scenarios that everyone is trying to prepare for. So with all of that in mind, here’s what I’m predicting in 2025, from my view in media for a major airline:

  1. First-party data must be validated. Agencies, brands, marketers and others will cut out several first-party data providers as efficacy and value of will be on the forefront.
  2. Joint ventures and other partnerships will increase. In addition to M&A, we’ll see JVs and other types of partnerships where brands that complement one another will go to market together, while other brands with an established footprint bring on smaller companies that need help.
  3. Crypto will take steps to be a common currency for e-commerce. I don’t believe we’ll get 100% of the way there, but a potential reduction in federal regulations could open more paths forward. Whether states take the same approach to crypto as they have to user data/privacy remains to be seen and will impact the go-forward.
  4. Curation, curation, curation. We’ve placed another Band-Aid on a need for transparency and efficiency. Publishers are in a predicament as they continue to fight for a finite amount of dollars, sourcing their supply across too many supply-side platforms (SSPs) and now entering curation deals to become part of a larger supply pool. Agencies and marketers want efficiency with their programmatic buys and are throttling queries per second across marketplaces to reduce costs and excess. This is a classic “death by 1,000 cuts” on the sell side, and the exact opposite of what the buy side wants. Curation offers the opportunity to reduce “waste” and must be done in parallel with publishers reducing their SSP footprints. Otherwise, we just further crowd the overcrowded ecosystem.
  5. There will be more travel media networks. It’s time. We’ll see other airlines come out with an offering, perhaps in partnership with other travel endemic brands or other brands with a large user base.

I’m generally excited to see what 2025 brings us. I’m hopeful we see more opportunity and less workforce reductions. I hope we see more startups and more brands getting into new, unchartered waters. I’m excited to watch the Google/DOJ soap opera and read everyone’s professional opinion, both educated and uneducated. Most importantly, I’m excited that I’m part of an industry that is always changing. The lack of dull moments is a catch-22, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This op-ed represents the views and opinions of the author and not of The Current, a division of The Trade Desk, or The Trade Desk. The appearance of the op-ed on The Current does not constitute an endorsement by The Current or The Trade Desk.