25 digital marketing predictions for 2025

2024 has been a year of transformation and learning for all of us.

As marketers, we’ve witnessed significant shifts — from the near deprecation of third-party cookies to the rise of Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO). Keeping track of the changes has been no small feat, and preparing for what’s next in 2025 is just as challenging.

But don’t worry!

Our experts have carefully curated their top 25 predictions for the upcoming year, so you can stay ahead of the curve.

PS. Meet you same time next year to check how accurate our predictions were. Our bet is on us.

TL; DR

1. AI won’t solve your paid social problems if you don’t pair it with human thinking and creativity – shocker, we know.
2. Users will consume digital media across more channels, so diversify your paid social strategy!
3. UGC is here to stay (and it’s cheap!).
4. Zero-click searches will continue to surge.
5. Channel diversification will unify the search journey.
6. SEO terminology and methods will broaden.
7. AI will be your creative sidekick more often than not.
8. Audiences will crave hyper-realistic, purpose-driven ads.
9. AR & VR will rise (seriously this time).
   
10. AI will be Martech’s new normal – there’s no way around it anymore.
11. Most companies will need a new way of evaluating their marketing.
12. Composable MarTech will start gaining traction
13. Omnichannel strategies and AI-driven personalisation will evolve together.
14. Automation will dominate asset creation.
15. GenAI ads will reshape ad placements.
16. Privacy will stay at the forefront of EU companies’ data strategies, which means that…
17. … First-party data strategies will be more essential for businesses to have in place.
18. AI innovation will have to face ethics.
19. Video will take centre stage as an all-encompassing theme.
20. 2025 will be the year of podcast and audio advertising.
21. Programmatic DOOH will continue to grow, especially in the Nordics.
22. Unified Customer Data Platforms will become the default mode for tracking and reporting.
23. Server-side tracking will be key for data governance.
24. Cloud-based solutions will expand online data capabilities.
25. At Precis, 2025 is going to be a year of working hard and playing harder. We have plenty of exciting things lined up, and we couldn’t be more excited to share them with you!

Paid social

In 2025, attention and quality engagement will be crucial for the brands that want to grow their market share. As a channel, social media has seen a decline in consumers’ receptivity towards ads, so creativity and innovation will play a large role in helping brands stand out.

Prediction 1: AI won’t solve your paid social problems if you don’t pair it with human thinking and creativity.

We all now know that AI is great for brainstorming new approaches to innovate and appeal to diverse audiences. For your paid social plans, this translates into finding new ways to showcase your brand. So, use AI to ideate and become an idea-generating powerhouse. Here are some ideas to get started:

• Thinking of breaking into a new category? Ask your favourite AI system to put itself in the shoes of your ideal customer and how they could see your brand fitting into their lives.
• Contemplating entering a new market? Head to your local keyboard and type away asking for the pros and cons of this market for your product.
• Are you having a hard time connecting with your most loyal customers? Ask them first. If you can’t, then ask ChatGPT to pretend to be this customer and what visuals would drive them to action.
• Have your ads hit the wall and refuse to deliver improved CTRs or lower CPMs? Let AI help diversify your asset mix and help shake things up.

Once you have this, run some cross-tabulations of audience penetration on the different social channels to understand how your social campaign creatives should look and feel, and where you should prioritise spending your hard-working marketing budgets.

AI will fuel your work to become faster, but the human touch is what will allow that spark of creativity to shine through. The combo of these two will help position your brand as a leader in innovation and creativity and, more importantly, human connection.

Prediction 2: Users will consume digital media across more channels, so diversify your paid social strategy.

As consumers’ attention declines (especially in social media), inversely the opportunities to branch out to new channels increase. Audiences don’t use social networks in the same way.

• They may go to Facebook to stalk their ex and check out the used floor lamp selection on Marketplace.
• Instagram is where they curate an aesthetic collection of their lives.
• TikTok and Pinterest are sources of self-help and inspiration, though each one may be for a different type of aspirational storytelling.
• And don’t even get me started on LinkedIn…

Therefore, when planning your next paid social campaign, mix your channels. Not only does expanding across other platforms improve your reach, but it will also help build up frequency and reach audiences at various parts of their user journey.  Just keep a few things in mind:

• Do not spread your budget too thin. It’s great to be across multiple platforms, but if you’re only spending $1 a day on each platform, the impact is very low. So be smart, and invest wisely.
• Don’t forget about the quintessential creatives. Although it can be a pain to align your creative to each channel’s creative environment, it’s crucial, as you need to captivate your audiences with high-quality content that resonates with their mindsets as they scroll away. Make them distinguished and aligned to each channel’s creative best practices.
• Your audience needs to be actively engaged on the channels you’re advertising. If your desired audience is only on 2 of them, then what’s the point? If you’re expanding to new groups, remember to adjust communications and creatives accordingly.

Prediction 3: UGC is here to stay (and it’s cheap!)

It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but user-generated content (UGC) reigns supreme when it comes to Paid Social. Because content creators know their audiences and how to interact with them on each social platform, brands can use UGC to diversify their creative mix.

Giving content creators the freedom to use their brand as they know their audiences want to see it means relinquishing control over the brand image and tonality, it comes with the benefit of making brands more authentic (and did we mention cheaper impressions?). Across platforms, we’ve seen that UGC performs better than general ad creatives and reaps the benefits of cheaper metrics across the acronym spectrum, like CPM, CPC and CPA, to name a few.

At the end of the day, a brand should still have a strong voice based on its own organic content. UGC can help amplify its messaging and reach unexpected audiences. Ideally, this relationship is symbiotic, allowing both parties to benefit from the other’s strengths. We strongly recommend you begin testing UGC and working with creators to find the right balance of content and connection.

SEO

Staying adaptable and using AI will be key to success in 2025. We recommend embracing the strengths of LLMs and focusing on user intent to stay ahead. Success in this new era of search will be all about delivering value — whether through traditional searches, voice queries, or virtual assistants. In short, meet users where they are, and your brand will stand out.

Prediction 4: Zero-click searches will continue to surge

By 2025, most searches will end with 0-click results (users getting answers straight from the search results page). This shift, powered by AI and LLMs, means search engines can now deliver rich, conversational responses without sending users to external websites.

In 2025, your content needs to work smarter so it stands out directly in the SERP:

• Optimise for conversational queries and AI-generated summaries.
• Add FAQs, concise definitions, and structured data to secure those coveted featured snippets and position 0 spots.

Prediction 5: Channel diversification will unify the search journey

In 2025, consumers will continue searching beyond Google, using platforms like YouTube, social media, and AI-powered assistants.
For brands, this means taking a bigger-picture approach to their online presence.

As search engines shift to include formats like video snippets, AI-driven answers, and image results, your content must be easy to find and engaging across all touchpoints.

• Go omnichannel: Create content that fits each platform, from videos and podcasts to social media snippets.
• Stay consistent: Align efforts across SEO, content, PR, and social media teams to keep your brand message clear and relevant.

Prediction 6: SEO terminology and methods will broaden

By 2025, SEO will transform into Search Experience Optimisation (SXO), blending SEO strategies with user experience (UX) to meet new search engine priorities. What does this mean for businesses?

• Focus on both tech and experience: Combine technical SEO precision with content that feels relevant and satisfying. AI models can predict what resonates, so align your strategy accordingly.
• Prioritise answer engine optimisation (AEO): Adapt to AI-driven platforms like Google Gemini, OpenAI’s Search GPT, Bing Copilot, and Perplexity by creating content tailored to these tools.

Creative

The past year has taken us on a rollercoaster ride through the never-boring world of creative advertising.

• Meta’s algorithms now prefer short, engaging, and shareable video content over polished publisher pieces, leaving advertisers scrambling to make their ads shorter, snappier, and more impactful than ever.
• On top of that, the shortening attention spans and infinite overload of online ads have meant emotionally standing out has become a necessity – we have concrete proof that dull advertising not only underperforms but also costs more money than you dare to think.

And, of course, there has been AI. It has been growing up fast and has now reached the maturity of a toddler; clever enough to lie to our faces, but still unable to count fingers reliably. What a growth spurt! So, what does 2025 have in store?

Prediction 7: AI will be your newest co-worker who never takes a break (even more so)

AI will take over the world. That’s it. That’s the prediction. Kidding! (Or am I?)

In 2025, AI will evolve from being a shiny, first-mover novelty to an essential everyday tool in the creative arsenal. Companies will embrace AI as a reliable sidekick to traditional creative methods, while creative professionals will sharpen their skills and learn smarter ways to combine AI’s efficiency with a human touch.

The rise of AI will bring new opportunities for hyper-customised creatives, as advanced AI-driven tools enable the creation of assets at scale, tailored to eerily specific individual preferences. Expect a surge of AI-generated models (human or otherwise) to enter the advertising world, offering fresh possibilities and creative solutions.

And as for those weirdly-looking AI fingers? Either AI will finally nail the anatomy lesson or uneven digits will become the next big trend. Your move, AI.

Prediction 8: Hyper-realist ads will be trendy

Ah, the balancing act of getting down and dirty… and authentic.

To counter the surreal shine of AI-generated content, audiences will yearn for something tangible, authentic, and raw (see Liza’s point above!). Hyper-realistic ads will emerge as a powerful counterbalance, flooding the other end of the creative spectrum. Trends like “ugly ads” satisfy the audience’s need for realism and human touch.

Across all social media platforms, micro- and nano-influencers will continue to gain bigger traction as the UGC trend evolves beyond polished pro-level influencers. Audiences will lean toward homemade, lo-fi content over studio-perfect shots due to relatability.

Prediction 9: Alternative realities of AR & VR will rise

Virtual and Augmented Realities have been simmering beneath the surface for years; always on the verge of breaking through, yet never quite arriving. While the much-anticipated revolution hasn’t materialised as expected, the signs suggest the pot is starting to bubble again.

With technology advancing and accessibility improving, VR and AR may finally claim a bigger slice of the creative landscape. We can’t wait to see how the utopic VR ads we’ve seen only in sci-fi movies might come to life in our homes for real. (Who knows? Maybe one day, we’ll even get those magical moving images straight out of Harry Potter’s world.)

Martech

Prediction 10: AI will be our new normal – there’s no way around it anymore.

These days you couldn’t really make predictions without mentioning AI, right?

My biggest 2025 prediction around AI is that it will stop being “the shiny new thing” and become just how we do stuff. With all the advancements in the development area of building agents, it almost feels obvious.

Less testing random use cases or guessing if it’ll work. AI will help companies run campaigns, personalise content, and create assets like it was any other colleague. Basically, all the “what if” ideas about AI will finally become day-to-day marketing reality.

Prediction 11: More companies will need a new way of evaluating their marketing

Path-based attribution? Yeah, that’s done. Privacy rules are making it harder (if not impossible) to track user journeys like we used to. In 2025, brands will have to embrace aggregated measurements and smarter models that actually respect privacy.

Probabilistic models will be the name of the game – especially ones that can be adjusted based on what you know about your audience, channels, and goals. These flexible models will give marketers the insights they need without relying on invasive tracking, making them the gold standard everyone should aim for.

Prediction 12: Composable MarTech will start gaining traction

A term that’s been gaining traction over the last couple of years is “Composable MarTech”. A term for a MarTech Strategy grounded in picking and choosing the right tools for the many different jobs of a marketer and “composing” them into a competitive edge.

As companies are getting more and more advanced in their data & technology investments, I believe 2025 will see many more companies asking the question “is there really a tool that can satisfy all my needs?” Spoiler: there’s not… And the only way to truly build a competitive edge with MarTech is by combining the best tools for different jobs. See how we (successfully) did it for Åhléns.

Paid search

2024 has brought us clearer insights into the “black box” of performance Max, but there’s still work to be done before we have an actionable framework in Google Ads for setting precise targets. Right now, the focus remains on identifying key winners (like asset groups) and transitioning them into structured, target-based campaigns.

Prediction 13: Omnichannel strategies and AI-driven personalisation will evolve together.

Paid search will play a key role in bridging online campaigns with offline conversions, driving traffic and tracking the influence of digital touch points on in-store visits and sales. AI will enhance these efforts by providing deeper audience insights, enabling more personalised ad messaging and precise targeting at every stage of the customer journey.

For brands, this means:

• Optimising ads for omnichannel tracking and, at the same time, …
• … Using AI to create highly relevant, personalised experiences that drive both online and offline results.

Prediction 14: Automation will dominate asset creation

In paid search, AI-generated assets like headlines, descriptions, and visuals will streamline ad creation. Tools integrated into Google Ads will automate the process, enabling faster campaign iteration and optimisation.

This will allow businesses to:

• Quickly generate and test ads at scale.
• Focus on strategy and campaign optimisation instead of manual asset creation.

Prediction 15: Gen AI ads will reshape ad placements

This year, we’ve seen Google increasingly implement AI overviews and introduce tools like Search GPT. These products are often launched as free and ad-free initially to attract a large user base before transitioning to monetisation strategies.

In 2025, we may see an expanded suite of tools designed for creating campaigns and ads within AI-driven search platforms, such as Search GPT or Perplexity as well as ads integrated directly into Google AI overviews.

Brands’ paid search strategies will need to:

• Adapt to compete with AI-generated search results and
• Create richer, more engaging ads to maintain visibility and effectiveness.

Privacy

Prediction 16: Privacy will stay at the forefront for EU companies.

With shifts in US politics leaning toward deregulation, Europe is likely to respond by reinforcing its commitment to privacy, keeping it a top priority for European companies. Google’s move to require advertisers to use Consent Mode is part of this, helping businesses meet new privacy standards. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) will also keep privacy a top priority for companies operating in the EU.

In 2025, brands will have to:

• Keep prioritising privacy in their strategies and
• Ensure compliance with EU regulations to avoid penalties.

Prediction 17: First-party data will continue.

Regulators will closely watch how companies use first-party data and set clearer rules about what is allowed. Businesses must focus on using this data responsibly, especially when building long-term customer groups. With the delay in phasing out third-party cookies, Google’s Privacy Sandbox will push companies to adopt privacy-first strategies and stay compliant with data protection laws.

Brands will need to:

• Adopt clear, privacy-focused data strategies to build trust and
• Stay compliant (duh).

Prediction 18: AI innovation will have to face ethics

AI and digital marketing are now closely linked, and companies need to plan ahead. While the AI Act in Europe sets transparency rules, more must be done to assess AI tools’ impact on users. Marketers will need to balance new AI technology with ethical practices to keep trust and provide meaningful experiences, especially as tools like Google’s Search GPT and Privacy Sandbox become more common.

To maintain customer trust, brands will have to:

• Adopt AI tools responsibly and
• Ensure ethical practices in their digital marketing.

Programmatic

Prediction 19: Video will take centre stage as an all-encompassing theme.

We have all heard it before “This year will be the year of video”, and you know what? 2025 it will actually be the case. Here’s why:

• Video consumption is the favourite amongst social media platforms and algorithms keep prioritising video content over image or text ads.
• The rise of Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) is undeniable, with platforms like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and MAX becoming key players in the media mix, offering advertisers a massive reach that can compete with traditional TV and YouTube.
• Video is no longer just a broadcasting medium; with programmatic targeting and diverse inventory options, it’s now a powerful tool for low to mid-funnel strategies, allowing very precise targeting (any anime fans on platforms such as Crunchyroll or YouTube here?).

Prediction 20: 2025 will be the year of podcast and audio advertising.

According to GWI’s latest report, podcast has taken over radio as the preferred source of audio content. And although podcasts lack advertiser adoption programmatically (with podcast revenue from programmatic buying rising from just 2% in 2021 to 11%) there’s still significant growth potential ahead.

Podcast and audio advertising have long struggled with the challenge of properly evaluating performance at a glance. However, this is set to change. In the US, a project led by podcast network Wondery in collaboration with Amazon aims to bridge retail metrics between ad spending and purchases on Amazon, offering new insights into performance.

At Precis, we’re already using Alvie to spot opportunities for media like podcast advertising.

Prediction 21: DOOH will continue to grow Programmatically in the Nordics.

While Germany and the Netherlands have a head start on the Scandinavian market, with over 30% of DOOH revenue driven programmatically, the Nordics are catching up rapidly. In January 2024, Clear Channel launched their Programmatic DOOH in Denmark, and in the first half of 2025, JCDecaux will follow, with the same trend for other Scandinavian publishers. With publishers now in place and tech platforms working as intended, there’s no longer any excuse not to run a DOOH test in 2025.

By the way, did you know that 1 in 5 programmatic advertising campaigns is managed from a country different from where the ads are being displayed? This definitely holds true for Precis, as we’ve been present in more than 15 markets in 2024.

Data & Analytics

As customer touchpoints continue to grow and fragment, Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) are becoming essential tools for managing first-party data. With data moving to a more integrated and unified approach, CDPs will be key in bringing together information from various channels and devices. This will not only help marketers build a clearer, more complete view of their customers but also enable them to deliver more personalised and consistent experiences across every touchpoint.

Prediction 23: Server-side tracking will be key for data governance.

With the accountability introduced by the DMA for gatekeepers, there will be an increased need for businesses to have greater control over the data they collect and share with third parties. Server-side tracking offers a solution by allowing businesses to store all their data on their own servers. This enables them to manage sensitive information, redacting or enriching it as necessary, and share data in compliance with consent and geolocation rules.

Prediction 24: Cloud-based solutions will expand online data capabilities.

As tracking setups grow more complex and less transparent, cloud-based solutions will become increasingly important. These solutions will help monitor data quality, enrich events with user-level data, and handle data from users who have not given consent. Cloud services will provide the flexibility and power needed to manage and process data in new, more efficient ways, making them essential tools for businesses in the coming year.

Last but not least…

Prediction 25

At Precis, we’re ready to work hard and play even harder. Stay tuned for all the amazing things we’ll achieve and learn in 2025, hopefully by your side, dear reader!