Jellyfish predictions for 2025

Setting the scene for 2025 our Jellyfish experts have a raft of predictions for where AI innovations, tech, media carbon emissions and content creation are set to take the ad world next…

In the words of Daniel Smulevich, EVP Cloud, “2025 sits at the intersection of three catalytic forces: unprecedented pressure to prove marketing technology's tangible impact on business outcomes; the mass expiration of pandemic-era tech contracts; and next-generation AI platforms finally delivering on their promises.”

The great martech reset

Daniel believes that 2025 will mark the ‘great martech reset’, with an overall increase in investment into a reduced number of streamlined tech stacks. Companies will spend more on fewer, smarter platforms, and innovation will begin to give way to integration, allowing for truly unified marketing engines, operating primarily through three or four core platforms by 2026. (Source: 2025 Measurement, data and privacy predictions, PMW)

Nick Fettiplace, MD, UK, also believes that the rapid evolution of the marketing industry will continue apace, driven by tech and AI innovations. Privacy pressures that have reshaped the industry over the last few years and the increasing fragmentation of digital spaces will also continue to have an impact on the industry and our approach to it. (Source: Experts Comment: Predictions For Marketing In 2025, TechRound)

Greater confidence returns

Nick predicts that greater confidence will return among consumers, advertisers and platforms, with the new territories that have been opened up gradually becoming familiar to us. This will lead to a shift in ad revenues and the job market, set against a backdrop of continuing innovation, evolution and maturity. (Source: 2025 Consumer behaviour and adspend prediction, PMW)

2025 is the year AI will transform advertising

Unsurprisingly, AI is a key area that almost all of our experts believe will transform advertising in 2025 with the roll out of generative AI at scale.

Karen Bennett, Managing Director, US, Jellyfish, believes that companies will continue to embrace generative AI, allowing for faster experimentation with direct performance metrics, and that the faster the content can be developed, the faster it’ll fail or succeed. This broadening of content creation will mean that content can be more specifically tailored to each platform and audience, leading to more effective efforts by marketers. (Source: 2025 Predictions: What’s Next? Cynopsis)

If you're a creator, it’s amazing news

David Jones, CEO of Brandtech, Jellyfish’s parent company, predicts this year “every week a major brand will be putting out a TV commercial they’ve created 100% using Gen AI,” and creatives need to embrace these new tools, likening the fear of AI to the panic felt by artists at the introduction of photography. What will the impressionism of the post-Gen-AI era be?

AI’s impact on the industry can’t be understated. Gen AI tools like Pencil are transforming advertising by offering clients the prospect of [better, faster and] cheaper marketing, David Jones reckons that "big companies will be able to cut content creation costs by at least 50% over the next three years, and that smart companies will use this saving to invest in more advertising to stay ahead of the competition." (Source: The Times)

Marie Raimbert-Galtier, MD, France, also believes that generative-AI will continue to unlock faster and more responsive innovation, with AI agents revolutionising automation, moving beyond simple task execution to real-time adaptive collaboration with human teams.

The future of talent in an AI-driven world

Ian Ross, VP, Training, believes that the rapid evolution of AI will create persistent talent gaps, and investing in strategic upskilling is a must for organisations that want to stay ahead of the curve. (Source: AI is outpacing industry talent: how to respond strategically, MediaCat)

Across the board, there’s a sense that whilst some people may be nervous about AI ‘replacing’ the human touch, it’s a powerful tool that will only enhance what we mere mortals can do alone, and that the future will see a collaborative approach between AI and marketers. 

Beyond AI, Sophie Morgan-Short, Paid Social Director, believes that Meta will be launching search ad campaigns across Instagram and Facebook, and that privacy restrictions will make contextual targeting more important than ever, with Instagram in particular taking inspiration from TikTok and indexing their database to return relevant results. (Source: 2025 automation and emerging channels, PMW)

A big focus on driving sales within video content through streaming

Marie Raimbert-Galtier predicts we’ll see Streaming and CTV platforms leading the way in highly targeted advertising, and that we’ll see retail media seeing significant growth. Karen Bennett echoes this, stating that we’ll see a bigger focus on driving sales through streaming video content, particularly where content is correctly served to the right audiences.  

Media Mix Modelling is an area that will start to catch up with other areas, and brands will need to take an holistic approach more than ever before, according to Nick Fettiplace. Brands will need to be more agile and granular, with more cost effective and actionable data enabling them to optimise their entire funnel with speed, accuracy and cost-efficiency. (Source: Experts Comment: Predictions For Marketing In 2025, TechRound)

Reporting on environmental and social impact

With Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) coming into effect this year, Steph Parry, EVP Client Management predicts, “Brands will increasingly prioritize media carbon emissions as part of their reporting requirements.” Steph emphasizes the growing importance of collaborating with partners like Scope3 and Ad Net Zero to better understand the role Paid Media is playing in a brand's overall carbon emissions. By leveraging solutions such as J+ Bidding for Climate brands can take actionable steps to reduce their emissions. These efforts will not only align with sustainability goals but also introduce media carbon emissions, a key metric of success that should be integrated into their broader marketing strategy.

In a nutshell

On the whole, there is a marked focus on ensuring that advertising efforts are done with care, with attention given to audience, platform, privacy and the content itself. While AI is likely to help speed up nearly all of the processes involved, and enable marketers to test and learn faster than ever before, the ultimate approach will be more pointed and focussed on ensuring that each and every dollar spent is spent with purpose and care to reach the right audiences in the right places at the right time.