TORO Advertising’s Business Developer Beatriz Gonzalez shares her insights and predictions for what will be big in 2020 for the online marketing industry.  

What affiliate offers do you think will be big in 2020?

On TORO Advertising’s platform Fintech related campaigns brought great results for affiliates in 2019 especially in LATAM and Spain. Also Forex offers have been converting well in DACH/Nordic countries and Nutra offers also saw good conversions in USA and Asia. We expect these offers to continue yielding good results for affiliates in 2020.

Which social platforms will see the most growth in 2020?

Facebook remains the #1 social platform, and Instagram, thanks to the IG Stories and the shoppable posts will continue to keep growing, Instagram is the new home for brands. But the rising star of 2019 was the younger audience targeting TikTok, with a billion active users worldwide. I expect this to continue to grow in 2020. For users, TikTok fame is different from fame on other social platforms like YouTube, Twitter or Instagram. Because TikTok primarily serves viewers through its algorithm-driven feed, you don’t need a single follower on the app to have a video blow up. TikTok creators in their pursuit of fame are experimenting with viral challenges, music videos, dance trends, imitation videos, etc. Gen Z doesn’t mind being marketed to, as long as it’s quality content, so brands will be developing campaigns performed by TikTok creators as influencers in order to drive viral marketing and # awareness. I think TikTok will become a crucial part of the marketing mix in 2020 when targeting Gen Z teens. Check out these fascinating Tik Tok statistics from Influencer Marketing Hub. 

What trends do you see in ad formats for 2020?

Digital video ad spending will continue to grow as more consumers move from traditional TV to internet TV services. Mobile and tablet devices have played key roles in driving internet video consumption, therefore video advertising is becoming a really valuable format for both advertisers and publishers. This format has very high CTR and can really tell a story in order to drive consumer purchase and brand awareness. 

Despite FireFox blocking web Push Notifications, I think there is still plenty of life left yet in this ad format. Email is now under tighter controls with GDPR and stricter filters, so Push is a great alternative to email. The younger audience favours other methods of communication and according to Statista.com 33% of 18-34 year olds always opt in to web push notification and a further 30% in this age range often opt in.

Even though Native advertising has been around for a while now, it is still a key format. Affiliates have learned how to enrich Native advertising content and maximise clickability with compelling images and texts, in 2020 I predict Native will grow on programmatic and mobile and less on social.

Technology

Voice search will explode next year. Amazon is shipping more and more products in its Echo series along with voice devices from Google and Apple, we can expect to see more purchases of these devices over the 2019 Christmas season. Grocery shopping already accounts for more than 20% of voice-based orders, 25% of the queries on Android devices are voice-based, 55% of teenagers are using voice search on a daily basis. According to ComScore, over 50% of the searches in 2020 will be from voice search and voice-based shopping is expected to jump to a market value of $40 billion by 2022. This raises two important ways to drive consumer search and purchase using voice: 1. Paid for recommendations of related products when a voice search for a type of product is said. 2. Traditional digital ads driving voice search purchases for example, a banner ads call to action: “search for these shoes using voice and get a 20% discount with the words SHOESALE.” 

Companies will dedicate more advertising budget to affiliate programs 

At TORO Advertising we have seen year on year more investment in promoting affiliate offers. Campaigns are getting more specialised and as more automation tools appear to help affiliates automate the analysis of data, bidding and which landing page and creatives to send traffic to, affiliates are able to work more intelligently. Figures show in the US that there is a 10.1% increase in affiliate marketing spending each year, meaning that by 2020, that number will reach $6.8 billion.