Our latest Advertising in 2030 report offers a glimpse of the industry’s future

Experts update their expectations for transformation by the end of the decade 

Today, halfway to the end of the decade, we’re sharing the findings of our most recent Advertising in 2030 study. The research, which was first fielded in 2020 and 2021 provides a view into how industry experts see the future of media, commerce and technology taking shape.  

As with earlier reports, Advertising in 2030 research is based on interviews with a panel of more than 60 carefully selected experts, reflecting a diverse range of perspectives from around the world and across the media, marketing, technology and publishing industries.  

As part of the study, our panel of experts - many returning and some new - were asked to update their expectations for 15 scenarios being true by the year 2030 and score 5 new scenarios for the first time. The prompts span everything from AI and robotics to expectations for regulatory shifts and changes in consumer behavior.  

One of the most striking changes in expert opinion in our updated study is the increased confidence in the applicability of generative AI as a creative tool, reflecting the major advances in AI since the beginning of the decade.  

At the same time, expectations for virtual reality adoption have waned some, with consumers yet to fully embrace VR and AR technology currently on offer and the metaverse has yet to catch on. And while people now increasingly rely on virtual forms of communication and collaboration in the workplace, many companies have brought employees back to the office and back to in-person interactions. 

Expert responses also underscore whiplash in some consumer priorities, with price re-establishing its importance over sustainability in expert perceptions. In 2020, experts expressed strong confidence that environmental impacts would shape consumer decision making by the end of the decade, predicting consumers would come to consider sustainability on par with price.  

While experts still expect significant change by the end of the decade, this latest research reflects the areas in which the most traction appears to have taken hold. Experts currently expect a future where technological integration - particularly involving biometrics and AI assistance - continues its advance but see radical shifts in consumer behavior or global cooperation (the likelihood of a single global privacy law for example) are less likely.