Every year, the Experian team attends the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas to study the latest technological advancements and innovations that shape the AdTech industry. The energy at CES 2025 was palpable, with a whirlwind of conversations around artificial intelligence (AI), connected TV (CTV), privacy-first solutions, and sustainability in advertising. Here are four standout themes from this year’s event.
1. The AI evolution: More buzzwords, but growing potential
AI dominated discussions this year, but the gap between hype and practical application was still evident. While some vendors showcased innovative tools for campaign optimization and audience creation, much of the buzz felt aspirational.
The use of AI to generate audiences based on new types of data is a promising sign of things to come. Data providers, including those collaborating with Experian, are beginning to test AI tools to enhance audience accuracy and scale. The AI space still feels frenetic, but the potential for transformative change is undeniable.
“AI was a hot topic, with discussions ranging from campaign optimization tools to audience selection. While many leaned on buzzwords, there were glimpses of legitimate use cases.”
Brooke Logan, VP of Data Strategy and Partnerships
2. CTV: A race for quality and curation
CTV remained a popular topic at CES, particularly around the challenges of fragmentation and scale. Sellers are grappling with an oversupply of inventory, leading to a renewed focus on curation. Conversations highlighted the importance of premium audiences, brand safety, and identity resolution. In the fragmented CTV landscape, advertisers want to be able to define an audience once, have that audience be highly addressable, and then activate everywhere.
One standout theme was the shift in CTV monetization strategies. With linear TV revenues declining, major publishers are exploring ways to maximize yields on streaming platforms. Direct-sold premium inventory still reigns, but programmatic is gaining traction—a trend we’re seeing driven by publishers seeking scalable solutions.
“CTV remains fragmented. While premium inventory is largely direct-sold, big publishers are exploring ways to boost yield on streaming as linear revenue declines.”
Lauren Portell, Sr. Account Executive, Advanced TV
3. Privacy-first solutions
The regulatory landscape continues to evolve, and advertisers are responding with innovative, privacy-centric methodologies. For industries like healthcare, privacy-first solutions are being developed from the ground up to comply with current and future regulations. The emphasis on cookieless and contextual advertising remains strong, with data providers utilizing first-party data to enrich audience targeting strategies.
“Providers across verticals that are typically more sensitive are developing methodologies from the ground up based on current and future potential privacy regulations.”
Adam Kobus, Director of Data Partnerships
4. Eco-conscious advertising: Building a sustainable future
Sustainability emerged as a growing focus, as indicated by initiatives like Scope3 and Experian’s own carbon reduction goals. Companies are exploring ways to reduce the environmental impact of ad serving and data management. For example, platforms like AdGood are transforming unused CTV inventory into opportunities for non-profit initiatives. While not strictly eco-focused, these efforts signal a shift toward more conscientious advertising practices.
“Sustainability is gaining attention, with efforts to reduce the carbon footprint through eco-conscious advertising, data management practices, and ad serving.”
Erin Wolf, Sr. Account Executive, Demand Partnerships
The buzz around Experian
The launch of the Experian marketplace and the Audigent acquisition were major talking points, underscoring Experian’s commitment to innovation in AdTech. Together, Experian and Audigent will be an end-to-end solution where publishers big and small can empower marketers to better understand their customers, create precise audience segments, and activate those audiences across the best inventory.
Likewise, Experian’s new data marketplace connects TV operators, programmers, supply partners, and demand platforms with top-tier third-party audiences across retail, CPG, health, B2B, and location intelligence. All audiences delivered from our marketplace benefit from our best-in-class offline and digital identity graphs, which ensure addressability across all channels like display, mobile, and CTV.
An exciting year ahead
CES 2025 underscored the rapid evolution of the advertising ecosystem. From AI to CTV and privacy-first solutions, the industry is adapting to new challenges and opportunities. As Experian continues to lean into these trends, our role in powering data-driven advertising through connectivity remains more focused than ever.
We’re excited to see how these themes will evolve throughout the year and look forward to collaborating with our partners to shape the future of digital advertising. Follow us on LinkedIn or sign up for our email newsletter for more informative content on the latest industry insights and data-driven marketing.
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The home stretch for the holidays is nearing as second wind for retailers is just starting as Experian Marketing Services analyzes the post-Christmas retail trend. Christmas Day 2012 saw a 27% increase in online traffic to the top 500 retail sites compared to 2011. The top retail sites received more than 115.5 million total U.S. visits. To date the holiday online traffic for the past 7 weeks to retail sites are up 10% for 2012 vs. 2011. Each retail holiday milestone day saw online traffic increases so far this season. Amazon remained the top visited site among retailers for this past week ending Dec. 22, 2012 and was also the top visited site on Christmas Day. Walmart, Target, BestBuy and Macy’s round out the top 5 most visited sites. The chart below includes the top 10 results: As tablets dominated our weekly top product search lists all holiday season it wasn’t surprising to see that the Apple iTunes site visits increased 193% and Apple.com visits increased 155% on Christmas Day 2012 vs. Christmas Eve 2012. The top product search terms sending traffic to the Apple.com site were iPod Nano, iPad Mini and iPad 4. Amazon.com visits increased 24% on Christmas Day 2012 vs. Christmas Eve 2012 as the top product search terms sending traffic to their site were Amazon Kindle, Kindle Fire and Kindle Also seeing growth were gift card searches as the year-over-year total search volume for "gift card" variations increased 6.1% this year compared to 2011. The big spike in searches happened last week (as online shoppers passed shipping deadlines). Below are the top 10 gift card searches for last week. We will continue to publish retail site data and insights through this holiday season. Please leave us a comment below if you have any specific questions along the way. UPDATE: The top 500 retail sites received more than 129 million total US visits on Dec. 26th, an increase of 1% compared to 2011 and 12% compared to Christmas Day 2012. Amazon was the top site followed by Walmart, Target, BestBuy and Macy’s. JCPenney, QVC and The Home Depot all moved into the top 10 on the day after Christmas. Learn more about the author, Matt Tatham
Hi, Dana here with an update on my holiday shopping post from before Thanksgiving. Like I thought, I was able to get most of my shopping done that Black Friday weekend. It was all pretty fast and easy, but I did have one not so great experience too. My sister knew I was going to get something for my niece, so when she got an email from Toy World that everything would be 50% off on Black Friday she forwarded it to me to let me know. I was thrilled. I had done some searching for good toys this year and had some ideas. While I normally would shop online, the Toy World coupon said the 50% off was in-store only so I braved the crowds for a good deal. Unfortunately, when I got there I learned that the email was wrong – only select items were 50% off and others were buy one, get one 50% off. I was pretty upset because the hottest toys were the ones excluded from the deal. I came all that way based on the email. I wound up getting a gift, but I could have saved myself the hassle and long lines, especially since I didn’t get a deal that was different from any other day. That was a rough start to the shopping weekend, but, no worries, things improved. I have to tell you about my best shopping experience – I’ve been telling everyone! This year I used Pinterest to see what my mom has had her eye on lately. One of her pins is a food processor and I think that’s a perfect gift for her. I’m a card holder and reward member at Aaron’s department store and I know they carry some really nice kitchen appliances. They also happened to send me great Cyber Monday coupons in the mail – it was perfect timing. I went online on Cyber Monday, used the promo codes from the coupons and not only got great deals, but got free shipping too! How easy was that?! They also sent me shipping notifications so I knew exactly when to expect the package. I am really happy that I got something great for everyone on my list and now have time to enjoy the rest of 2012. I hope you enjoy it too! XOXO, Dana Editor’s note: You can tell that Aaron’s knows Dana. They used their direct mail piece to send her online offers because they know that’s her preferred purchase method. They’ve won her over once again and created a brand advocate. Learn where your company stands in your marketing efforts today, and how you can help move efforts forward to ensure your customers have good experiences like Dana had with Aaron’s, and avoid bad ones like her trip to Toy World.
With the busy holiday marketing season in full swing, Experian Marketing Services has released its online retail round-up for the week ending December 8. The online traffic to the top 500 retail sites increased 5% for the period of December 2 – 8, compared to the same week in 2011. Additionally, Amazon remained the top visited site among retailers, followed by Walmart and Target. The chart below includes the top 10 results: Experian Marketing Services also tracks top product searches. Listed below are the top 5 product searches for the week ending December 8: Uggs iPad mini iPad Beats by dre Ipod touch We will continue to publish weekly retail site data and insights through this holiday season. Please leave us a comment below if you have any specific questions along the way. Learn more about the author, Matt Tatham