With the new year fast approaching, I've put together a list of 20 digital media trends I predict in the forthcoming year. I plan to write specific posts about each - so for now, these are just headlines:
- Digital Media properties will be significantly more aggressive with online advertising - ... Facebook in particular - iPhone Gaming Will Progress Beyond Novelty - Mobile Apps will find a price point beyond free or $0.99 - iPhone Apps become the MySpace of the music and movie industries: part of every marketing campaign - Android's popularity will require hit hardware... which will take longer than anticipated - Talk of an Amazon + eBay and/or Amazon + Netflix will surface... and make sense - Subscription services will become more common / popular - Online gaming becomes even bigger as people seek free entertainment; makes a dent on traditional video game industry - Acquisitions will be based on break-even and profitable start-ups - "Burn rate" will be the hot buzz word - The mantra "What's Old is New" will ring true - Some companies will distinguish themselves as winners during the downturn thanks to well-positioned services (The Ladders, BillShrink, etc) - In-Video advertising will grow... and begin to work - Video will grow further as people's appetite for online content moves significantly beyond 30-90 second clips - Several roll-ups of small/medium sized content players - A handful of Huffington Post Clones will emerge... successfully - Verticals with deep targetting will succeed... more than properties that are very wide but shallow - There will be a major winner in Behavioral Targetting and Cookie Exchanges - Major content properties (ie newspapers, ESPN) focus sites to push personalities atop headlines