2023 - A year in review
As we approach the end of 2023, it's time to reflect on the significant events and changes that shaped the landscape of Digital analytics, Cloud, Data Science and Ad Technology this year.
From a lovely farewell to Google Universal Analytics to embracing the era of Google Analytics 4, the deprecation of Google Optimize and witnessing great innovations - it’s been a year of significant developments.?
In this edition, we invite you to join us in this reflexive journey and revisit the highlights of 2023 and take a glimpse into what will be the hot topics in 2024.?
??Here’s to a year of growth, innovation and endless possibilities!?
This year we witnessed the sunset of Google Universal Analytics, marking the end of an era. However, with every end comes a new beginning and the transition triggered a wave of upgrades and adaptations for businesses relying on Google’s analytics platform.?
Embracing this change, the market turned its attention to the implementation and usage of Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
In order to get familiar with the new version of Google Analytics, every feature required some learning time. From creating powerful audiences to mastering attribution and custom funnels, here are our top Digitl articles to read through the most significant changes in GA4:
Digital Analytics Outlook for 2024
1. Privacy-Centric Focus:?
Privacy continues to be a cornerstone of digital analytics discussions. Concepts such as Consent Mode have gained prominence, highlighting the significance of user consent while maintaining data accuracy. Consent Mode is a hot topic and will maintain this position in the upcoming months. If you still need to familiarize with the concept of Google Concept mode check out the following articles:?
2. Enhanced Conversions and Data Modeling:?
Within Data Analytics, the focus is shifting towards sophisticated data modeling and data enhancements such as enhanced conversions. These developments aim to fill the data gaps created by data privacy laws (e.g. GDPR), browser restrictions, and the depreciation of third party cookies and enabling business to continue with smart data-driven decision-making.
The landscape of digital analytics continues to evolve rapidly, and keeping up with the changes is crucial for success in the digital world. In particular, we see an ongoing convergence of marketing technology tools with cloud services.? As we approach the new year, let's dive further in these advancements.
Google Cloud announced 161 features in this year's Google Cloud Next conference, the product conference that brings customers and partners together to showcase and talk about innovations, with a primary focus on Generative AI, enhancing collaboration in the Cloud, and introducing new ways to interact with Cloud services. We have pulled together a list of the most significant updates:
Apart from the innovations in Cloud services, Google continued investments in hardware infrastructure. As of December 2023, Google Cloud maintains 38 regions around the world. This year Google Cloud was powered globally by 100% renewable energy and aims to operate on carbon-free energy 24/7 by 2030.?
We expect Google Cloud to focus on driving adoption of Generative AI in its services in 2024 and are looking forward to more innovations that improve sustainability, security and efficiency in Google Cloud!?
Customer Data Platform
Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) have become essential for businesses by changing how organizations use customer data in 2023. Customers expect personalized experiences along the complete customer journey such as product recommendations, relevant advertisements and personalized coupons. CDPs act as a central hub to orchestrate those personalized experiences. CPDs can ingest a vast variety of data from different channels and organize them efficiently into user profiles. Based on these holistic datasets, marketers can build audiences and personalized customer journeys in the CDP platform. To activate the data, CDPs offer built-in connectors to all relevant advertising channels.?
As privacy concerns intensified in 2023, CDPs demonstrated their relevance by providing a secure framework to manage and utilize customer data. This enhances customer trust and ensures compliance with evolving data protection regulations. In 2023, CDPs stand as an essential tool to navigate the complex landscape of customer experiences. Our CDP dual zone approach allows our customer to implement a CDP use-case in a very short period of time (approx. 2 months). Besides that it avoids a vendor lock-in and ensures data sovereignty. Read more about our approach in this article.
Looker Platform
Google’s Looker family received major updates in 2023. Last year Google unified its business intelligence product offering by merging Data Studio into Looker Studio and Looker Studio Pro. With the family now consisting of Looker, Looker Studio and Looker Studio Pro, the Looker platform now has offerings for every use case from small self-service dashboarding solutions to large-scale enterprise business intelligence solutions. This year Google added features such as new chart types, filter options and improved the connection between BigQuery and Looker even further. The data modeling and exploration features of the Looker Platform have become one of the key tools to discover trends, patterns and correlations. In 2023 the platform became an essential tool for data analytics and business intelligence. If you need any additional information, don’t hesitate to contact us, as we’re also a reseller and implementation partner for all Looker products. You can also read through our articles for further information:
领英推荐
Cloud Outlook for 2024
For 2024 we expect developments in three key areas. The first is around privacy to ensure compliance and enhance customer trust. Google’s Privacy Sandbox is continuously updated and it is likely that new solutions will be published in 2024 to deliver advertisements after the end of third-party cookies. Due to that development we expect the business value of CDPs and Data Clean rooms to rise in the next year. The second area where we might see developments in 2024 are fully implemented use cases around Generative AI. As Google Cloud is integrating Generative AI with Vertex AI and Duet AI in Google Cloud and Google Workspace, we are looking forward to marketing technology and advertising technology use cases leveraging the capabilities of Generative AI. And last but not least for 2024 we are expecting new models and major advancements in existings ML models in Vertex AI, the AI platform in Google Cloud. What these three areas have in common is that they require unified, harmonized data. Digitl Cloud offers ready-to-use solutions to manage data pipelines, harmonize data and consulting and implementation services for CDP projects. Reach out to us if you have any questions!?
Looking back on 2023, it was a stretch of new tools, features and enhancements in accordance but not limited to Gen AI and the re-evaluation & transition of existing Universal Analytics based ML applications towards the new Google Analytics 4 data model. In addition the latter impacted how businesses use data for Dashboards and Advanced Analysis. We navigated this change by adapting the dashboards, refining raw data queries and applying advanced analyses tailored to the evolving GA4 data structure. One of our most observed & presented cases at several conferences was the conversion probability prediction case for Berge & Meer where we used Vertex AI workbench & pipelines in conjunction with Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads? to increase overall campaign performance.?
Beyond the confines of platform-specific data, 2023 also witnessed an expansion into diverse marketing data sources. This broader approach resulted in the development of overarching marketing KPI dashboards (see the following case study for Mustang) as well as dedicated deep dive dashboards and advanced analysis relating to Google Ads, Search Ads 360 or DV360 data.
See example case studies:
The industry’s exploration of diverse datasets opened new avenues for understanding consumer behavior and market dynamics.?
Looking ahead to 2024 and the rapid development of AI applications, the data science team is looking into an exciting future on applying future developments to enhance future marketing decision making and performance.?
And last but not least also the Ad Technology department celebrates a year of significant advancements and strategic shifts across SA360, CM360, and DV360. These platforms have not only enhanced their capabilities but also set the stage for the dynamic changes anticipated in 2024.
DV360 Highlights
This year, DV360 has experienced robust enhancements, focusing on automation, inventory management, and audience reach and the integration of Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Inventory, effectively reaching users in various environments. Additionally, DV360 is evolving to meet the more enterprise-level needs of organizations, adapting to complex advertising demands. For insights into mastering cookieless strategies with DV360, our article Mastering Cookieless Strategies with Display and Video 360 offers valuable guidance.
CM360 Highlights
CM360 this year focused on enhancing reporting capabilities and integrating with Google Analytics 4. Notable improvements include Conversion Modeling Improvements and the introduction of Report on Benchmark Data. The integration with GA4 via Floodlight has allowed for a more comprehensive view of CM360 in cross-channel reporting, enhancing automated bidding campaigns in DV360. To delve deeper into GA4 integrations with GMP, our insightful article GA4 Integrations with GMP is a must-read.
SA360 Highlights
The transformation of SA360 into a more advanced platform has been a highlight of the year. The Performance Center Upgrades have streamlined campaign budget management, and the rebranding of Inventory Management Templates has simplified campaign creation. The migration to the new SA360 will be a crucial focus in 2024. For a deeper understanding, our article Understanding the New Search Ads 360 provides comprehensive insights. Additionally, our piece on BSTN's Data-Driven Approach to SA360 Inventory Management Campaigns showcases practical applications.
Evolving Role of Ads Creative Studio
Ads Creative Studio's role in providing creative management capabilities continues to evolve. Its ability to handle customizable projects with both static and swappable elements makes it an invaluable tool in the digital advertising toolkit. The evolving role of Ads Creative Studio underscores our commitment to embracing innovative solutions in creative management.
This year has been a remarkable learning experience for our team. The effort to stay abreast of all the advances in our industry has been both challenging and exhilarating. Working and learning alongside our clients has been incredibly rewarding, and we look forward to more fruitful collaborations in the future.
Adtech Outlook for 2024:
Looking ahead to 2024, we anticipate a focus on navigating the post-third-party cookie era with privacy-centric advertising solutions, leveraging generative AI, and emphasizing sustainability in our practices. Our articles on Campaign Setup Automation and Performance Max Campaign in SA360 provide further insights into these evolving trends. The anticipated advancements in Ads Creative Studio and other platforms highlight our commitment to staying at the forefront of advertising technology and creative innovation, while also prioritizing sustainable advertising practices.
As we step into 2024, our strategies will not only be effective but also align with evolving industry standards and consumer expectations, ensuring we remain leaders in the digital advertising revolution.
As the summaries above show, 2023 was a challenging, learning and fun year of the world of digital analytics. With this newsletter, several case-studies and articles on www.digitl.net, we aim to spread knowledge across our industry and will continue to do so in 2024 as we see it is well received by the community.?
A crucial part of this knowledge sharing is getting in touch with the community face-to-face. Therefore, we will also continue in 2024 with our webinars and insights series named AnalyticsHub. At our AnalyticHub offline events in Switzerland and Berlin, we shared not only knowledge but saw how fruitful exchange and (controversial) discussions among all participants help everyone to evolve and be prepared for 2024. Of course this would not be possible without the support of our AnalyticsHub event partners such as Google, Mediaschneider, Smarketer and more. A big thank you to all of you!?
Of course 2023, was not only about sharing knowledge on self-organized events but also to participate at all main industry events such as DMEXCO, OMR, Marketing Analytics Summit, SMX? and many more. All talks, masterclasses and panel discussions were unique and motivated us to continue in 2024 with spreading industry knowledge.
Wishing everyone a joyous holiday season and a Happy New Year filled with ongoing growth and success. ???? Here's to a successful closure of 2023 and an exciting 2024 with more to come. Stay tuned..
Your Digitl-Team
.