In addition to resolutions and champagne, the new year is also synonymous with one of the most exciting and impactful events of the year – the Consumer Electronics Show (aka CES)! CES 2025 served as a crossroads for groundbreaking ideas, technologies, and strategies reshaping our industry and beyond. From thought-provoking conversations to witnessing the latest innovations, here are AnalyticsIQ’s top five key takeaways from CES 2025!
Data Curation: Elevating Audience Targeting
In an era where quality triumphs over quantity, data curation has become a non-negotiable strategy. Conversations at CES centered around creating high-quality, unique, and even custom audiences that deliver precision in targeting and performance. By leveraging curated private marketplaces, advertisers and publishers can combine first-party data, contextual insights, and external data to enhance personalization.
Marketers and advertisers are shifting away from broad, generalized data pools to more refined, predictive datasets. For brands, this means a sharper focus on collaboration with data partners to ensure campaigns reach the right people at the right time.
Identity: Navigating a Post-Cookie World
While third-party cookies aren’t disappearing just yet, the adtech ecosystem is already laying the groundwork for life without them one way or another. Alternative identifiers like UID 2.0 and ID5 stole the spotlight, offering privacy-centric solutions that prioritize transparency and consent. However, traditional identifiers—such as HEMs, MAIDs, and IP addresses—retained their relevance.
This diversity in identity tools underscores the industry’s adaptability. For marketers, the key will be balancing innovative solutions with tried-and-true methods to maintain robust and compliant identity frameworks.
Privacy: Balancing Compliance and Targeting Effectiveness
Privacy remains a hot-button issue, and CES 2025 reinforced its importance. With an ever-expanding environment of state-level privacy regulations in the U.S., marketers are grappling with how to navigate compliance while maintaining effective targeting.
The conversations highlighted the growing demand for data solutions that deliver both. Predictive data, contextual advertising, and curated data partnerships were all showcased as ways to respect consumer privacy while driving meaningful engagement. The message was clear: compliance and creativity can coexist.
AI: The Future of Hyper-Personalization
AI took center stage at CES, not just as a buzzword but as a transformative force. The most exciting discussions revolved around hyper-personalization powered by AI. Imagine watching a football game where the ads dynamically shift based on the game’s context—whether your team is winning or losing.
This real-time sentiment analysis and optimization exemplify the future of AI-driven advertising. For marketers, AI is not just about automation—it’s about intelligence, adaptability, and creating experiences that resonate on an emotional level.
Data-Driven HCP Engagement
Healthcare might not be the first thing you associate with CES, but this year proved otherwise. Conversations about understanding healthcare providers as individuals were prominent, even outside traditional health-related discussions. The focus was on leveraging data to create personalized, impactful engagement strategies for HCPs so they can best serve patients.
For example, data-driven insights can help marketers understand the nuances of HCP preferences, enabling more effective communication and collaboration. Whether targeting HCPs or any other niche audience, personalization is becoming a universal expectation.
Looking Ahead
CES 2025 was a testament to how rapidly the marketing and consumer data landscape is evolving. From the power of AI to the necessity of data curation and the growing complexity of privacy and identity, the key themes are interconnected and reflect the industry’s movement toward a more transparent, efficient, and personalized future.
As marketers and data geeks, our role is not only to adapt to these changes but to lead the way in embracing innovation and delivering value to consumers and clients alike. Here’s to an exciting year ahead as we apply these learnings and continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible.
What were your biggest takeaways from CES 2025?