The 4A’s is innovating its approach to conferences, focusing on events that address urgent issues with tangible actions, drilling-down on industry challenges to better meet the realities and needs of its members in real time. To mark the shift towards action-oriented events, the 4A’s will forgo hosting its industry-wide spring conference in 2019, and will instead host an inaugural Decisions 20/20 forum, on March 25-26, 2019 in Washington D.C.  In addition, due to its popularity, the 4A’s will expand its annual Management Practitioners’ Forum (MPF) to become a standalone event, taking place on April 29-30, 2019 at the W Downtown in Chicago.

The Future Today Institute forecasts emerging technology trends that will influence the advertising, public relation, media, and journalism industries in the year ahead.

PwC provides trends, ad spending, and forecasts for major media in this global report.

Mary Meeker’s annual report on key global Internet trends. Topics range from internet advertising growth to evolving work expectations to data privacy. Not to be missed!

On March 27th, 2018, the IAB and the 4A’s released the Long Form Video Terms and Conditions Addendum. Working group members gathered to lead this educational townhall on the topic. Presenters include: Eric John and Elizabeth Wang from the IAB, Terry Cohen and Louis Jones from the 4A’s, Sara Axelbaum from FOX Networks Group, Brad Stockton from Henkel, and Joan Chakonas from NBCUniversal.

With the Upfronts fast approaching, TV is going through an evolution, embracing and adapting to the opportunities that digital consumption brings with it. The FreeWheel Council for Premium Video recently hosted a roundtable discussion with senior media executives on how TV is evolving to become a robust, converged platform to meet the needs of marketers. Read about the highlights and key takeaways in this post from FreeWheel’s VP of Global Agency, Brand & Industry Relations James Rothwell. 

When it comes to advertising, Viacom’s Director of Marketing Strategy Natalie Chan explains that it’s no longer a battle between linear and digital. Instead, it’s whether a platform can control its content.

WARC highlights five key marketing trends for 2018.

Integral Ad Science surveyed digital ad professionals to learn how the challenges they face will drive change in the digital advertising industry.

Check out the IAB’s in-depth paper that uncovers strong use cases for blockchain technology in digital video advertising.

More than 250 marketing professionals gathered at the 4A’s 5th annual Data Summit, a one-day event that brought together leaders from brands, agencies, media outlets and data firms. In this report, we highlight topics covered at the event — including unconventional uses of data, preparing for the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, cross-device measurement and targeting, and upcoming industry standards.

Zenith predicts eight big trends for 2018, including blockchain, brand purpose, and live-stream retail.