Experts reveal top customer data and AI trends shaping 2025

As we approach 2025, several key data and AI trends are poised to significantly affect the technology landscape, particularly when it comes to customer experiences, marketing and advertising. Leading experts discuss what the coming year holds as brands continue to find more innovative ways to attract and retain customers.

Put customer data front and center in advertising

Data is becoming the foundation of advertising strategies as brands move beyond traditional methods like third-party cookies to build more robust and sustainable first-party data ecosystems. Nexxen Head of Customer Success, Tanya WilliamsHe explains that advertisers are increasingly investing in advanced data solutions to drive precise targeting, measure ROI, and personalize consumer experiences.

“We’re seeing advertisers focus on developing their first-party data as they look for ways to reduce their reliance on cookies,” he explains. “This shift allows brands to own their data strategies, create direct connections with their consumers and better tailor their messaging.”

The acceleration of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platforms and Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (FAST) channels are reshaping the TV landscape. The arrival of VOZ Trading and Streaming, plus initiatives such as Foxtel’s Video Futures Collective are also adding to the momentum, creating new opportunities but complexities for advertisers. Automatic content recognition (ACR) data is emerging as a key data source for navigating the complexities of this fragmented media landscape.

“Advertisers are increasingly seeing the value of ACR data to bridge the gap between streaming and linear TV,” notes Williams. “By providing real-time insights into what content and ads are being consumed/viewed and where, ACR enables brands to identify overlapping audiences, tailor messages across screens and ensure they reach the right viewers.”

FAST channels, which continue to grow rapidly, highlight the importance of leveraging planning and measurement tools powered by ACR data. “FAST channels are not only cost-effective, they also offer niche and very interesting content,” he notes. “ACR data enables advertisers to optimize campaigns in this space by unlocking insights into viewing habits and delivering personalized ads that resonate across platforms.”

She also highlights how data analytics and cross-screen measurement tools allow advertisers to measure the effectiveness of their investments more precisely. “Advertisers are leveraging programmatic technology and converged insights to engage audiences in a fragmented media environment,” he says. “With advanced attribution modeling, exclusive data sets like ACR and the ability to measure across all screens, brands can make data-informed decisions that maximize campaign performance and ROI.”

Leverage data to achieve real-time marketing

A major change Eagle eye CEO Tim Mason he expects to see is the impact of leveraging data to refine real-time marketing and customer engagement. This, he anticipates, will affect the issuance and redemption of offers, making loyalty marketing more immediate and effective.

“Advances in cloud computing and AI have increased the ability of companies to collect and analyze data in real time, enabling the creation of contextually relevant offers tailored to individual customer needs,” he says.

“Real-time issuance refers to the immediate creation and delivery of offers to customers based on their current behavior, location, or context. These offers are generated and sent when the business detects a trigger, such as and a customer entering a particular physical location, browsing a website, or making a specific purchase.

“Real-time redemption refers to the immediate execution of an offer at the point of sale (POS), in-store or online, so the offer or discount is applied instantly before the transaction is completed and the payment it’s done

“Given that this is now possible, we expect to see the speed of delivery of offers increasing and it is likely to see more brands take up real-time marketing.”

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AI, content and customer engagement

Nicholas SimonsenHead of content at Impressive sees AI as having a significant impact on content creation, but advises brands to maintain engagement with “human” and personalized customers.

“AI has taken the digital world by storm in recent years, and as a result, I find that they all start to sound the same, no matter the industry in question. Make no mistake, ChatGPT and AI, overall they’ve changed the game in so many ways, but it’s gotten to a point now where I can pinpoint ‘ChatGPTisms’ in the first sentence or two of the website copy. It all sounds so lifeless and generic.

In 2025, I think we will see brands refocusing on human content and promoting the human connection between the brand and the consumer. With the market so saturated and spending across the board, shoppers want to feel connected to their favorite brands, so we’re making sure we give that to them.”

Consumer appetite for AI integration

NielsenIQ’s (NIQ) Director of Customer Success Marco Silva highlights a global trend impacting markets in Australia and New Zealand is the changing face of all retail and social media commerce. While there is still some work to be done for consumers to fully embrace AI integrations in their everyday purchases, Mr. Silva notes that NIQ’s research reveals many lower-stakes AI implications where shoppers seem much more open to technological experiences.

“However, in many of these cases, the variance of acceptance by generation is quite strong,” he said. “For example, almost half of Gen Z and Millennials will use AI to automate or speed up their daily shopping decisions (respectively 46% and 48%), while only 34% of Gen X and only 20% of the Boomers agreed that they would do the same.

“Segmenting experiences or providing options to support older consumers to avoid frustration or mistrust will be key to transformations that expand and not cannibalize future growth potential for FMCG brands and producers.”

Transform customer data management

These changes in marketing, advertising and media naturally lead to questions about how companies will manage their customer data going forward. Looking at the broader picture of customer data, Amperage CTO and Co-Founder Derek Slager see fundamental changes ahead.

“The customer data platform (CDP) category will continue to fragment, with vendors more explicitly aligning their positioning to their strengths rather than claiming to solve things entirely,” he predicts.

Slager believes that rather than looking for single platform solutions, companies will increasingly adopt specialized tools to address their customer data challenges.

This transformation in data management will be accompanied by significant changes in how companies analyze and act on their data. Slager is particularly bullish on the role of AI in transforming analytics.

“Dashboards are dead,” he declares. “Generative artificial intelligence tools that offer the ability to answer questions that matter on the fly will be the new surface for analysis and decision-making.”

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