Image source: 'Digital – The New Normal of Marketing' reportDigital advertising expenditure, which accounted for 12.7 percent of total ad spends in 2016, is expected to reach Rs 255 billion in 2020, growing at an expected CAGR (2015-2020) of 33.5 percent. Additionally, of the total digital advertisement spends, ‘search and display’ commands the largest share even though it is a relatively maturing segment.These findings are a part of the joint Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and KPMG India report, titled ‘Digital – The New Normal of Marketing’, which was unveiled today at the CII National Marketing Summit in Mumbai.The report notes that India is one of the fastest growing advertising markets globally with an estimated growth of 15.5 per cent in 2016. It adds that as connected devices, smarter devices and ‘hyper relevant rich content’ drive consumption for the consumer, marketers need to ride the data wave and use technology to build in analytical models. Wearables, for instance, provide a new dimension from a data perspective. ‘Through the galvanic skin sensors and gyroscopes that are in-built in these devices, marketers can continuously monitor the customer’s physiological and behavioural data,’ states the report.“The post-demonetisation days have clearly showed how the country is set to leapfrog a few stages to embrace the power of digital. Mobile is being rapidly adopted and marketers have an incredible opportunity to enhance the game of digital communication and deliver great customer experiences at each point of the journey,” says Thomas Varghese, Chairman, CII National Committee on Marketing and CEO-Textile Business, Aditya Birla Group.The report elaborates on how nascent technologies like emotions analytics, predictive marketing could be used to leverage the power of data and why omni-channel experiences and touch points are essential in the digitally charged marketplace. “Singularity, connected systems, Cognitive and AI will create a world where the marketer will be marketing not only to humans but the ‘self-thinking’ machines,’ says Rachna Nath, Partner and Head, Digital Consulting, KPMG in India. The success will eventually depend upon how the digital marketer is able to drive differentiated strategies for each digital channel and eventually converge on consumer experience.A few key findings from the report are:1. Native ads are being used increasingly to combat mobile and desktop ad blocking. They blend in and appear as regular content and deliver value and relevance to the consumer without hindering user experience of the website even while monetizing.2. Authenticity, relevance, and value are increasingly important parameters for content creation and distribution.3. The digital consumer’s attention span has come down to 8 seconds, down from 12 seconds in 2007. Marketers and content strategists therefore need to curate short videos that create a greater impact on the consumer’s mind and hold their attention till the end, states the report.4. Customers trust user-generated content and give more weightage to peer recommendations and reviews than to professionally curated content.5. ‘Programmatic advertising’ is the future of digital advertising and will soon command a big share of the pie with traditional advertisers realising its benefits.