What the world has learnt in recent years is that anything can possibly happen. We have seen the way we live, work and socialise change as a result of a pandemic imposed upon us all. More traditional businesses pivoted and digitalised their operations to adapt to an online economy. Here are the digital marketing channels worth including in your 2026 media mix.
TikTok
User engagement is at an all-time high and TikTok commanded a greater share of audience attention in 2024 than any previous year. Fish where the fish are biting — advertise where your customers are spending their time. The strong user engagement and content creation possibilities make TikTok a prime advertising playground for brands that align with the audience and creative opportunities within this network.
Despite Pinterest having been around for longer and historically skewing toward US audiences, we are seeing a shift in Australian utilisation. The advertising opportunities are presenting cost-efficient campaigns and good targeting capability, priming Pinterest for your 2026 consideration.
Digital Out of Home
Cost efficiency and buying capabilities have significantly improved within the digital out-of-home segment. A digital and programmatic buying approach to what has historically been a very traditional media channel is now delivering real creative capability to digital billboards — targeting based on intra-day factors, revising creative in real time, and bidding based on data-driven metrics. One consideration: analyse the impact of work-from-home on daily commutes to ensure the viewability of your outdoor placements is reaching your intended audience at the right time.
Automation
Personalisation and automation are an increasing function of marketing channels across social and email marketing. With more data and better-defined customer journeys within the digital path to purchase, this creates opportunity for re-engagement and upsell. Invest in understanding your customer paths and creating automation activations based on user behaviours to improve conversion rates and customer lifetime value.
Spotify
Pandemic-imposed changes to daily commutes and working environments ignited podcast engagement and listenership in recent years. Spotify audiences are highly immersed — businesses that have seen success in traditional radio formats can further digitalise their efforts with a more sophisticated Spotify prospecting campaign.
LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn advertising has improved its capability and performance delivery considerably over the last two years. We are seeing a sharp uplift in B2B lead generation campaigns within the platform, delivering enhanced cost per reach and acquisition consistently. Leverage the advanced job title, role, industry, geo and CRM targeting capability, along with the variety of sponsored content and lead forms, to achieve your B2B objectives.
Mobile First
Long gone are the days of applying a smaller version of a desktop ad into a mobile environment. Mobile-first ad creatives with attention-time metrics replacing impressions are the new standard. Utilising super skins and other high-impact mobile placements is a way to command interest and attention towards your brand in fast-scroll mobile formats.
Always-on channels like SEO, Google Ads and social ads still have a warm place in our hearts — but 2026 is the year to consider testing new platforms you are not yet playing within. Advance your reach and leverage the targeting capability of digital to test, analyse and understand new methods for your business.