2025: The Year of Taking Action in Media and Marketing

Norman Wagner, MD, Germany

For years, our industry has debated the future of digital advertising. We’ve spent countless hours discussing a cookieless world, the importance of media diversity, and the threats of misinformation—labelled by the World Economic Forum as one of the greatest challenges facing us in the next two years. We’ve raised our voices on conference stages, panel discussions, and forums. But as we step into 2025, it’s time to move from talking to taking real action.

It’s clear: we have the knowledge, but we need to channel that into change. We’ve all seen the warnings. The dominance of monopolies like Google, as noted by both the U.S. DOJ and the UK’s CMA. The impacts of social media on the mental health of younger generations. Hybrid warfare strategies that use bot armies to distort elections and manipulate society. And let’s not forget the disturbing rhetoric from some political leaders, who threaten to prioritize deregulation over protecting democracy.

Yet, despite knowing what is at stake, we as an industry have fallen into the trap of inaction. We have become “we-should” philosophers—full of ideas but lacking the resolve to make them reality. Large companies still avoid placing ads next to quality journalism, but don’t hesitate to support disinformation platforms. We understand the risks, but we often choose comfort over courage.

I don’t exclude myself from this critique. I’m part of this industry, and I understand why action is so difficult. Acting means effort, risk, and accountability. It is safer to keep things as they are. But I also know the people in our industry—brilliant, thoughtful, and capable individuals—and I believe we can do better. In every conversation I have, I see a reflective understanding of our societal position and our responsibilities as an industry. There is a broad consensus about where we stand and what we need to do.

That’s why my prediction for 2025 is simple: This will be the year that we stop merely talking and start doing. We will support the financing of free and diverse media with our ad spend. We will foster alternatives to monopolistic ad-tech ecosystems. We will demand transparency and neutrality in metrics. We know the stakes, we understand our power, and we are ready to use it.

This industry has the potential to shape a better digital world. 2025 is our opportunity to prove it. Let’s not waste another year in endless debate. Let’s act.