Nikhil Lai

Senior Analyst

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Blog

What Should Performance Marketers Actually Do?

Nikhil Lai February 22, 2024
I’m often asked about the technologies and processes entailed in planning, buying, and optimizing media. Much is written about that, including Forrester’s research on using technology to develop more compelling creative and how to improve TV advertising’s planning, buying, and measurement processes. I’m rarely asked, however, about the people that improve media’s results. The human […]
Blog

According To Our Latest B2C Marketing Survey, Data Deprecation’s Complexity Reigns

Nikhil Lai February 20, 2024
Every year, Forrester surveys over 1,000 marketing decision-makers around the world to learn about their priorities, challenges, and plans. For the past few years, four forces — consumers’ dissatisfaction with invasive audience targeting; browser and operating system restrictions; legislators and de facto regulators such as Apple limiting consumers’ trackability; and advertisers ceding control to walled […]
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How To Capitalize On Conversational Search

Nikhil Lai January 2, 2024
As generative AI becomes more deeply integrated into search engine results pages (SERPs), conversational search will grow. Learn what the change means for marketers.
Blog

Synchronize People, Processes, And Technologies To Lift Ad Creative’s Performance

Nikhil Lai December 12, 2023
My favorite holiday-themed ad is Hershey’s “Christmas Bells,” which debuted in 1989 thanks to the creativity of David Apicella at Ogilvy & Mather, among others. Since then, the ad has run every December. In a market crowded with viral creative such as Spotify’s Wrapped, Hershey’s pithy ad continues to perform. In just 15 seconds, the […]
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‘Tis The Season To Master Retail Media

Nikhil Lai November 22, 2023
Retail media’s challenges signal growing pains unlike those of other channels. Read more on Forrester’s insights for this holiday season.
Blog

Invest In Demand-Side Platforms To Lift Productivity And Performance

Nikhil Lai August 24, 2023
Demand-side platforms (DSPs) are defined and confined by the acronym’s connotations. In 2007, when DSPs emerged, they coincided with the growth of real-time bidding, a practice since revealed to be rife with data leakage and brand safety concerns. At the time, DSPs met advertisers’ needs by connecting them to exchanges where publishers’ (mostly) desktop display […]
Blog

Generative AI Has Answers, But SEO Practitioners Are Still Guessing

Nikhil Lai July 6, 2023
We tackle two of the most common questions we're hearing about generative AI's potential impact on search engine optimization.
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The Upfronts Spotlight The TV Advertising Industry’s Lag

Nikhil Lai May 16, 2023
April showers bring May flowers and the TV upfronts. The ritual began in 1962, when ABC first scheduled all of its primetime programming to premiere during a single week in September. Since then, the medium of TV has evolved rapidly, but the upfronts have not. Consumption continues to grow across smartphones and smart TVs, satisfying […]
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Rhetoric And Revenue: Alphabet’s And Microsoft’s Q1 2023 Earnings

Nikhil Lai April 28, 2023
Both Alphabet and Microsoft featured AI heavily in their Q1 2023 earnings calls. Before Alphabet’s call began streaming on YouTube, attendees were shown a video about Bard, Google’s AI chatbot. During the call, “AI” was mentioned 51 times. During Microsoft’s, it was mentioned 34 times. For Alphabet, AI’s references related to PaLM, its competitor to […]
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How To Navigate Retail Media Mania

Nikhil Lai February 2, 2023
The question I’m asked most often is “Is retail media overhyped, or is it the next big thing?” This question comes, in part, from media coverage and forecasts, including Forrester’s, that project a significant share of ad spend — nearly $100 billion, according to Boston Consulting Group — being absorbed by retail media networks (RMNs) […]
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What The Justice Department’s Lawsuit Against Google Means For Marketers

Nikhil Lai January 25, 2023
Yesterday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and eight states sued Google, accusing the company of illegally abusing its monopoly on the technology that powers online advertising. According to the Justice Department’s complaint, Google’s dominance enables the company to take at least $0.30 of every dollar spent using Google’s advertising technology. The DOJ is seeking […]
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Capitalize On Search Marketing’s Evolution With Two New Reports

Nikhil Lai November 22, 2022
In 2023, marketers plan to spend more on paid and organic search despite data deprecation and economic headwinds. According to Forrester’s Q3 B2C Marketing CMO Pulse Survey, 2022, 82% of CMOs plan to increase paid search budgets and 74% plan to increase SEO budgets in 2023. As search budgets grow, the medium is changing radically. […]
Blog

This Holiday Season, Turn Impressions Into Intent

Nikhil Lai November 15, 2022
Marketers are turning to retail media to generate and harvest demand while expanding sell-through this holiday season.
Blog

Google’s Delay Is No Excuse: Prepare For Cookie Deprecation’s Impact On Paid Search

Nikhil Lai October 28, 2022
In July, Google delayed the death of third-party cookies … again. This delay gave marketers a false sense of security, despite other browsers blocking third-party cookies, Apple letting users opt out of IDFAs, and privacy bills mandating the use of cookie consent banners. Often, marketers focus on data deprecation’s impacts on paid social and programmatic […]
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Predictions 2023: Facing Economic Headwinds, The Media Industry Will Consolidate

Kelsey Chickering October 27, 2022
CMOs will face mounting pressure to demonstrate ROI, pushing media companies to innovate and consolidate in order to protect their share. Read our media predictions for 2023.
Blog

Outexecute When You Can’t Outspend: How To Compete With Amazon In Paid Search

Nikhil Lai October 11, 2022
Given Amazon’s dominance, competing with it in the Google Ads auction is uniquely challenging. But companies can use a strategic approach to make gains.
Blog

Performance Marketing Is Underperforming

Nikhil Lai August 10, 2022
Every advertising channel now parades as “performance” to appear accountable to outcomes. This dilution, along with three trends, is causing performance marketing’s underperformance.
Blog

Port In The Storm: Takeaways From Amazon’s Q2 2022 Earnings

Nikhil Lai July 29, 2022
For B2C marketers, Amazon's latest earnings report yielded insights on advertising, e-commerce, and more.
Blog

From Question Mark To Exclamation Point: Takeaways From Spotify’s Q2 2022 Earnings

Nikhil Lai July 28, 2022
In Q2 2022, Spotify’s revenue, advertising, and monthly active users (MAUs) grew, defying fears that inflation and subscription fatigue would weaken demand. Spotify’s strong Q2 2022 performance continues the company’s rebound from its bouts with cancel culture in Q1 2022. Advertising Growth Is Solid, But Subscriptions Bolster Business Unlike Snap and Twitter, whose revenues fell […]
Blog

Alphabet’s Profit Falls, But Advertisers Are Sticking With Search

Nikhil Lai July 27, 2022
Here, we break down three key takeaways from Alphabet’s Q2 2022 earnings release and call and what they mean for B2C marketers.
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