New Options May Bring a Small Business Advertising Revolution

Over the past several weeks, travel and media brands with access to plentiful user data are finally following the path of social media platforms to create new ways to monetize it. United Airlines announced "the airline industry's first media network" and just this week the Paramount Plus streaming network opened up their self-service Ads Manager to allow businesses of any size to advertise against programming on the platform.

Obviously, the creative challenge of how to make a good 15 or 30 second spot will present an intimidating barrier for many small businesses, but there are AI tools integrated into the platform to help solve this challenge. Making a good ad from these tools will still require some skill, but the level of personalization and targeting abilities here could be a game changer for small businesses. Imagine the opportunities for restaurants or tourism experiences being promoted on in-flight screens. Or promoting hiking gear or outdoor wear during episodes of The Amazing Race. It is still early days, but the possibilities and early case studies will be worth watching.