“Whenever things go wrong, whenever things go left, you can be in charge” – Maxwell, Listen Hear

Will we continue to invest and experiment in bringing our brands to digital spaces (and in new and interesting ways) even though the money might not be there yet?

The vast majority of the budgets in the entertainment industry are focused on declining traditional platforms like linear television and cable. That wealth of creative expression needs to be redeployed to digital networks, where creative people can connect more closely with massive audiences and where it is possible to directly serve more diverse audiences as well as for people to share media with those who matter in their lives. Social platforms are reaching more people and having a bigger impact, but they are still not taken seriously by the biggest media companies with the most resources to invest, and this is limiting our collective creative culture. — Jonah Peretti, Founder and CEO of BuzzFeed

Others are.

Will programmatic ad buyers be shamed into paying for quality?

“Honestly, the long tail is to advertising what subprime was to mortgages. No one knows what’s in it, but it helps people believe that there is a mysterious tonnage of impressions that are really low cost. But low-cost impressions would mean low-cost human attention. How can any publisher of quality content survive on low-cost impressions?” —Joe Marchese, President of advertising products for the Fox Networks Group

Will we embrace the idea that audience whims can change every day, every hour, every moment?

Will we reconsider the role and responsibilities of content recommendations engines on our pages? We trade our most valuable click real estate for dollars and maybe a bit of our souls.

Will we come up with good reasons (and good ideas)  to be on even more platforms?

Will we talk more about voice?

Will we take the time to be more thoughtful in our decision-making? Will we give ourselves the space and time to sit with data, to ask the right questions, to seek the right answers, to be creative, and to do right by those that read and watch what we make?

In 2017, I hope the industry stops chasing it’s tail or the holy grail of scale and pursues something more meaningful: earning trust, respect, and an emotional connection with the real people that make up the elusive “audience.”

I know it’s what I’m going to be advocating for at every opportunity come Tuesday.