Were We Close to Our Tech and Media Predictions?

How Close We Were To Our 2020 Predictions?

In 2020 we made a number of Tech and Media predictions. Now that we have had some time to reflect, it's worth examining how close those predictions came to reality.

Firstly, it was predicted that there would be a massive acquisition in the tech space. This did come to fruition, with many large-scale acquisitions taking place in 2020, such as Nvidia's acquisition of Arm and Salesforce's acquisition of Slack. However, the specific prediction that Microsoft would purchase Adobe and that Google would purchase a large hardware company did not come true.

The second prediction was that 5G would not be widely adopted in 2020, and this turned out to be largely true. While 5G was rolled out in some countries and by some providers, it was not yet adopted on a mass scale.

The third prediction concerned Facebook reinventing itself in response to declining popularity. This turned out to be true! With Facebook renaming to Meta in 2021.

The fourth prediction was the unfortunate prediction that a big media business in New Zealand would go under. While there were some closures of media outlets, such as Bauer Media's closure of its New Zealand operations, it's difficult to determine whether this prediction was fully accurate.

Lastly, the prediction that AI and machine learning would become mainstream in 2020 was largely true. Many businesses adopted these technologies to enhance their operations, particularly in the realm of marketing and advertising.

Overall, while some predictions were more accurate than others, it's clear that the technology and media landscape shifted significantly through 2020 and after, with many businesses embracing new technologies and approaches in response to the pandemic and changing consumer behaviour.