Feeding the Machines: A Prognosis for Programmatic
“Programmatic” media buying can be defined as the use of software programmes to buy advertising space. The software replicates and automates what, in some media, can be a lengthy manual process.
Programmatically traded media represents less than 4% of total adspend. This is about one-third the size of printed newspaper ad revenues, half the size of radio and 10% of the television total.
On a good day, programmatic technology enables media buyers to save time, increase efficiency and improve effectiveness. On a bad day, programmatically targeted advertising will be seen by almost nobody, as a result of ad blocking, fraud and viewability issues. On an average day digital display advertising struggles to be seen, due to heavy clutter and poor positioning. Viewability tends to be lower for ads placed programmatically, as opposed to those placed by a human.
Whatever day it is, programmatic technology will continue to grow strongly and will begin to make its presence felt beyond the digital space – in television, radio, Out of Home, newspapers and magazines. It is being driven by the quest for better efficiency, improved targeting, measurable ROI – and by undoubted pressure to embrace everything new and digital.
At the end of the day, brands live inside people’s minds. So it is people’s minds we, as market researchers, must seek to understand and to help brands influence.
