Programmatic buying is still a hot topic of debate in the advertising industry. It is an incredibly healthy part of the market and has the potential to provide huge opportunities for agencies and clients.
Some industry representatives argue that the concept of programmatic advertising has not been embraced by advertisers due to the number of perceived stumbling blocks, whereas others argue that the market is close to saturation. I believe that there is still a great opportunity to be seized. The proof is in the stats: $1.4 billion was spent globally on programmatic buying in 2011 and this is forecasted to reach $13.9 billion by 2016.
Programmatic buying has done a lot for the industry already in terms of opening it up and making it clear that the market is now very data driven. It is helping us to use technology to make sense of, optimise and analyse data at a more efficient rate than ever before. Everything is now happening instantly and we are able to act quicker and improve results within seconds, not months.
However, in order for the industry to truly take advantage of programmatic advertising opportunities, there are a number of challenges that first need to be overcome, and quite simply, it all comes down to education. Agencies and tech companies need to be working together and talking to marketers educating them on the programmatic opportunity, allowing them to understand the various options they have and enable them to start exploiting technologies that are here and now.
The Future
So, what does the future hold for programmatic advertising? Even with mobile, social, display and video continuing to grow extensively, and advertisers being able to cross channel market, the arrival of Programmatic TV will be the final piece of the RTB puzzle.
Smart TV is an exciting new opportunity for branding. The key is to work with partners who can work across all these channels agnostically in order to optimise the advertisers KPIs and break down the traditional silos
I expect to see huge technological changes in the next few years which will transform this industry and create more opportunities for agencies and clients. We all need to stay ahead of the game and embrace these evolving technologies in order to ensure the industry continues to grow from strength to strength.