A new study from the Internet Advertising Bureau (UK) has just been released. This study looked at the rapid growth of programmatic ad sales, especially in mobile. The report found that back in 2014 approximately 50% of all display ads were purchased through programmatic systems. For mobile, however, 64% of ads were programmatically purchased.
Looking forward, they estimate that as much as 80% of all digital ad spend will be done programmatically by 2018, just under a year and a half away. For marketers, this may be a strong reminder that if you’re still making digital ad purchases manually, you’re likely part of a dying breed. Programmatic buying has become so effective that in almost all cases, it doesn’t make sense to handle things on a case by case basis.
The Chief Strategy Officer at the IAB UK, Tim Elkington, said, “Programmatic’s role in digital ad buying has grown from virtually zero to nearly half of all transactions in just five years. However, the impact on mobile has been even greater due to its more fragmented ecosystem providing a ripe breeding ground for intermediaries.”
The trend will likely continue beyond 2018 as well, with the future looking like it will be dominated heavily by programmatic ad buying. Given the rapid improvement in the ability for systems to buy effective ads, this will help to improve ROI while also freeing up a lot of time for marketers to spend focused on other things.
