Data in the 21st century is like oil in the 19th century. Data is currently seen as valuable asset which is not yet exploited, having a large potential in the years to come (many tech-giants like IBM, Google, Facebook & et cetera are just in their early phase of making use of data for anonymous ad targeting, if so, then think of the future). As we understood in the >previous programmatic articles that data collection is done by studying human behavior on different websites, social platforms and everywhere else, so what we do on the internet is helping craft the AI.

Believe it or not, Data is the new Oil  

With context to Ad-Tech, the pool of data available allows to anonymously target those individuals who might find the Ads relevant to their needs and interest. Since the procedure is automated, you will be amazed to know that data mining will play a dominant role in the online advertising in near future.

It wouldn’t be an over-expression if I say Programmatic is spreading like wildfire. Infact, it is also quickly entering the TV & Digital OOH (the out of home advertising) zone. However, I personally feel, brands which have a lot to offer, especially those which offer different products for the different audience, will continue to invest in the ‘old inventory display’ method to buy ad slots to support branding & awareness. But, I also feel that the majority of us are going to follow the programmatic marketing in the time to come.

Promising Future – things in programmatic’s future which makes it more exciting

Below mentioned are few reasons why the programmatic marketing approach is expected to see a high by many medium and large brands/advertisers:

1) Enhanced Ad viewability:

Many of us who are marketers have the major concern that whether or not our ads are being viewed by the human eye balls. Now, this actual viewability is expected to increase as most of the DSPs like Doubleclick Bid Manager & others are including the features related to viewability. Currently, the Ad impression is being counted even when the user hasn’t scrolled down on the webpage where the ad has been loaded without being visible, along with the content. So going forward we can expect this to be more fair with the features like viewability.

2) Better Ad targeting and personalizing:

As an internet surfer, we are likely to feel more positive about a product when the ad message is personalized; hence, the same goes with the target audience. Customized content in the form of messages will be relevant and more likely to receive appreciation. We can expect the ad creatives to improve with the advancement of creative tools. We are also likely to see better results from the marketing campaigns with the customized content. So, with on-going & future improvements in user data collection & advancements in features like geo-location targeting, cross-device & network targeting, dynamic creatives & etc. we are likely to expect a higher level of personalization and targeting.

3) Programmatic storytelling experience – Audience will connect better:

Today we would want to connect with a brand, expect a journey to better understand what the product is and why it is better; and same goes for many other customers (target ad audience). With new types of rich media and creative options evolving, programmatic storytelling (something like >Facebook’s carousal) can really take off and make a big difference in the engagement and achieving the objective of the Ad Campaigns.

4) Last-touch attribution will RIP – Connecting through the full user journey:

(not literally RIP, but will be less used) As an advertiser, we need to understand the complete journey of our user/customer, right from the first contact with the brand to purchase of any product. We can give due credit to the different channels for this achievement which has resulted in the success of the overall campaign. Advanced algorithmic attribution models will rife in the upcoming years, which shall help evaluate right credit and investment for the channel or strategy within the channel.

5) Programmatic TV – A wider scope:

The contemporary process of buying ads on the TV for prime time slots is slow, tedious, expensive process and the effectiveness is slightly immeasurable. However, we can opt for the programmatic marketing approach and see the accurate results. Lately, the programmatic approach did not see the expected boom due to the lack of ad slots. Currently, the inventory largely consists of local cable companies. We can expect this to get resolved & start to deliver programmatic TV ads in some regions and with some channels in future.

6) Programmatic spend will Uplift across the globe in all the markets:

As per some reports and data analysis, Programmatic trading across display, video and mobile will grow to be more than half of total spend by 2018 in the most developed countries. There shouldn’t be any suspense about this – with automation, relevance & effectiveness coming together, we can expect the Programmatic media spend to go higher & higher in Future.

(In terms of media spend) Let’s understand the Growth of Programmatic over the last few years & the estimations of near future:

// United States – Programmatic media spend

• According to reports by >eMarketer, the programmatic media spends in the USA will be over $45 billion by 2019, which will be around 84% total digital display ads spend in USA.

United Kingdom – Programmatic media spend

• As per >eMarketer, the UK programmatic spend will reach £3.90 billion in 2018, compared to £2.67 billion in 2015, that is an uplift of 46% in span of mere couple of years 

// APAC Countries – Programmatic media spend

Next let’s look at APAC countries’ programmatic spend figures and how much is the estimated growth


 

I have drawn the above graph/image based on the report & data from >Magna Global & >Vserv.

• Indonesia & Malaysia dominates in-terms of current programmatic spend (2016 to 2018)
• Indonesia & Vietnam shows the best opportunity for programmatic growth by 2019

How big is a thing programmatic marketing expected to be?

We are looking at projections here and need to keep in mind that these numbers can vary from survey to survey and company to company.

But, one thing is for sure, Programmatic is already rising as of 2018 & is gonna get bigger & bigger in near future. Considering all of this, very likely programmatic will be more of an mandatory skill for digital marketers particularly for those working with big digital advertising groups and specialist agency ‘trading desks’.