Programmatic advertising may have encountered a bumpy road on its path to mainstream adoption, but research shows that its time in the sun has finally arrived. According to eMarketer, 84 percent of all display advertising will be conducted through programmatic channels by the end of the year.
Overall, spending on this automated solution is expected to approach $33 billion by the end of 2017. This growth follows years of uncertainty and growing pains, as programmatic ad buying searched for a balance that best serves ad buyers and sellers. Many marketers feel that the programmatic market is now worth the effort. Here's a look at some of the benefits and recent improvements.
Improved Time Efficiency
The clear benefit of automated ad buying is that it saves time and energy for marketers. Many of the activities involved in buying ad space are tedious and easily outsourced to a machine. Programmatic solutions allow advertisers to automate bidding, purchasing and placement for faster results that can also improve the quality of ads (in terms of their ability to drive ROI).
This level of efficiency reduces overall operating costs for programmatic campaigns, and the free time created by automation gives marketers the ability to assign human resources to more challenging tasks — ones that can't be passed off to a machine.
Constant Optimization
Programmatic ad buying alleviates much of the maintenance that is required to keep ads optimized for keywords and SEO. According to Exchange Wire, the increasingly competitive SEO landscape is hard to face with human capital alone. Automation gives businesses the ability to optimize in real time and gradually increase engagement with ads.
Meanwhile, shifting trends in keyword popularity and competitiveness means that automation is necessary to optimize keyword bidding from one day to the next. Without a programmatic solution, these processes are very tedious for marketers, and it can be impossible to keep up on optimization needs over time. An automated solution can do the dirty work for you, ensuring your strategy is optimized and your ROI is as high as possible.
The Growth of Private Setups
In the early days of programmatic ad buying, one of the biggest obstacles to adoption was the limited control that advertisers had over their ad placements. But the limitations of open exchanges has been resolved in recent years by the growing popularity of private setups. As eMarketer pointed out, private setups provide greater control over automated ad buys, including the price point, audience, ad location and other criteria. Private setups also provide better information that can be used to verify the safety and trustworthiness of ad partners.
Nearly three-quarters of programmatic advertising money is spent on private setups, which is encouraging widespread adoption. Marketers can expect this share to increase over the next few years.
The programmatic ad marketplace continues to evolve — to the benefit of ad buyers and sellers alike. If you've been reluctant to invest ad money into an unknown product, the time is right to see what this automated solution can provide for your marketing ROI.
