Programmatic adspend nears £1bn and doubles for mobile
The IAB’s Media Owner Sales Techniques study, conducted by research consultancy MTM, reveals 45 per cent of display ads across the internet were traded programmatically last year.
Meanwhile mobile (display and video) ads traded through programmatic doubled from 2013 to 2014. The platform accounts for nearly two-thirds of sales volume for mobile.
Total adspend for display was £2.13bn last year, with programmatic accounting for £960 million. This is up from 28 per cent in 2013.
Direct sales between publishers and buying is still the most popular form of trading in display advertising, the study said, but only just at 49 per cent (down from 51 per cent in 2013).
Only 6 per cent of these ads were bought through ad networks, down from 22 per cent in the previous year.
Tim Elkington, the IAB’s chief strategy officer, said programmatic is estimated to account for up to 80 per cent of all digital spend by 2018.
He said: “Some still consider programmatic primarily as a direct-response tool. However, its increasing role in video ads – a branding medium like TV – shows programmatic is on advertising’s top table.
“Consequently, due to the rise in mobile and video ad spend, we estimate around 70%-80% of all digital spend will be programmatic by 2018.”
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