Survey shows programmatic advertising is on an upswing
Programmatic advertising is on an upswing. 54% of advertisers now allocate over 41% of their digital campaigns to programmatic investment, marking a significant increase from the previous year, according to IAB Europe’s ‘2023 Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising’ report. IAB says the findings confirm that the digital advertising market remains firmly rooted in its programmatic-first approach, with 58% of non-social display spend transacted programmatically.
“This resilience is particularly noteworthy amid challenging global conditions, conflicts and escalating inflation.”
“AI emerges as the number one key driver of programmatic growth for advertisers.”
“Publishers identify audio and retail media as their top two growth areas for programmatic.”
“Retail media, especially, gains strong backing from ad tech vendors, with 43% selecting it as the top driver. Connected TV remains a consistent driver for all stakeholder groups”, the report says.
While 27% cite in-house as their main operational model, a hybrid approach combining in-house and outsourcing remains prevalent for 42% of respondents.”
Looking ahead, the report indicates that two-thirds of advertisers are considering bringing programmatic trading in-house in the next 12 months but questions remain on whether there will be the finances in place to make this switch.
“Cost efficiencies continue to be the primary driver for programmatic investment, particularly for agencies but there’s a notable shift for Advertisers who emphasise operational efficiencies and audience discovery.”
“Barriers to programmatic adoption include concerns about the quality of media and political/economic factors. Notably, agencies show a growing concern for sustainability, ranking it as their top barrier to programmatic investment”, the report says.
The report highlights a notable increase in the lack of measurement of programmatic campaigns, with 30% of advertisers and 22% of agencies not measuring campaign success.
“First-party data usage is on the rise, with 88% of publishers and 81% of agencies utilising it. The industry is witnessing a resurgence in third-party data usage, with 81% of agencies currently using it, a significant increase from the previous year.”
Questions were included to ascertain stakeholders’ views on the role that sustainability plays in programmatic advertising. Over 80% of respondents acknowledge sustainability as a strategic focus.
The survey comprises 396 respondents from advertisers, agencies, publishers and ad tech vendors in 31 markets, with respondents having both pan-European and Global remits. The majority of respondents were programmatic or media buying specialists.
Just under half of all respondents represent buy-side stakeholders (20% advertisers; 24% agencies) and the majority command ad budgets of more than 11 Million Euros, with just over 10% having responsibilities of 150m+ advertising budgets.
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