Has Australian Programmatic Media Spend cracked the Billion?
Everyone knows programmatic is huge in Australia, we may even lead the world in it (see; http://www.adnews.com.au/news/australia-world-leader-in-programmatic) but just how big is programmatic media spend in Australia?
Nielsen recently released some insightful data showing almost half (45%) of Australia's digital inventory is now bought programmatically; a share of digital advertising that is significantly ahead of the US (see; http://www.nielsen.com/au/en/press-room/2015/almost-half-of-australias-digital-ad-inventory-is-bought-programmatically.html)
This finding is consistent with the IAB's Online Advertising Report for FY2015 which reported that direct response pricing, a reasonable proxy for programmatic, grew to a 50% share of general display advertising. This was it's largest ever share which equated to $255M for the June quarter. This in the context of a general display category going gangbusters with 41% growth. Based on this data from the Nielsen and the IAB it is likely that programmatic has cracked the $1 Billion for 2015 in Australia - a clear signal that this is the future of digital advertising.
As with any new development in digital advertising, approaches which deliver on, ROI, arguably the most important metric of all, will grow fast as word spreads about various successes. The ROI story, together with targeting capability, and the efficiency of the buy have likely been the key drivers of programmatic growth in recent years.
As programmatic continues to be used to a greater extent by more advertisers, trust in what is being bought will be fundamental to maintaining current rates of growth. Trust for advertisers is ultimately going to require a transparent understanding of;
- The cost of advertising;
- Who is seeing the ads;
- Where the ads are appearing; and,
- How they are impacting the customer journey and overall brand experience.
Where these four key areas are addressed, the appetite in market to increase spend on programmatic is huge. Given that, it is likely that those platforms, DSPs, Publishers, Agencies and Consultancies, that embrace the principle of transparency and the tools readily available to measure brand safety, viewability, granular and specific cost of media as well as media attribution, will be the beneficiaries of this exciting growth area well into the future.