33Across Blog | Programmatic News & Trends

What was the buzz around the office last week? Amazon's profitable Q1 thanks to advertising, more brands bringing programmatic in-house, and new features come to Gmail.

For years, the digital advertising industry settled into a predictable pattern. Let’s call it SBLR for short: Soul Searching, Big Speech (typically at the IAB or ANA annual meeting), Little Industry Action, Repeat. Not much progress was made toward cleaning-up programmatic advertising or even defining what “cleaning-up” actually meant.  

What was the buzz around the office last week? How agencies can deliver programmatically, pubs taking responsibility for their reputation, and Facebook no longer using 3rd party data.

What was the buzz around the office last week? More good news about Google's ad blocker, curated marketplaces are booming, and how blockchain technology could combat ad fraud.

What was the buzz around the office last week? CMOs prefer to outsource programmatic, advancements in ad tech must continue, and Facebook's MRC accreditation.

1. Outsourcing programmatic

In a recent survey of 120 CMOs, 43% revealed that they outsource their programmatic advertising efforts. With transparency and fraud being the main focus of many campaigns, the decision to outsource can be tricky. On the other hand, finding talent to run programmatic campaigns can present its own set of challenges. Emarketer discusses how some brands are choosing to manage some aspects of their programmatic campaigns while leaving some of the difficult aspects to the pros.

What was the buzz around the office last week? The side effects of Ads.txt, reform in measuring the effectiveness of programmatic advertising, and Facebook focuses more on local news.

1. Ads.txt and pricing models  

By now, more than half of the world’s websites which sell programmatic ads have adopted ads.txt. Launched by the IAB in an effort to combat fraud, the adoption of Ads.txt has increased the confidence that brands have in their ads which in return has marketers thinking of new ways to leverage their data. AdExchanger explains how a pricing model shift could be coming for ad tech which could include the fusion of lower prices, data licensing, and cost-of-media models. 

What was the buzz around the office last week? The rise of CPM costs, users getting Spotify's premium service for free, and the use of programmatic to boost influencer campaigns.

1. The good news about increased CPM costs  

The price of CPMs have gone up, and this is a good thing. After analyzing the ad prices of a variety of platforms, eMarketer reports that programmatic ad prices for desktop display have risen over the past 12 months. While this is not an indication of any particular benchmarks, the analysis signifies the importance of audience and data to marketers. 

What was the buzz around the office last week? How brands will handle GDPR, programmatic advertising goes mainstream, and Amazon increasing their original content spend by $1 billion.  

1. Brands prepare GDPR strategies  

General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR will likely affect the way marketers manage targeting campaigns throughout Europe. Going into effect in May, this EU-based regulation will give users the power to authorize whether or not brands can leverage their only data. In a recent survey of UK internet users, 60% said that GDPR would make them question how their data is used while a third of respondents revealed they would exercise their exclusion rights when GDPR goes live. According to eMarketer, if users follow through with restricting their personal data, brands will start to rely more on contextual targeting.

What was the buzz around the office last week? Brands doing more of their own programmatic, good news about Better Ads, and balancing short-term and long-term for publishers.  

1. Brands taking control of programmatic  

Brands are taking their programmatic efforts in-house. A recent survey by the ANA revealed that 25% of brands are choosing to do more programmatic buying. Prompted by worries of fraud and brand safety, some brands are taking complete control of where their ads show up. Data also plays a major part, brands want to see their customer data used more dynamically. Instead of going completely in-house, The Drum recommends that marketers seek a collaborative hybrid arrangement with agencies.

What was the buzz around the office last week? Education courses on programmatic, tips to surviving programmatic in Q1, and what we can expect from ad tech in 2018.  

1. Programmatic education for all   

In an effort to deepen programmatic knowledge, the IAB is launching a training course to media professionals. Filling the education gap on the programmatic course offerings, this course is designed for media professionals at-large. With U.S. programmatic digital display ad spend expected to surpass $49 billion by 2019, this comes at no surprise.  MediaPost explains how the curriculum will focus on the history of programmatic, header bidding, and system processes.