IAB/PwC’s Digital Adspend Report showed that 60% of banner and video display ads in 2015 (worth £1.6bn) were bought via programmatic technologies, up from 47% in 2014. They predict this will increase to 80-90% of display ad sales by 2019.
This prediction is partly because programmatic has moved way beyond a direct-response tool and now sits firmly in the branding camp too, particularly through its increasing role in delivering video ads – a branding medium like TV.
Now, I understand the divide that’s existed historically between two groups at opposite ends of the spectrum – the creative/ideas people (creating the ads) and the engineer/technology-heads (delivering the ads). It’s not surprising that creatives would initially be hostile to the idea of technology having a role in how ads are created or think that its function in delivering ads is irrelevant to them. However, the IAB/PwC’s very realistic prediction shows industry elements needs to forget their differences and start working together to ensure the process of creating and delivering online ads isn’t fundamentally broken in the middle.
Although there’s been a lot of crowing around terms like programmatic creative, the reality is there’s still too much of a gap between the ad creators and those responsible for delivering them programmatically to deliver the potential of online advertising that brands are after.
It boils down to the reality that the mechanics of how ad exchanges assess and potentially deliver ads needs to be more heavily factored into the process of creating ads, so less are rejected and more appear correctly in whatever environment they’re delivered to.
Now, I appreciate that is easier said than done. Making the consumer experience as engaging as possible whilst ensuring your creative isn’t rejected by exchanges involves experience and skill because not all exchanges have the same specifications and it often involves rigorous testing to see which exchanges accept the best creative and ensure creatives appear correctly in each environment. That’s why, for example, based on conversations and experience with both media and creative agencies, we set up a Creative Solutions division to focus entirely on this. It aims to bring experts together across different disciplines to work hand-in-hand to improve the creative quality of ads served programmatically.
There is an appetite to do something positive to tackle the issue but it requires going beyond talking the talk – which the digital industry, alongside politics, is a world champion of – to walking the walk.
Programmatic enables marketers to connect the dots between different forms of consumer behaviour so the end result of joining this up with better creative will be (a) improving consumer’s experience with online ads and (b) making the process more efficient and effective for advertisers. Thus, delivering on digital advertising’s true potential by delivering better business outcomes for marketers. That’s something for which we’re certainly all on the same page.
By Craig Tuck, UK managing director at RadiumOne UK
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