Digiday+ Research: How programmatic shook out for publishers in 2024
This research is based on unique data collected from our proprietary audience of publisher, agency, brand and tech insiders. It’s available to Digiday+ members. More from the series →
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Of the revenue sources from which publishers make their money, programmatic ads would be counted as one of the more volatile ones. And while programmatic ads have remained a significant source of revenue for publishers throughout 2024, it’s possible that in 2025 they could pull back from their focus on programmatic.
This is according to Digiday+ Research surveys of close to 50 publisher professionals conducted in Q1 and Q3 of this year.
Digiday’s surveys found that the vast majority of publishers are getting at least a little bit of revenue from programmatic ads as the year comes to a close. Eighty-six percent of publisher pros said in Q3 that at least a very small portion of their revenue comes from programmatic, up slightly from 82% in Q1.
Digiday’s survey also found that more publishers are getting a larger amount of revenue from programmatic at the end of this year than they were in the beginning, albeit by a small margin. Thirty-six percent of publisher pros said in Q3 that they get a large or very large portion of their revenue from programmatic ads, compared with 33% in Q1.
But more publishers are also getting just a small amount of revenue from programmatic. A full quarter of publisher pros (25%) said in Q3 this year that they get a very small or small portion of their revenue from programmatic, up from 17% in Q1.
At the same time, fewer publishers said in the later part of this year that they’ll put a large focus on building their programmatic ads business in the next six months, while more said they’ll put just a small focus on building that part of their business. Forty-seven percent of publisher pros told Digiday in Q3 that building their programmatic business will be a large or very large focus in the next six months, down from 53% in Q1. Meanwhile, 16% said in Q3 they’ll put a very small or small focus on building their programmatic business in the next six months — a small percentage, sure, but a significant increase from the 7% who said the same in Q1.
It is worth noting that most publishers have plans to focus at least a little on building their programmatic ads business in the coming months: 84% of publisher pros said in Q3 that they’ll put at least a very small focus on that part of their business in the next six months, up slightly from 82% who said the same in Q1.
Of the publishers who make money off of programmatic ads, Digiday’s surveys found that the percentages who get at least a little revenue from both direct-sold programmatic ads and open market programmatic ads went up this year. In Q1, 80% of publisher pros said they got at least a very small portion of their programmatic revenue from direct-sold ads, compared with 90% in Q3. And 80% said in Q1 they got at least a very small portion of programmatic revenue from the open market, compared with 92% in Q3.
The open market rules when it comes to publishers’ programmatic revenue, though. The highest percentage of publishers who get revenue from open market programmatic ads said they get a large or very large portion of their programmatic revenue from that source (49% said this). Meanwhile, the highest percentage of publishers who get revenue from direct-sold programmatic ads said that source accounts for a very small or small portion of their revenue (40%).
However, Digiday’s surveys found that the percentage of publishers who make a lot of money from direct-sold programmatic ads has gone up significantly this year, while the percentage making a lot from open market programmatic ads has gone down. Thirty percent of publisher pros told Digiday in Q3 of this year that they get a large or very large portion of their programmatic revenue from direct-sold ads, up from just 17% in Q1. And 49% said in Q3 they get a large or very large portion of their programmatic revenue from the open market, down from 54% in Q1.
In other words, direct-sold programmatic ads are showing growth potential heading into 2025.
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