There’s little doubt that much of ad buying is moving to a machine basis, which means that a lot of ads will be traded on a real-time basis and targeted to specific audiences. Agencies want this, marketers want this and publishers have little choice.
The big question for publishers is what effect, if any, this will have on their businesses. In this, they have gone through an accelerated process of the Kubler-Ross stages of grieving. There was denial (another remnant channel), anger (our data is stolen!), bargaining (private exchanges), depression (maybe I’ll just join an ad tech company) and acceptance (let’s figure this out). And there is a lot to figure out.
What’s become clear is that the shift to programmatic buying in general, and to RTB specifically, is bringing “efficiency” to the marketplace. Efficiency is a great thing unless what you do is what is being made more efficient. The drive for more efficient buys in RTB is putting pricing pressure on the entire display ad market. According to Magna Global, display advertising globally rose just 1.5 percent in 2013. That’s not very good in a market that expanded 14.4 percent overall for the year. In fact, the reason Magna identified: price drops.
That’s the situation today, when 17 percent of buying is through exchanges. In five years, Magna director of global forecasting Vincent Letang expects 43 percent of display advertising to be bought and sold via exchanges.
“We see that non-premium banner pricing is being challenged, and inventory is commoditizing due to growing supply and the impact of ‘programmatic’ trading [exchanges],” he said in an email.
Publishers have little choice but to retool on the fly. Meredith Levien, CRO of Forbes, made a great case for embracing the programmatic era. “Even the most successful premium publishers can’t go it alone when it comes to delivering individuals, because it’s not just individuals marketers want but individuals at scale,” she wrote. “So unless you are a portal (and there are only a handful of those by my count), you should be taking ad exchanges as seriously as your ad buyers are.”
It’s a sign of the times that even the most white-glove of publishers, Conde Nast, is looking for its place in the programmatic world, albeit very slowly and with great hesitation. At the end of the day, publishers are sellers, and sellers must go to where the buyers are.
-
Newsletter publishers say they continue to see uptick in revenue despite advertising slowdown
At a time when larger media companies are feeling the pressure of the economic downturn and advertising slowdown, newsletter businesses continue to be in a period of revenue growth.
-
TikTok’s CEO faces bipartisan skepticism in first Congressional hearing on security concerns
The hearing comes amid calls to remove TikTok from government devices and in some cases even ban it entirely.
-
Media Briefing: What to expect at the Digiday Publishing Summit
As DPS draws nearer, top pain points for publishers are coming to light.
-
SponsoredHow advertisers are leveraging omnichannel attribution and measurement to power CTV
Sponsored by MNTN Connected TV advertising has joined and expanded the larger ecosystem of campaigns that advertisers deploy. As such, omnichannel marketing strategies now encompass television and mobile devices, tablets and other screens such as out-of-home. And as customers engage across these different touchpoints, brands are seeking and moving their measurement and analytics efforts to […]
-
New app launches through Apple hoping to win with ‘zero-party data’ when others haven’t
Caden's new app lets users connect data from their Uber, Amazon, Netflix and other accounts in exchange for money. Will it take off?
-
‘The next level for us’: The New York Times eyes better retention for games in subscription drive
The games division is focusing on finding new ways to mine the inherent competitive nature of games like encouraging people to play multiple games in a single session or through new achievements and rewards for progression.
