Decoding Open-Web Programmatic Ads: Adtheorent & Advertiser Perceptions’ Latest Findings

Research highlights affinity for privacy-forward targeting approaches, CTV and AI/ML-based technologies

AdTheorent Holding Company, Inc., a machine-learning pioneer and industry leader using privacy-forward solutions to deliver measurable value for programmatic advertisers, announced the results from a study with Advertiser Perceptions, the leading provider of research-based strategic market intelligence to the media, advertising, and ad tech industries.  The research examines the state of the open-web programmatic advertising industry with the goal of understanding how brand and agency advertisers in the US and Canada are evolving their programmatic strategies and leveraging new channels.

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The State of the Programmatic Advertising Industry Report takes a deep dive into four key areas:

1.  Programmatic Goals, Priorities and Investments:

• • Advertisers view open-web programmatic (i.e., outside the walled gardens of social media and search) as a critical driver of growth, expecting to drive brand lift, sales and advanced digital actions; the top three programmatic goals for advertisers are:
    • US: audience delivery (59%), brand lift (53%) and sales lift (52%)
    • Canada: sales lift (55%), brand lift (52%) and viewability rate (51%)
  • Advertisers are turning to programmatic to activate the full funnel for their campaigns; 49% of US and 50% of Canadian advertisers utilize programmatic for all campaign types (top, mid and lower funnel).
  • Investment in programmatic remains strong, with 54% of US advertisers and 72% of Canadian advertisers planning to spend more in the next 12 months.

2.  Connected Television (CTV):

• • Nearly 89% of US and 95% of Canadian advertisers rate CTV effective at driving intended objectives, specifically, they are seeing success with buying CTV programmatically for:
    • US: Ability to reach target audiences (47%); Better ROI/ROAS (42%); Easier campaign targeting and optimization (42%).
    • Canada: Ability to reach target audiences (53%); Easier to achieve scale/reach (50%); Ability to activate one video campaign across multiple properties (45%).
  • The vast majority of advertisers in the US (71%) and Canada (90%) are interested in utilizing CTV to drive superior performance when used as part of a full-funnel approach vs. utilizing the channel as solely an upper-funnel tactic.  Additionally, advertisers are tracking campaign attribution in a variety of ways reflective of this full-funnel approach:
    • US: Video completes (65%); Business outcomes: (63%); ROAS (55%)
    • Canada: Business outcomes (68%); ROAS (60%); Video completes (52%)

3.  Privacy and Identity:

• • Advertisers are faced with the difficult task of succeeding in an environment of increasing privacy restrictions; from a cookie-less future to the demise of mobile ad identifiers (MAIDS), to stricter limitations on what data can be collected from consumers.  Three steps that advertisers in the US and Canada have taken to prepare are:
    • Developing or partnering with providers not dependent on personal data for targeting (US: 59%; Canada: 65%)
    • Developing or partnering for contextual targeting solutions to complement behavioral targeting (US: 51%; Canada: 53%)
    • Developing or partnering for first-party solutions such as sign-ins and email newsletters (US: 47%; Canada: 50%)
  • Advertisers will continue to evolve how they identify their target audiences. A majority in each market expressed interest across various techniques to identify audiences, with the highest level of interest being the use of ML-based audiences that are not reliant on IDs or personally identifiable information (PII) (87% US; 93% Canada).

4.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML):

• • Significant majorities of advertisers are using or plan to use AI/ML in their programmatic advertising strategies. More specifically, in the US about 9 in 10 programmatic advertisers are using or will use AI/ML for contextual targeting, to drive performance and personalization. In Canada, about 9 in 10 are using or will use AI/ML for custom ad creation, and again to drive performance and personalization. These uses of AI/ML bode well for programmatic audience engagement and the ability to drive the full-funnel metrics cited earlier.
  • Notably, 99% of US advertisers and 100% of Canadian advertisers plan to maintain or increase their levels of investment in AI/ML over the next 12 months. The better news is that significant shares are expecting to increase their AI/ML spend (50% in the US and 69% in Canada). This reflects the optimism advertisers have for their widespread adoption of AI/ML technologies going into 2024.

“We are excited to share the powerful results of AdTheorent’s ‘State of the Programmatic Advertising Industry Report,’ conducted with Advertiser Perceptions.  The results reflect the enormous opportunity across open-web programmatic advertising, specifically its success driving business outcomes across the full funnel of available digital tactics, including CTV,” said Jim Lawson, CEO of AdTheorent. “It’s promising to see advertisers embrace and have success with privacy-forward methods, including advancing their audience targeting strategies to utilize ML-based audiences that are not reliant on IDs, which we believe is the future of the industry.”

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“These research results demonstrate the growing importance of programmatic advertising for brands and agencies across all verticals,” said Stuart Schneiderman, EVP, Business Intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. “What our data shows is that advertisers are prioritizing programmatic, connected TV and AI/ML and that they will be sources of investment and success for many years to come.”

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