With 90% of advertisers reviewing how they buy programmatic ads, is taking the practice in-house a solution or likely to throw up just as many challenges?
The fact advertisers are reviewing their programmatic buying should not be that surprising given its explosive growth over the past few years. Programmatic was expected to account for around 70% of all digital display in the UK last year, according to eMarketer, and is becoming increasingly common in other media including TV.
Martin Kelly, CEO of independent programmatic agency Infectious Media, says it makes sense for marketers to react to major changes in the industry brought about by the rise of programmatic.
“Most advertisers are pleased when they see there are options. It allows brands to assess what is right for them and their own needs,” he says. However, Kelly warns advertisers not to be too rash when changing their strategy as there is a misconception that programmatic ad buying is like paid search.
"People go in-house for more control and transparency and in some ways these are the right drivers. But in-housing can be the wrong answer to the right problem."
“A lot of brands that do paid search in-house might automatically assume they should take programmatic in-house, but programmatic is a much more fragmented, messy game than search,” he explains. Kelly warns marketers to consider all their options and goes as far as to say he would challenge anyone that takes programmatic in-house and thinks they are doing a good job, as there is much more to it.
Instead, marketers should focus on education and understanding what model suits them, rather than assuming that in-house is the right answer. For some, agency trading desks remain the best bet to ensure they have expertise on hand while brands with more expertise might look to independents, in-house or a combination.