The Future of Programmatic Advertising

A few years ago, economic analysts predicted that by the end of 2021, an estimated 90% of all digital display marketing will be from programmatic advertising. The specificity of programmatic advertising, enhanced by artificial intelligence and machine learning has made it one of the most recommended forms of consumer targeting. 

As is the norm, many brands are reluctant to adopt it as a buying strategy as they analyze its efficacy versus its weaknesses. 

So far, programmatic advertising is highly effective owing to its ability to create business traffic at an affordable cost. It has also saved brands the pain of buying advertising spaces directly from publishers. It has reached its goal of enhancing efficiency and transparency for publishers and marketers.

Even as it still retains the ‘new’ status in the universe of online marketing, programmatic advertising is picking up new trends to reach consumers. 

For instance, it is now possible to reach consumers through wearable devices such as smartwatches which is ideal since they can gather accurate real-time data, on geo-location and track lifestyle habits. For the consumer, they allow higher notification visibility making it easier for them to see your advertisement.

Programmatic advertising also features in streaming and ‘Over the Top (OTT)’ services like Netflix. With stay-at-home orders and remote workspaces remaining the norm, OTT and digital audio advertising will keep soaring. By 2025, revenue generated from this is estimated to be $ 2.37B, meaning a greater Return on Investment for brands. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, this is one of the strategies you could employ for your business to get a competitive advantage.

Unfortunately, Africa may have experienced lower levels of technological advancement due to our ‘third-world’ status. We may miss out on future programmatic advertising strategies such as voice-activated advertising. However, this does not imply that we lack an informed target audience who require up-to-date tactics and technologies to gain marketing goals.

~ Dennis Maina

Every businessperson should take advantage of market gaps and fill them after careful market research. Therefore, although some of the newer tactics and concepts, like voice-activated advertising, apply to a smaller population, they are proving to be promising, futuristic, and ideal for programmatic advertising. 

Voice-Activated Assistants such as Siri from Apple and Alexa from Amazon make it easier to navigate through device usage. With programmatic advertising incorporated into these, marketers will reach a wider diverse audience. Apps such as Spotify have already included this feature and the outlook for what this means for marketers is optimistic.

Despite the promising future of programmatic advertising, there are some drawbacks that affect its success. One example of this is the phasing out of ‘Cookies’ and stricter policies on ID privacy which means reduced tracking of consumers. 

How concerned should you be about how it affects your marketing strategies? Keep reading our articles to find out more!