Programmatic has been one of the hottest topics in media the past few years but Canadian advertisers have been slow to join the conversation, according to new research from Videology and Marketing magazine.
Content sponsored by Videology
The survey revealed just how much consumers are casually and seamlessly moving from tablets, to smartphones and traditional TVs then back to get their video content. For instance, 75% of consumers said they watch video online and about six hours of video is watched via the web each week. (See more, here.)
The report, “Consumers Lead Marketers on Path to Cross-Screen Convergence,” surveyed more than 1,000 Canadian consumers and also 104 marketers about the rapidly changing world of video advertising.
“Multi-screen viewing habits certainly have made video advertising more complex but it also offers marketers options to solve that complexity and improve their advertising efficiency,” said Ryan Ladisa, vice-president sales at Videology Canada. “Our findings however made it clear a lot advertisers are unaware or at least not taking advantage of those opportunities.”
The numbers certainly bare this out:
•Just 10% of marketers say they are using programmatic buying today;
•39% say they are not using programmatic;
•fully 36% said they don’t know what programmatic buying is; and
•just 34% said video buying will be more programmatic over the next three years.
“In fact, it’s a near certainty that video buying will become more programmatic in the next few years particularly as marketers better understand the advantages it provides,” said Ladisa.
While 71% of respondents said targeting individuals will be an important capability when it comes to buying video advertising, just 24% said the ability to buy programmatically would be important. In effect, better targeting will come with programmatic buying, said Ladisa. “If you want better targeting you should want programmatic. We believe this just shows a lack of understanding about programmatic and not lack of support.”
“The great benefit of programmatic is that it meets the demand of advertisers to improve targeting thanks to the application of deep first- and third-party data,” said Michka Mancini, vice-president, media sales, digital and multiplatform at Rogers Media and a panellist at Videology’s recent panel discussion on the study findings in Toronto. She explained how programmatic is good for media companies and what has to be done to increase marketer awareness.
How is programmatic video buying, which promises more efficiencies for buyers and advertisers, also a positive development for media companies?
“It’s positive in a couple of key ways. First it is a more efficient process for publishers too, with less of the manual work of the old media buying and selling system. We can take those resources and focus them on value added creative opportunities such as integrated sponsorships and custom content.
“Second, because programmatic offers better targeting it limits wastage for the advertiser. For that there is a higher price to be paid to the publisher because you are zeroing in on the audience. In return, advertising partners benefit from a brand-safe environment, reaching the right audience at the exact right time.
Programmatic direct and private marketplaces are the biggest opportunity for media companies, and a key reason why Rogers Media Inc. co-founded CPAX. Media companies are in control of who can access their inventory, and at what price, without the open exchange pressures on CPMs.
There is only upside for us.
Why do you think the Canadian industry has been slow to embrace programmatic?
More education is required industry wide. IAB Canada has an opportunity to lead in this area and work with media companies, agencies and advertisers to increase the overall industry IQ around programmatic. There is also a growing concern around fraud, transparency, viewability and brand safety, which has shaken advertiser confidence in exploring programmatic trading. I do believe there is an opportunity for publishers to work more closely with agency trading desks and client directly to explain the benefits and address some of those concerns.
How far will this go? Will we see linear TV being bought programmatically?
Long term I think we can expect to see all media purchased programmatically. There is no doubt that programmatic TV combines the deep audience insights of digital, with the reach and creative power of TV so that marketers can plan, measure and optimize campaigns across channels. The Holy Grail, as we’ve seen it with digital, is using data from offline and online media to be able to target down to the household level. There is a long journey to get there in Canada, and it will require advertisers, broadcasters, data management platforms and sell-side platforms to come together to drive innovation toward making programmatic TV a reality.
In the next five years, as we see a shift in audiences and IPTV reaches scale, that is where we will see the true value of programmatic come into play in the TV space.
