Why and how ‘programmatic` is emerging as key to real-time marketing success

The real-time digital economy is here, turning many industries upside down and leaving marketers across Europe wrestling with empowered customers and digitally fuelled competition. Marketers face an explosion of data and platforms that are transforming owned, earned and paid media – often blurring the lines between each. As digital becomes central to customer interaction, programmatic technology has emerged as the driving force for a new vision of digital advertising that integrates paid media into real-time marketing. This report looks at the current state of programmatic in Europe and explores why and how it is viewed as pivotal to the future of real-time marketing

Headlines

• More than 600 agencies, publishers and marketers from across Europe shared their latest thinking on digital marketing and programmatic advertising
• Targeting emerges as the most important factor behind advertising success
• Programmatic identified as a key driver of improved targeting
• Media buying agencies lead the way and publishers are adapting; but marketers do not yet fully understand the potential
• Barriers to forecast growth are real, with budget allocation and skills shortages notable…
• …but there is a determination to overcome these barriers – nine in ten think programmatic will be a very important part of digital advertising in the future; one third think it will be dominant
• The industry expects advertising agencies to coordinate both the technical and creative sides of programmatic advertising – closing the current knowledge gap will therefore be vital for securing future success