• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, January 17, 2014

Combining programmatic technologies with traditional direct buying strategies is paying off for video advertisers.

TubeMogul today released a report exploring how programmatic direct video advertising compares to inventory bought on open exchanges (remnant inventory).

TubeMogul recently added a new tool to its software -- BrandAccess -- which acts as a private marketplace. Publishers and broadcasters put private inventory into BrandAccess, which can then be bought in bulk and delivered programmatically.

Per the report, “BrandAccess works the same way direct deals do -- a marketer buys inventory from a publisher in bulk -- but software optimizes who sees which ad, when.”

That strategy is reportedly paying off. TubeMogul claims the that the video ad completion rates are 10.2% higher when viewed on a BrandAccess site, while click rates
 are more than twice as high (1.3% compared to 0.6% for public inventory).

Because comparing “premium,” direct-sold inventory to remnant inventory is thought, by some, as a case of apples and oranges, perhaps the bigger story from the report is that completions rates for inventory bought and delivered via the programmatic direct method is trending upward. Inventory bought via open exchanges has remained stagnant.

In Q3 2013, completion rates for the programmatic direct method were 80.6% compared to 75.5% for open exchange inventory. In Q4 2013, the programmatic direct method saw 84.1% completion rates, while the open exchange rate stayed the same (75.4%).

The data comes from “tens of millions” of impressions delivered by TubeMogul within the United States.