• by Skip Brand , October 1, 2014

The window to premium programmatic is not simply open, but it has been shattered. Everyone has a “programmatic first” mentality, which is needed for 100% brand advertiser adoption.

Programmatic brand advertisers moving dollars to exchanges is no long a niche, but the largest growing trend in the industry.  The premium programmatic flip is occurring as Madison Avenue moves to full automation. This flip is realized with programmatic considerations first and then putting resources to non-programmatic inventory, which can be bought with semi-automated methods. A “programmatic first” philosophy is critical to achieving everybody’s advertising business goals. This mindset taps into current growth and prepares the best organizations for the future.  

Why Now?

Programmatic first is driven by ad spend dollars, agency automation through partners, top publishers moving to 100% programmatic, and private exchanges built for brands.

Ad Dollars Speak Loudly

The big news at the start of Advertising Week was new numbers from Mediabrands forecasting that programmatic media buying will reach $53 billion globally by 2018. Coca-Cola, MasterCard, Philips, Johnson & Johnson and many other brands recently came together for a WFA report to talk about their move to programmatic and their needs for more brand dollars to shift in this direction.

Agency Checkbooks are Open

As CMOs beat the drum for programmatic, gencies began setting aggressive goals from the top.  One way to see if agencies are really moving to programmatic first is by observing their biggest investments and partnerships. Well, the proof is in the digital pudding.

Recently, Digitas and Rubicon teamed up for the first premium programmatic agreement. Just days ago, WPP-Xaxis and AppNexus partnered by investing, trading assets, and focusing on the future to help GroupM’s brand advertisers buy programmatically. MediaBrands highlighted its unique AOL relationship for premium programmatic. Not to be outdone, Omnicom has multiple programmatic deals with many of the top publishers and sites, to the tune of well over $1 billion (Twitter, Facebook, Instragram).

Portals and Publishers Now Programmatic First Drive By Business Models

Many of the portals and premium publishers have gone 100% programmatic. This is in the best interest of many that are not only working to grow top-line digital media dollars, but increase bottom-line performance (margins) through cheaper programmatic selling and technology.

Just this week, AOL in Europe and Canada announced they are going 100% programmatic. NBC is moving more premium inventory onto the exchanges first, which places all premium inventory into the marketplace. This is an increase from 20% programmatic to over 50% of their digital revenue.

Top 50 publishers are executing programmatic upfronts that are more cost-competitive for buyers. These premium publishers are also growing the number of private exchanges to assist with partnerships for automated guarantees and enhance easy-to-buy programmatic direct buys as well.

Premium Exchanges Built for Brands

The largest exchanges today are adding brand capabilities, focusing on premium inventory, branding formats like video and mobile, and enabling more brand and cross-channel measurement.

The development of thousands of private exchanges between suppliers and buyers is for premium inventory. Many of the top technology companies are powering agency “insourcing” as well as moving to less managed services and more self-served exchange models.

We can all agree that a “programmatic first” mentality is needed to achieve a long-lasting value beyond automation. Measurement and analytics companies are helping to optimize for branding, which is not an oxymoron. It is brand advertising, stupid!