Programmatic's Q2: Auctions Up 151%, Non-Human Traffic Down 59%

Programmatic auction volume rose a significant 151% year-over-year worldwide, per Accordant’s Q2 2016 Programmatic Media Market Pulse report. Likewise, exchange-traded inventory in North America rose 103% year-over-year and 27% quarter-over-quarter.

“We have seen a significant number of brands migrating their campaigns to programmatic channels over the past year,” said Arthur Muldoon, co-founder and CEO of Accordant Media. “Premium supply has increased, and the benefits of programmatic buying on operational efficiency are increasingly apparent.”

The report also highlights a robust increase in mobile programmatic advertising, with the 320x50 mobile leaderboard unit accounting for 13% of all programmatic ads in second-quarter 2016, even including desktop-sized units.

Viewability rates improved 31% year-over-year, bolstered by a 59% decrease in non-human traffic (NHT) over the same time period. “As brands and advertisers become more sophisticated, the incidence of non-human traffic can quickly decrease. The loudest cry over NHT comes from those less sophisticated buyers,” explained Muldoon.

While average CPMs are up 10% in North America year-over-year, CTRs (click-through rates) are down 4%. Muldoon attributes this decrease in CTRs to the fact that “marketers are no longer as interested in clicks as they are in conversions.” In fact, Muldoon continued, “brands have become better at tracking true lift through view-based conversions rather than through clicks alone.”

Other highlights from the report include:

  • The United States still garners the lion’s share of the global programmatic market, with just over 35%. The countries with the highest quarter-over-quarter change in real-time volume are the United Kingdom and Germany, which both have increased their volume more than 35%. Despite the increase, however, they still fall far below the U.S. share, with just under 5% for the U.K (2nd globally), and around 3% of the global share for Germany (5th globally). Brazil and Japan round out the top five global players in the programmatic market.

  • Publishers in second-quarter 2016 have become less transparent with their ad placements. Pre-bid ad placements are unknown 85% of the time.

  • Phones have taken a larger share of the mobile market in 2016, with 70% of impressions on those devices, compared to 30% of impressions on tablets.

1 comment about "Programmatic's Q2: Auctions Up 151%, Non-Human Traffic Down 59%".
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  1. Shailin Dhar from Method Media Intellgience, August 10, 2016 at 11:34 a.m.

    59% decreased in DETECTED non-human traffic. Just means that the traffic sellers are getting better at passing the detection methods in place. 

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