• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 26, 2012

Programmatic buying, or “real-time bidding” in the display advertising market this year will hit $2.4 billion, or about 17% of the total online display ad marketplace, according to the first ever data on the subject released by Mediabrands’ Magna Global unit.

That may not seem as big as what some folks in the display advertising ecosystem would like to believe, but it’s growing fast, Magna Managing Partner Brian Monahan said during his opening keynote at OMMA RTB in Los Angeles this morning.

Monahan estimates that programmatic buying will expand 39.5% this year in an overall ad marketplace that will expand only 4.6%, and in a digital sector that will expand only 11.5%.

By 2017, Monahan projects programmatic buying will be $7.5 billion, or 43% of the entire online display ad marketplace.