Sales-side platform
provider PubMatic today announced their Q1 results, and leading the list of impressive figures is that publisher revenue on Private Marketplace (PMP) increased 18000% YoY. Kirk McDonald, PubMatic's
president, spoke with RTM Daily and attributed the massive growth to a shift in the industry towards programmatic. McDonald said that programmatic advertising is being acknowledged as "not simply an
episode or cycle, but actually something that is going to be here permanently."
McDonald has noticed that publishers have taken a "lean forward" approach towards programmatic
advertising. He said that even the language has changed from speaking about it as more indirect and secondary to more integrated and hands-on. "Now, more and more publishers are leaning into this," he
said.
The PMPs are seen mostly in display, but McDonald has observed that they are starting to pop up in mobile. One reason the PMPs are less prevalent in mobile is because of the
need for a "well-established and engaged sales team," as McDonald put it, before giving them the programmatic tools to work with. Display has simply had more time to develop sales teams.
As sales teams become more comfortable with the ad tech, publishers can be more creative with how they use platforms. Going forward, McDonald thinks that publishers will be able to
differentiate themselves more and more on the PMPs because of this.
PubMatic didn't simply ride the wave, though. McDonald also believes that the company has seen recent
success because they focused in the right areas - namely mobile and programmatic premium (quality). "We started focusing [on mobile] about a year and a quarter ago, [and] we've seen a huge growth in
that adoption." In the last year, there was 440% revenue growth for mobile publishers and 493% eCPM growth. Additionally, "more publishers are pushing their mobile inventory in this direction, which
bodes well" for the future, he said.
While the initial boom might be over - expecting 18000% YoY revenue growth at this time next year would be vacuous - McDonald was hesitant with
projections and worried he would underestimate.
"I'll say it this way," he remarked. "I think the pace at which we will see programmatic grow will continue to surprise us - even
those of us that believe it is such an important part of the future. I do think it has to hit a tapering off point, because it will become problematic if it becomes all programmatic." For now, though,
the company is enjoying the industry's shift towards programmatic and looks to keep up with the curve.