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Multiscreen Buying And Measurement To Drive Programmatic Video In 2014

Programmatic buying has vaulted to the forefront of digital media in the last year, and is poised for more growth in 2014, by all accounts. Online video, too, is experiencing this push, but some hurdles remain. While programmatic buying has spread to many video formats, it hasn’t quite touched TV buying online, and that’s the dominant ad venue for digital video ad dollars.

Network programming is still packaged together in multiscreen offerings across screens, including TV and online, according to a Beet TV interview with GroupM Worldwide’s Rob Norman, chief digital global officer. That means much of the premium online video inventory that attracts high-profile brands is unavailable for real-time buying and bidding. But when that changes, expect more programmatic buying in online video.

A boost in programmatic video this year will also come from cross-screen measurement covering both display and video, Magna Global has said. “Increasingly, brands are unifying programmatic campaigns and cross-referencing campaign tracking data between display and video. Cheap display inventory is being used to identify valued properties on which expensive video inventory can be purchased,” the media agency said in a report. That sort of tracking will fuel growth. Magna said that 25% of video inventory in the U.S. was bought programmatically in 2013. That number will rise to 69% in 2017. Programmatic video buying hit $685 million in ad spend in 2013, about 9% of all programmatic buying in the U.S.

Programmatic buying is growing quickly in other areas of video advertising. This week, video ad platform SpotXchange said programmatic revenue comprised 46% of its overall revenue in 2013, and accounted for 57% of revenue in December alone, four times more than in December 2012. Overall, programmatic buying helped drive a 70% revenue increase in the fourth quarter of 2013 from the year before at SpotXchange. 

Also, ComScore noted in its most recent online video report that video ad platforms focusing on programmatic buying had seen big boosts year over year.
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