• by Felicia Greiff , December 7, 2015

In a report called “Reaching Full Potential,” from AppNexus and Warc,  65% of ad professionals in the APAC (Asia-Pacific) region said an understanding of programmatic advertising will be a key skill for agencies by 2020.

Fifty-seven percent said high levels of creativity will be important -- a figure representing a five-year drop in perception of creativity as an integral part of advertising. That number is expected to bounce back by 2020, the report said.

In an email, Adadyn COO Raj Beri said 2020 is too late a year for ad professionals to understand programmatic is key, adding that a common misconception with programmatic is that it relies less on the creativity aspects of advertising. 

 "I would say creativity is actually doubly important with programmatic," Beri said, adding that the most powerful combination in terms of return on advertising spend (ROAS) is programmatic creative, or leveraging the power of dynamic creative with programmatic to see a lift in conversions in a direct response environment.

"Effective programmatic is the seamless blending of audience, creative and media, and none of these components should be neglected," Beri said.

Digital advertising spending in Asia-Pacific is expected to total $252 billion by 2018, according to an eMarketer report from last year.

In addition to the findings on programmatic skills, the study also found the majority of programmatic adopters use the tech for mobile and video ads, Real-Time Daily reported last week.

The study, conducted by Circle Research, surveyed 202 advertisers and professionals from media buying agencies, ad agencies, agency networks, publishers and ad tech companies in the APAC region.