• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, September 27, 2016

As the demand for quality programmatic inventory exceeds supply, the price advertisers are paying for this inventory is rising, panelists at OMMA Programmatic agree.

“Looking back a year or two or three … we’re seeing [prices increases] across the board,” said Vincent Bareges, VP of Publisher Development at Amnet Group. 

Doug Grumet, SVP of Media at AMP Agency, agreed, citing his ability to baseline such pricing over time. “We can look at it historically,” he said.

Moreover, “The upward trend in prices will absolutely continue,” said Michael Moreau, COO of Link’s Data Cloud.

Yet, higher prices aren’t necessarily a bad thing, the pros concurred.

“Let's not assume that advertisers aren’t willing to pay [more] for quality audiences,” said Andrew Eklund, co-founder and CEO of Ciceron. Brands will pay more “if you can prove that it’s quality,” and “as long as we can show that price-to-performance ratio is increasing.”

As a result, “I think we’re moving out of the tonnage business -- unless, maybe, you’re Coca-Cola,” Eklund added.