• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 27, 2018

For all the talk about an exodus of programmatic media-buying going in-house, only about a quarter of ad execs -- both marketers and agencies -- say they or their clients have taken some or all of it in-house, and while an even bigger percentage say the are considering doing so, that perception is higher among agencies than their clients, according to a survey of industry executives conducted for Research Intelligencer by Advertiser Perceptions.

The survey, which was completed this month by 305 executives (183 agency and 122 marketers), finds agency execs are slightly more inclined to expect their clients taking programmatic media-buying in-house, while clients are more likely to anticipate no change, or even reverting back to having their agencies handle it.

That said, among clients and agencies that have experienced programmatic media-buying moving in-house, marketers perceive a slightly higher percentage of their billings being handled that way. Clients estimated an average of 44% of their programmatic media-buying is handled in-house vs. only 35% among agency executives.

Among those clients and/or agencies reverting or anticipating moving programmatic media-buying back to their agencies, the No. 1 reason cited was that it is not a marketer’s “core competency.”