• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, October 7, 2024

Programmatic advertising continues its upward mobility, especially in the area of premium sales, judging by a new analysis from Guideline. 

The first eight months of 2024 saw a 47% growth YoY in the premium programmatic market, including private marketplaces and programmatic guaranteed deals. In contrast, ad spend in open exchanges grew by only 10%.

Moreover, programmatic buying conducted through DSPs and SSPs jumped by 26%, versus 13% for direct-sold insertion orders YoY. 

This took place in the face of CPM price reductions in two out of three programmatic ad types. The streaming audio price fell by 6% and standard display by 14% in Q2 YoY.

You can be skeptical if you must. But this is in tune with other studies that show programmatic is the dominant market force. 

In general, digital media spend grew by 16% through August, while traditional media fell by 5%. 

The biggest investment growth was seen in the Travel Services category (75%). In the technology sector, premium programmatic outpaced open programmatic by a margin of 66% to 34%. 

Outside of programmatic premium, retail media grew by 33% and social by 27%. 

“When the COVID pandemic hit in March 2020, only a quarter of programmatic investment was bought via premium deals, with open exchanges dominating the programmatic landscape,” says Alberto Leyes, Head of Product Strategy, Data Solutions, at Guideline. “That number has since grown to 48% in the first 8 months of 2024 – posting +47% growth YoY – with a projected share of 50% by the end of 2024”.

Leyes adds, “Long gone are the days when top content was reserved for direct-sold inventory, and there couldn’t be a better example of this than the Olympics having been traded programmatically for the first time this year through the agreement between NBCU and The Trade Desk."