Commentary

Programmatic Roars: Ad Spend Will Be Higher This Year

Advertisers, now settling down to business after a tumultuous 2024, are increasing their programmatic spend this year.  

Of those polled, 72% expect to invest more in programmatic advertising in 2025, up from 62% in 2024, according to the State of Programmatic, a study from Proximic by Comscore.  

But it depends on the channel. The increase for web and mobile digital advertising has fallen to 51% of those polled, versus 60% last year.  

In contrast, 61% are spending more on connected TV (CTV), compared to 57% in 2024. 

Audio is also taking a leap, from 30% last year to 40% in 2025. Social is flat at 30%. 

Of those using web and mobile digital, 70% are doing so based on performance and 30% on branding.  

In contrast, 80% of CTV base their decision on performance, and the remainder on branding.  

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How is advertising targeting consumers in this privacy conscious age? They list their primary tools as: 

  • Contextual targeting—41% 
  • First-party data—40% 
  • Alternative identifiers—16%

Moreover, 54% of marketers plan to increase their contextual data use this year. But 18% are uncertain, while 5% foresee a decrease.  

Are brands prepared for changes in privacy regulation? Some 60% say they are, while 35% are somewhat so. And 5% are unprepared.  

As for measureing campaign effectiveness, the respondents use these programmatic metrics:

  • Reach/frequency—70% 
  • Conversion rate—69%
  • Click-through rate—63% 
  • Return on ad spend—58% 
  • Engagement metrics (e.g., likes shares)—46%

How critical is it that duplicated reach & frequency measurement be made available directly in programmatic environments?  

Of the companies polled, 80% say that is important and 20% that it is a consideration, but not a dealbreaker.  

Proximic by Comscore surveyed over 150 advertising decision makers at brands, agencies and publishers between Nov. 5 and Nov. 22, 2024. 

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