The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) recently issued its first revenue report on programmatic display ad revenues in the US. The bottom line: Programmatic buying and selling accounted for more than half of the display advertising revenues generated in 2014.

Highlights of the Report

• Online programmatic display with $10.1 billion in revenues in the US in 2014 accounted for a little over 20% of overall ad revenues of $49.5 billion and 52 percent of the $19.6 billion display market
• Banner ads generated roughly 80 percent of the display programmatic revenues
• 2015 will see more inventory and spends for mobile and video formats
• 70 percent of the programmatic revenue came through open auctions
• Ad tech firms and publishers took in programmatic revenues in a 55-45 percentage split

 

“Sizing the programmatic market has proven both challenging and illuminating, as we learned more about how that sector moves ads and money. Once we garner deeper understanding of how things work and where standard definitions and best practices are needed, we will also gain insights into where greater opportunities exist for publishers and advertisers to capitalize on programmatic channels.”

— Sherrill Mane, Senior Vice President, Research, Analytics and Measurement, IAB

Key Takeaways from the Report

• Standardization and adoption of programmatic definitions for a robust sizing of programmatic revenues
• Increased dollar transparency to justify stronger overall revenues from programmatic as compared to traditional direct sales
• Increase quality of premium inventory
• Striking a balance between cross device and cross platform targeting and addressing concerns around user privacy and data collection
• Standardization of viewability metrics, greater control over brand safety, ad verification and performance measurement solutions to build advertiser trust in the programmatic eco-system

Are you part of this fast evolving programmatic eco-system? Let us know the challenges you face and the benefits you receive using programmatic over traditional direct sales model.