When surfing the wave of automation, here are 10 things you should know Source: Ad Age India Article

1. 10 Things You Need to Know
Now About
Programmatic Buying

2. When surfing the wave of
automation, here are
10 things you should know

3. The pie is growing (fast).
Programmatic buying is on track to make up
$14.88 billion of the approximately $58.6 billion
digital advertising pie this year, according to
eMarketer. That's a nearly $5 billion leap from
2014, when it accounted for $9.9 billion.

4. It's not just for direct response
anymore.
Programmatic-buying systems now have access to some traditional TV
inventory and plenty of ad time in "over the top" TV delivered via the
web, making the practice increasingly attractive to brand marketers.
Imagine this programmatic scenario: You serve a branding commercial
to someone on her TV and follow it with a display or Facebook ad on
her desktop or mobile device.

5. Data rules.
Ad buyers can use programmatic buying to fan ads across
the web and then, mid-campaign, evaluate what's working
best -- which geographies, times of day, audience
segments, publishers -- to narrow their target accordingly,
so they're paying only for highly effective ads. This is a
radical change from traditional ad buying, where a buyer
agrees to run a certain number of ads with a publisher and
is locked in to the contract.

6. Brands are taking it in-house.
Marketers' internal programmatic ad buying is the
fastest-growing category of programmatic spending,
according to ad-tech company Index Exchange.
At the end of 2013, 11% of the ads bought through
Index were from brands' in-house teams. At the end of
2014, the number had grown to 15%. "It's absolutely
remarkable," said Index CEO Andrew Casale.

7. Mobile is a major issue.
The behavioral targeting capabilities of programmatic
systems are heavily tied to tracking cookies, a major
problem when it comes to mobile, where cookies are
ineffective. The limitation of the cookie is causing difficulty
for marketers that want to run campaigns across mobile
devices and desktop.

8. Social networks are
gaining clout.
Over the past few years, Facebook, Twitter
and LinkedIn have gobbled up
programmatic ad-tech companies in a play
to sell ads across the web, not just through
their own platforms.
Unlike the vast majority of independent ad-
tech firms, these social-media networks have
reams of login data, allowing them to
connect user identities across devices. These
social companies' offerings are poised to
overtake the competition -- with the
possible exception of Google.

9. Fraud is still a problem.
All the industry talk about fighting fraud doesn't
seem to have eliminated it.
The programmatic ecosystem is especially
susceptible to a fraudulent practice called "URL
masking," where a publisher lists its website in the ad
exchanges as another, usually more reputable,
website entirely.
The buyer has no idea where the ads are actually
running.

10. The big players are set.
Don't expect to see a big, new programmatic
technology company pop up anytime soon.
Venture capitalist Jerry Neumann said he's
stopped investing in ad-tech for the time
being because the top players are now
entrenched. "When I was investing in ad-tech
four to seven years ago, there was more
opportunity than competition," he said. Now?
Not so much.

11. It's not just banner ads.
Some brands have said they plan to move all their display-ad
spending through programmatic channels. And that's led technology
players to build functionality that allows brands to buy more than
standard banner ads. Ad network Undertone, for instance, made its
premium ad units available programmatically earlier this year.

12. It can be good for viewability.
Though programmatic buying is sometimes derided as a
swamp of nonviewable, fraudulent, garbage inventory, there
are controls available within the technology that allow
buyers to purchase ads that are more viewable than others.
You can get as granular as buying only the top 10% of ads
that are viewed for the longest time. Good news for
advertisers.

13. http://www.adageindia.in/marketing/news/10
-things-you-need-to-know-now-about-
programmatic-
buying/articleshow/47502368.cms
Source