Navigating the Future of Programmatic Advertising

Kim Mazejka, Senior Media Planner
Lee Junkin, Programmatic Media Supervisor

We recently attended StackAdapt’s StackDay conference in Chicago, where we had the opportunity to dive deeper into not only StackAdapt’s current and upcoming features, but also the programmatic landscape as a whole. Here are our top learnings and insights from the conference:

Programmatic ad spend is growing rapidly, driven by increased demand for connected TV, Retail Media Networks, and digital out-of-home.

• Connected TV (CTV) is growing at the same pace that Linear TV is declining. eMarketer predicts that by 2028, spend will be even between the two before CTV takes over in dominance. The downside is that there is a current ceiling on CTV inventory due to lighter ad loads and a larger share of ad free viewers, which will lead to an inventory shrinkage. 
• Retail Media Networks (RMNs) are growing at a faster rate than traditional search, which has seen its spend peak. StackAdapt is beginning to explore the integration of RMNs into their platform in order to create more seamless omnichannel integration. However, this will likely be a long roadmap as most RMNs are hesitant to join the open marketplace despite it being a large source of growth. 
• OOH is the only medium that is growing yearly, with digital out-of-home (DOOH) being the main driver. Running DOOH through a DSP can create a feedback loop to further fuel retargeting audiences and provide measurement opportunities to prove effectiveness of this once unmeasurable channel. 

Users will accept personalization in exchange for handing over their data. 

• Less than 1 in 5 users always accept cookies when given the choice, and only 26% of Apple users are opting into being tracked across sites when prompted. 
• Despite not wanting to opt in to tracking, 72% of consumers report they would only engage with a personalized ad. If they know that their purchase history information will be used for these personalized ads, they will approve being tracked. 
• This decrease in device data will likely lead to PMPs and programmatic direct buys increasing in popularity due to precise targeting abilities without this data. 

Choosing the right DSP can create omnichannel opportunities for better optimization and measurement. StackAdapt’s capabilities and recent evolutions include:

• Tools to estimate incremental reach of a CTV buy against a Linear campaign to reduce duplication of efforts and reach a higher percentage of your target audience. 
• ABM-specific reporting to measure B2B campaign performance by company, company size, seniority level, etc.
• Ability to build in brand lift studies straight into any campaign
• Optimize campaigns toward engagement metrics and vetted inventory to ensure ads are running in high attention spaces on premium inventory

With all of this information now in our arsenal, we sailed off into the Chicago sunset on a beautiful river cruise to cap off the trip!