Programmatic’s coming of age
Born in 2007, the same year as Apple’s first iPhone, programmatic advertising has begun to enter its coming of age as media buying shifts into the world of automation.
While some question if it will ever be completely mature due to the ever-evolving nature of technology, it can be said that it has surpassed much of its temperamental puberty years which were clouded with brand safety scandals, ad fraud, and data privacy breaches.
Peter Barry, supply-side platform (SSP) PubMatic’s country manager for Australia and New Zealand, says programmatic has gone up but it could be time for a new term.
“It’s gotten through its awkward teenage years and I’d say we’re into adulthood right now,” Barry says. “[Programmatic] is almost a redundant term now. It’s really just automation.”
Today, the adtech industry plays a vital role as the pipes that allow advertisers and publishers to connect, and in turn helping to fund the free internet. The lines between traditional and digital media have also increasingly become blurred, as TV, radio and out-of-home (OOH) have begun to seek the benefits of programmatic.
Barry attributes this to programmatic’s ability to deliver measured results. “Dollars need to be more accountable than they ever have been and that is delivered through programmatic,” he says.
The tech industry is no stranger to disruption but 2020 has been one of the most disrupting years yet for adtech, forcing the industry to grow up even faster.
In January alone, California introduced its California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), directly impacting tech companies around the world with many being headquartered in Silicon Valley. Google Chrome also finally gave timeline for when it would finally remove third-party cookies.
Back at home in Australia, amid the nation’s bushfire crisis, local watchdog the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had begun an inquiry into the “opaque” world of adtech.
Add to the mix, a global pandemic which forced people indoors and into isolation, the industry had been riding the rollercoaster in the first half.
With all of this change and more people
