Trends in programmatic advertising in 2021
1. Digital Out of Home aggregates location data from mobile devices
Today, many DOOH media are integrated with programmatic platforms and equipped with Bluetooth beacons to collect data on real human traffic and can display advertisements based on the behaviour of a particular user on the network. Integration with a loyalty program of, for example, a shopping center provides even more opportunities to link online behaviour, real behaviour in a shopping center and offline purchases together.
2. GDPR: New Level and Better Data
Limiting the ability to collect third-party data will affect the usual methods of audience segmentation and change the way we work with behavioural data and targeting. Even now, we can say with confidence that the importance of high-quality traffic sources with their own data and direct customer data, a.k.a first-party data, will increase again. On top of that, such data, when integrated with the full capacity of programmatic algorithms, will allow reaching a qualitatively new level of communication with a potential consumer.
3. Wearable devices will complement programmatic advertising
Such a technical possibility has existed for a long time, so the question now is only in new formats and communication scenarios that will bring real value to the consumer, and not be the annoying vibration of another spamming in Viber. Only the number of Smart Watches available for integration into the programmatic ecosystem is already estimated at the hundreds of millions. And this is just the beginning.
4. The concept of personalization will change
The possibilities of personalization, including displaying banners with a "personal" message, have long existed on many platforms, but they were used rarely and carefully for fear of violating the boundaries of personal space. The new "cookie-free" world will again bring us back to this issue, but not so much from the point of view of technology as from openness, ethics and awareness. Now, the user themself will control the point where relevant and useful messages end and discomfort and paranoia begin.
5. Programmatic TV, podcasts and audio
Integration with ethereal TV in the form of TV-Sync is just a short-term solution. The future is in full integration with Smart TV, game consoles, streaming audio services and podcast platforms. The issue is again in formats: standard internet banners are strange and ineffective here, but Netflix's new integrated content formats or Spotify audio ads are encouraging.
6. Omnichannel or integrated programmatic
If a few years ago programmatic was used as an optimized version of standard media procurement, now most companies are already using it as a powerful omnichannel tool with the ability to build knowledge and engagement, test audience segments in terms of potential conversion, highlight and work out negativity, synchronize with other media activities and link with real consumption and offline behaviour simultaneously.
7. Outcome-based pay is gaining popularity
This refers not only to programmatic advertising but also to media budgets in general. The possibilities for processing huge amounts of data, collecting custom segments, post-click optimization and CPA modelling make this issue especially urgent for programmatic media buying.
