Research: Programmatic trading 43% of OTT ad investment in Q1
May 23, 2024
In Q1 2024, large US advertisers expanded their overall ad spend +7 per cent compared to the year prior. Digital Media carried that increase with +18 per cent, the biggest quarterly growth since Q1 2o22. This is according to Guideline, a source of truth for advertising spend and pricing data, which captures actual agency media investment from all major holding companies and most major independents.
Programmatic buying channels accelerated that trend, growing +33 per cent in Q1 vs direct-sold insertion orders at +12 per cent. Within Programmatic channels, advertisers increased spending +19 per cent on Open Exchanges over Q1 2023, while they added +52 per cent to Premium Programmatic budgets, with Private Marketplaces (PMP) growing at a faster rate than Programmatic Guaranteed (PG) deals
In Q1 2022, Premium exchange transactions constituted 32 per cent of the Guideline Pool’s Programmatic ad dollars compared to 44 per cent in Q1 2024.
“Advertisers continue to shift dollars from open exchanges and into premium programmatic deals in search of top-quality inventory, better targeting options, and safe environments for their brands,” said Alberto Leyes, Head of Product Strategy, Data Solutions at Guideline. “As ad spend continues to proliferate across channels, the launch of our Programmatic Marketplace intelligence provides buyers and sellers with the transparent market view they need to trade in a growingly complex market.”
Digital Video has been driving advertisers’ shift to Programmatic ad channels. In Q1 2022, 28 per cent of OTT traded programmatically, compared to 43 per cent in Q1 2024. By comparison, in Q1 2022 advertisers bought 36 per cent of video ads in short-form content, Online Video (OLV), and a similar share, 38 per cent, in Q1 2024. The three biggest-spending advertiser Product Category Groups in Digital in Q1 2o24 were Consumer Packaged Goods (+23 per cent), Tech (+7 per cent), Pharma (+23 per cent).