ANA/Forrester Survey Reveals Growing Demand for Programmatic Buying Education
More media agency transparency and results-focused metrics are industry priorities
NEW YORK (March 31, 2014) – Changing media practices and technologies are driving marketers’ concerns around media buying effectiveness and media agency transparency according to Transparency, Machines, and Metrics; An ANA/Forrester Survey of the Evolution of the Media Buying Industry.
The survey of 153 client-side marketers, which took place between February and March 2014, looked at current and projected trends in media transparency, programmatic buying adoption, and metrics.
Media Transparency:
Nearly half of surveyed advertisers cite concerns about the level of transparency between the client and their media agency(s) as an issue. Further, such concerns appear to be on the rise – 42 percent say concerns about transparency increased over the past year and only 13 percent say concerns decreased.
The top issues reported by advertisers included:
- Served versus viewable impressions for digital media
- Media rebates to agencies
- Digital ad placement (e.g., frequency caps, inappropriate content, share of voice, above-the-fold)
- Lack of visibility into data used to define audience targeting
Programmatic Buying Adoption:
Marketers have a lack of understanding around programmatic buying, with almost 40 percent claiming low, or no, awareness. Use of programmatic buying in the past year is also mixed – 54 percent have used it, among the 46 percent who have not, 18.5 percent plan to do so in the next year. Of those surveyed that do currently use programmatic buying, online display (77 percent) and online video (41 percent) are used the most.
One quarter of marketers have expanded their in-house capabilities to manage/oversee or implement programmatic buying, another 13 percent are evaluating whether to do so. The potential barriers to programmatic adoption reflect the findings concerning transparency issues, with visibility into targeting data (49 percent) and understanding ad placement (43 percent) listed as key issues.
“Marketers are still in the early stages of understanding how to use programmatic to win, serve, and retain customers,” said Forrester Analyst Jim Nail. “But as the survey shows, marketers realize they must take programmatic seriously and learn how to incorporate this buying method into their overall media buying strategy.”
Metrics:
As marketers place growing importance on understanding consumers’ path to purchase, quantitative, results-focused metrics now dominate priorities. As such, marketing mix modeling and web analytics are the most important tools identified by surveyed marketers for measuring the impact of media plans. When it comes to measuring campaigns across multiple media, understanding each medium’s impact (78 percent) and identify individuals across channels (54 percent) are priority measurement areas for marketers.
Bob Liodice, president and CEO of the ANA, explained, “industry metrics must evolve to improve relevance and transparency across the ecosystem. Our industry must align to improve measurement in order to support marketers’ needs to make better decisions that can then drive business results.”
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About the study:
The ANA/Forrester survey was conducted online between February and March 2014 among a sample of 153 client-side marketers. Respondents were drawn from ANA membership and have an average of 17 years of experience in the marketing / advertising industry
About the ANA
The mission of the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) is to drive growth for marketing professionals, brands and businesses, the industry, and humanity. The ANA serves the marketing needs of 20,000 brands by leveraging the 12-point ANA Growth Agenda, which has been endorsed by the Global CMO Growth Council. The ANA’s membership consists of U.S. and international companies, including client-side marketers, nonprofits, fundraisers, and marketing solutions providers (data science and technology companies, ad agencies, publishers, media companies, suppliers, and vendors). The ANA creates Marketing Growth Champions by serving, educating, and advocating for more than 50,000 industry members that collectively invest more than $400 billion in marketing and advertising annually.
About Forrester Research, Inc.
Forrester Research (Nasdaq: FORR) is a global research and advisory firm serving professionals in 13 key roles across three distinct client segments. Our clients face progressively complex business and technology decisions every day. To help them understand, strategize, and act upon opportunities brought by change, Forrester provides proprietary research, consumer and business data, custom consulting, events and online communities, and peer-to-peer executive programs. We guide leaders in business technology, marketing and strategy, and the technology industry through independent fact-based insight, ensuring their business success today and tomorrow.