Smaller advertisers are increasingly buying connected TV programmatically, according to a new report from FreeWheel, Comcast’s ad-tech unit.
Impressions from independent agencies are up by 24% so far this year, according to FreeWheel’s The State of Programmatic Independent Demand report.
Independent media agencies tend to represent smaller marketers than the big agency holding companies. Most media companies have been making ad inventory available to smaller advertisers through self-serve and programmatic technology.
“The independent market is in an era of turbo-charged growth,” FreeWheel chief revenue officer Katy Loria said. “This growth is fueled by the increasing adoption of programmatic advertising by marketers, coupled with the expansion of premium CTV supply. Advertisers of all sizes now have powerful tools for measuring and attributing their premium video campaigns’ success, driving higher demand and better outcomes.”
FreeWheel found that the adoption of multi-publisher programmatic bundles is up 119% as advertisers endeavor to reach their target audience across CTV platforms.
It also found that some ad categories are strong in the independent market, with pharmaceutical, gaming, telecom and retail marketers turning to programmatic as a way to produce better return on investment.
“With niche first-party audiences, scale can often be an issue,” said Garrett Dale, chief partnership officer and co-founder, Kepler Group. “Curated group deals have been integral in complementing publisher direct programmatic activations to expand reach of high-value audiences for brands, enabling Kepler to achieve and exceed client business goals from both brand awareness to performance objectives.”
With major sports events coming in the second half of the year, the appeal of programmatic could be tested. Historically, sports have not been significantly bought programmatically. That could change this year and test the programmatic technical infrastructure.
“The biggest events — NFL playoffs, Olympics, March Madness — are all available for streaming, which offers a huge opportunity for programmatic advertising,” said Moe Chughtai, global head of advanced TV, MiQ. “If executed effectively, not only does this reduce the investment barriers to entry for marketers to gain access to this programming, it also brings a new level of addressability and accountability to live sports. By partnering with programmers and tech partners, we can make live sports the fastest-growing sector for biddable advertising.”
