Report: Marketers Seek More Transparency in Programmatic Ads

Although marketers are continuing to budget for programmatic advertising, new research indicates that they are not entirely satisfied with their investments to date.

“The Transparency Opportunity: Quantifying the Benefits of Trust” report from MetaMarkets recently determined that marketers are putting 16 percent of their budgets toward programmatic advertising. However, nearly one-third (32 percent) claim that a lack of transparency is inhibiting the future growth and scale of programmatic media buying. This was followed by poor inventory quality (23 percent) and ineffective data leverage (15 percent).

In terms of achieving more transparency, 92 percent of marketers said that performance reporting was their top obstacle. About 90 percent said audience-targeting data was an issue, while 86 percent cited inventory availability.

“Clearly, the market is primed for a solution, a way to bring clarity to the programmatic advertising landscape, increase liquidity and benefit all sides,” wrote the authors of the report. “Three quarters of the participants in our survey say that with new transparency in the market, they would increase their spend in programmatic advertising from at least 11 percent and in some cases by 50 percent or more.”

B2B Marketers and Programmatic Advertising

As marketers continue to invest in programmatic advertising, research has previously indicated that B2B marketers, in particular, are leaning toward this tactic.

The “Tipping Point for B2B Programmatic Advertising” from Dun and Bradstreet discovered that 65 percent of B2B marketers currently buy or sell programmatic advertising. This was an increase from the 54 percent recorded in 2015.

When B2B marketers were asked about 2017, approximately 70 percent claimed that they intended to increase how much they spend on programmatic advertising, and 22 percent stated that they would do so by more than 25 percent.