Over three-quarters of advertisers plan to increase their spend in digital, with an increase in programmatic spend a particular priority, but concerns over transparency is holding back further investment, according to separate research studies.

Infectious Media published research today (26 February), which reveals that 75% of brand-side marketers plan to increase their "programmatic brand spend" during the nest year.

However, the same study claims that two-thirds (65%) of those surveyed cited a "lack of transparency of financials", as the main barrier to significantly increasing their programmatic ad spend.

The study further revealed that 55% of marketers were concerned over "the complexity of the ecosystem", while half of the surveyed respondents claim the "lack of appropriate measurements" are significant barriers to further investment in programmatic.

Further results of the survey are revealed in the chart below below, with "lack of trust in agency relationship" a notable sentiment among the surveyed marketers .

Although, notable benefits cited by the same respondents included a belief that increasing programmatic ad spend will lead to an "increase in sales", and making better use of CRM data.

Martin Kelly, Infectious Media, CEO, says: "These results highlight that brand marketers are now well aware of the benefits of programmatic advertising.

"However, it’s clear transparency is still an issue”, explains. The IAB forecast programmatic would account for nearly half of display advertising last year, so imagine how high it could be in 2015 if transparency wasn’t an issue.”

Transparency has been regularly cited as one of the most controversial issues over programmatic media buying since its inception, with agency trading desks (ATDs) regularly coming under fire.

Speaking previously with ExchangeWire, Bob Wotton, director of media and advertising at ISBA, the trade body that represents the interests of brand-side marketers, echoed the views expressed in the Infectious Media survey.

He said: "Advertisers are very excited by the targeting and accountability of return on investment which the digital channels promise, but are at the same time getting increasingly rattled by the scale of fees extracted and whether their ads are actually seen by the real people they are targeted to."

However, agency holding groups – notably Publicis Groupe's Vivaki, and WPP's Xaxis – have recently made alterations to their respective set-ups to both facilitate the increased focus on programmatic ad buying as part of their clients' media plans, as well as placate tidelands for further pricing.

Meanwhile, a separate study from Oracle reveals that digital marketing will reach record levels in 2015, with 77% of companies planning to increase their budgets during the coming year.

Econsultancy published the research in partnership with Oracle Marketing Cloud, which also revealed that 79% of companies are planning to increase their spend on digital marketing technology, with "paid-for media" accounting for 39% of digital marketing budgets.

However, more companies are increasing their earned (such as a brand's Twitter feed) and owned media (such as a brand's own website) budgets this year (71% and 67% respectively) than they are for paid media (61%).

The survey also revealed that investment in data management platforms (DMPs) is set to surge, with the proportion of organisations that plan to increase investment in DMPs set to double in 2015.

Nearly three quarters (74%) of the companies surveyed either agree or strongly agree that they are working towards delivering cohesive customer experiences, rather than standalone campaigns or interactions. Compared to last year, companies are 35% more likely to increase their budgets for cross-channel / multichannel campaign management technology.

Sylvia Jensen, Oracle Marketing Cloud, senior director, marketing, EMEA, adds: “This is an exciting time to work in marketing, where budgets and boardroom support are rising steadily, driven by the proven ROI digital marketing technologies can offer, as well as the new challenges of delivering a connected customer experience. The ability to attract and retain customers with a joined-up multi-channel approach is critical for marketers in today’s digital age.”