ExchangeWire Research’s weekly roundup brings you up-to-date research findings from around the world, with additional insight provided by Rebecca Muir, head of research and analysis, ExchangeWire. In this week’s edition: the majority of ANA marketers have made programmatic buys; Eastern European tablet market grows by double-digit numbers; and US marketers invest in programmatic. 

79% of ANA Marketers Bought Programmatically in 2015

Despite ongoing concerns about ad fraud, marketers are still embracing programmatic advertising. According to research conducted by Forrester Research, which studied the 128 members of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) in the US, 79% of marketers made programmatic ad buys in 2015.

Programmatic buying was highest for online and mobile display, as well as online and mobile video.

However, an almost equally high number of respondents (70%) stated, for the purpose of the study, that they were concerned about bot fraud. Other concerns cited by the marketers were lack of transparency when it comes to data, inventory, and costs.

“While programmatic buying indeed offers benefits, it suffers from complexity and a lack of transparency”, commented Bob Liodice, president and CEO, ANA, on the research. “And that is wasteful. The industry — and marketers in particular — would greatly benefit from a rethink of the entire digital supply chain.”

Marketers, however, are taking steps to resolve the lack of transparency: Almost two-thirds (62%) have requested more detailed reporting from agent partners, for instance; and 42% decided to buy inventory through private marketplaces.

Eastern European Tablet Market Growing

Tablet penetration in some Eastern European markets is growing at double-digit rates. According to eMarketer, Turkey, Russia, and the Czech Republic will see an increase in devices by 13.2%, 10.4%, and 10.6%, respectively, by the end of 2016.

Converted into tablet user numbers, eMarketer projects 78.6 million users in Central and Eastern Europe to be equipped with tablets by the end of 2016.

Meanwhile, tablet user growth is slowing down, but still within double-digit figures: while Turkey experienced a growth of 23.5% of tablet usership in 2015, it is forecast for 13.2% growth. Growth in the Czech Republic slowed from 14.9% in 2015, to 10.5% by the end of 2016. A similar situation emerges for Russia, where the growth rate for tablet use was at 14.1% in 2015 – and is forecast to reach 10.4% at the end of 2016.

eMarketer expects that by 2020 there will be more than 100 million tablet users. By then, tablet user growth will have slowed to 3.5%.

More Than Half of US Display Ad Spend is Programmatic

eMarketer summarises some of the latest numbers in programmatic research. According to the company’s report 'US Programmatic Advertising: Seven Things Buyers and Sellers Need to Know Now', almost one-third (32%) of US marketers allocate 50% or more of their digital ad budget to programmatic in 2015. The figure has more than doubled year-on-year: in 2014, only 14% of the respondents stated they allocate more than 50% to programmatic advertising.

The majority of respondents (62%), however, allocate between 10% and 50% of their digital ad budget to programmatic, a figure that had declined from 71% in 2014 – with most marketers undoubtedly revving up their programmatic activities.

Despite the growing acceptance and use of programmatic, marketers remain critical and cite a number of problems. Multi-device measurement remains a problem for 57% of respondents, followed with fraud and ad blocking considered a concern by 47% of advertisers, respectively.

Further obstacles cited by marketers are ad blocking, specifically on smartphones (35%), and privacy issues (18%).