Playing in the ever-shifting sand box of online

Marius Greef

The Report says: “Another trend to watch is the growth in programmatic buying, which will also be a discussion topic at next year’s IAB Digital Summit. IAB Europe announced that the total programmatic buying market increased by 70.5% from 2013 and 2014, while high increases were also reported for North America. This is not yet the case in South Africa, where site direct trading still accounted for 92% of digital ad spend in 2014.” What is the state of the nation in this country of programmatic buying?

Greeff: In its simplest form, programmatic means the buying or selling of advertising utilising technology, doing away with much of the tedious administration involved in the traditional advertising model. This is particularly important in an age where there are billions of impressions available globally across, desktop, mobile, applications and other connected devices. Programmatic also offers further economies of scale through the ingestion of various data sources (in this case categorized as 1st, 2nd and 3rd party) which allows buyers and sellers to create and purchase specific audiences at scale. This form of purchasing allows buyers to consider audience buying without consideration for platforms, as long as brand safety and viewability is kept in mind.

It’s also important to note that programmatic does not replace direct purchasing through publishers and sales houses, as opportunities such as native content and home page takeovers, together with more customized solutions, remains the domain of individual interactions between brands and publishers.

According to Google (AdAge), more than US$15bn was spent on programmatic in 2015, which equates to a 47.9% growth in programmatic digital display advertising from 2014 to 2015 in the US. South Africa is still lagging significantly behind this with larger agencies, brands and publishers hiring the right resources, educating clients and acquiring the correct technologies. Each of these components require unique resources which delays the adoption of the programmatic solution. From conversations with these parties is appears that programmatic efforts range from non-existent to growing at double-digit percentages based on complexity and resources within the specific business. Having said this, programmatic is on everyone’s lips, together with other terms such as viewability, transparency and ad blocking.

Online advertising purchasing remain a frequently debated topic. While research shows that ads that have been considered by advertisers – and required hard work - are more likely to be shared and engaged with than banner ads. What should advertisers be considering when choosing these ads and what should they avoid doing?

Greeff: With regard to the advertising medium itself, there are many variations that comprise effective and successful creative. This can range from backgrounds, animation, call to actions, human faces etc. and each of these unique elements can have a significant effect. There are great solutions available to assist with this, such as this report from Rocket Fuel. Fundamentally it is more important to understand:

1) Your audience, their demographics and psychographics

2) the medium you will be utilising i.e. mobile vs. in-app and the opportunities and restrictions to each
3) where you are going to be driving this engagement to

4) your platform setup to handle this engagement to the users expectations

As both the importance and size of online advertising in South Africa continues to increase, advertisers will continue to have to find new ways of engaging with a growing audience, that is also constantly evaluating and redefining its relationship with the online space. What types of engagement do you see going forward?

Greeff: As the engagement across the online space continues to evolve, some of the key trends brands and agencies should consider are the growth of influencer marketing, and reaching and engaging these influencers across shifting mediums such as Instagram, Snapchat and new contenders such as Peach, “real time” marketing and live video will continue to develop.

What are the greatest opportunities facing SA and the industry going forward and what are the biggest challenges?

Greeff: The greatest challenge in this ever-shifting sand box of online remains the education of clients and agencies; and this in itself presents the industry’s largest opportunity for growth.