Despite the growth of programmatic trading, most UK advertisers remain uncertain about real-time advertising (RTA), according to a new ISBA survey – with one third not sure how much of their online campaigns even involve automation.
The survey, run in collaboration with real-time advertising specialists Infectious Media, shows that 38% of advertisers are ‘not very aware’ of the different providers of programmatic ad buying services and 96% intend to learn more.
Just one third admitted to having a ‘positive perception’ of RTA.
“The survey confirms industry’s suspicions that advertisers are still uncertain about real-time advertising,” said David Ellison, ISBA’s marketing services manager.
“The comments we collated reinforce the view that there is distrust amongst brands about how much of their expenditure is actually spent on media.”
Commenting on the findings, Chris Dobson, executive chairman of The Exchange Lab, said: “Trust and brand safety plays an increasingly important part in advertising as the industry scales out, and is a major concern for clients and publishers alike.
“They want assurance that prospects will see the right message, at the right time, in the right environment. Ad tech companies need to ensure that as automation occurs the importance of environment is not forgotten.
“Brands spend literally years building themselves and our paramount responsibility is to recognise and protect this aspect as we build out our technology to scale automation across the ad business.”
Ellison added: “Despite the uncertainty, one thing is very clear though, the vast majority (76%) believe RTA will feature more strongly in future campaigns and the appetite for learning is strong; we hope our guidance will go some way to help advertisers get the most out of what is certain to become an ever more important part of the digital eco-system.”
Last week, a new study charting the concerns of UK media owners revealed that programmatic is considered the most important factor to ensure their future business success.
The study, ‘What UK Media Owners Say’, was published by Starcom MediaVest Group and surveyed the opinions of senior level executives from across 120 UK media companies.
The findings revealed that 62% of respondents felt programmatic is “the most important to future business success”, with content marketing close behind, gaining 61% of opinion.
