Of all the digital media trends that were supposed to be the dominant themes of 2011, it is clear that one – real-time bidding (RTB) – has become a catalyst in defining digital advertising from a publisher’s perspective.
Considering the wide variety of statistics around ad revenue and RTB that crossed our desks and smartphones this year, we thought it would be interesting to lay out the state of digital advertising as we head into 2012. We created an infographic that combines several sources of research to present a publisher’s view of digital advertising and site monetization.
Consider this: In 2010, RTB represented barely 4% of all display ad budgets. In 2011, that percentage has grown to over 10% , or just about $1.1 billion– with that figure expected to double in 2012. It’s clear that, in partnership with their digital ad agencies, marketers are quickly realizing the potential of RTB to show users the right ad, at the right price, at the right time.
So what does the future of automated media trading mean for publishers? Our infographic highlights a few key takeaways for publishers:
- The price of remnant inventory is increasing while premium inventory price lags. Over 60% of publishers said that their rate cards have either stayed the same or decreased in the last year.
- Publishers are taking a serious look at private exchanges. Many large publishers that historically refused to make their inventory available via networks are now preparing to monetize their remnant inventory through partnership-driven and controlled private exchanges.
- The future of direct sales is in customized campaigns. As RTB becomes a major source of ad buys, a publisher’s direct sales team will need to build highly customized and integrated ad solutions for their clients in order to remain competitive against RTB alternatives.
These trends should serve as a reminder that optimizing a sales and revenue strategy around the implications of RTB growth should be a primary focus of publisher sales teams heading into 2012.
For a full-sized view of the infographic, go here (pdf).
Jeff Richman is director of publisher development at LiveRamp, which helps publishers, data platforms and marketers better access and manage offline data in anonymous digital formats.