What's the Buzz in the Big Easy: The Challenge of Programmatic Buying - Michael Kassan

For me one of the best things about the 4A39s annual conference is listening to and hopefully learning from whatever the big buzz is that particular yearCertainly the topics are diverse on each agenda especially now that the event like every other major annual thoughtleader conclave has expanded to include the entire advertising media marketing and digital technology continuum But there39s usually one macrotrend that dominates the sidebars in the hallways and the chatter in the conference roomsThe usual suspects are local mobile socialamp8230and if it39s appropriate to wear a summer scarf in New Orleans in springThis year however my money39s on programmatic buying being the disruptive force that generates the bulk of the buzzThe chaos realtime buying RTB is causing among publishers marketers and agencies certainly fits this year39s subtheme of Transformation39s Evolution And in reviewing the critical challenges facing the buying side of the business it seems clear that programmatic buying has opened up a whole new front in our neverending battle to stay one step ahead of a constantchange environmentThe digital ecosystem already has compelled marketers content creators distributors and others to rethink every assumption and retool the conventional wisdom they have traditionally relied on Now it39s publishers39 turn to rethink their business modelCertainly no one has been unaffected by the urgent need to understand and effectively respond to bynow familiar challenges such as emerging platforms consumer behavior changes and data analysis and useNow the pressure extends further into the sales part of the organization as the evergrowing adoption of programmatic buying changes the notion of direct selling specifically and to the entire strategic framework of media buying amp8212 and it39s only just begunResponding to a flood of new inventory much of it nonpremium in a digital display market that has soared from 17 billion in 2007 to an estimated 32 billionplus in 2013 about 6 out of 10 major brand marketers now employ programmatic buyingThis year alone eMarketer predicts growth in RTB ad spend of more than 80 And that number is expected to soar from around 2 billion today to 7 billion annually by 2016amp8212more than one fifth of the total online display ad marketFor publishers and buyers RTB has implications across their selling landscape from inventory control to establishing valueFor direct sellers it means a new skill set must be developed amp8211 whoever can package and sell creative concepts will rise to the top This has always been an important advantage of course now it figures to become arguably the most critical factor in who succeeds and who does notFor buyers the process of evaluating and executing buys now moves up much earlier in the cycle causing pressure at that end of the funnel as well not that media investment agencies needed yet another thing to keep up them up at nightI don39t think as some have suggested that programmatic buying will render direct selling obsolete We all remember the frantic predictions that DVRs were going to kill advertising and digital was going to be the death of television We know better than to heed the doomsayers by now It39s also at least a little bit ironic that digital technology is now transforming digital technologyClearly though programmatic buying is taking us on another wild ride that will rock our businesses and reset our attitudes and assumptions We39ll ride this wave out the same way we have all of the others and those yet to come First we39re swamped then we resurface and finally we figure out how to swim in a new seaAt the very least we can all look forward to some particularly lively exchanges on the subject of programmatic buying in the hallways and conference rooms in New Orleans this week I expect to participate in a few myself and perhaps even start one or twoMichael E Kassan is Chairman and CEO of MediaLink LLC a leading Los Angeles and New York Citybased advisory and business development firm that provides critical counsel and direction on issues of marketing advertising media entertainment and digital technology Michael can be reached at michaelmedialinkllccomRead all Michael39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Media LinkedCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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What's the Buzz in the Big Easy: The Challenge of Programmatic Buying - Michael Kassan

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