Marketers are building up their in-house programmatic media buying capabilities, according to a new study from the Association of National Advertisers.
The survey found that 35% have expanded their in-house facilities, and as a result they have reduced the role of the external agencies that had performed that function.
A year ago, an ANA/Forrester report found that only 14% of marketers were reducing the role of external agencies as a result of expanding in-house operations.
The ANA also found that marketers now prefer to set strategy for their programmatic campaigns and control the contracts, rather than let agencies do that. In the survey 69% of the markete3rs said they handle strategy in-house, while just 24% depend on agencies and other outside sources to set strategy and campaign direction.
Fewer advertisers were willing to work with agencies on a programmatic basis if the agencies did not disclose agency margins and fees. That approach was OK with 34% of markets in the year-ago study.
“It’s clear that a growing number of marketers are taking increasing control of their media investments,” said ANA CEO Bob Liodice. “They’re making important changes to their programmatic buying practices to address media transparency concerns. Specifically, they’re moving sensitive responsibilities in-house and enhancing decision making by better understanding their costs and media investment transactions. We urge all marketers to contemplate these developments and consider following suit.”
The study found that 78% of respondents were concerned of very concerned about brand safety.
Respondents said the benefits of programmatic buying are better audience targeting, the ability to build audience reach and real-time optimization.
Most marketers have one staff member who handles programming issues full time.
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