Programmatic Is Down, Native Is Up: MediaRadar on Q1 Ad Trends

Are the glory days of programmatic advertising already over? Advertising intelligence company MediaRadar released a Q1 2017 trend report showing that the number of programmatic advertisers dropped by 12 percent year-over-year. The reason for the fall is brand safety concerns. Context matters, and advertisers need to know they won't hurt their brands with poor placement.

"After years of growth, the decline in programmatic buyers is likely attributed to concerns around brand safety—especially given recent problems for companies like YouTube," says MediaRadar CEO and co-founder Todd Krizelman. "This form of advertising is continuing to evolve as brands seek more control over where their ads are running. We expect to see programmatic rise as more brands move to programmatic direct models."

Native advertising, however, saw a huge upswing, with the number of advertisers growing by 74 percent year-over-year. Will this last or could there be a native bubble? MediaRadar says that's a topic to keep an eye on as the year progresses.

"Consumer advertising is shifting as audience consumption patterns evolve," Krizelman adds. "Advertisers will keep spending more on native because it outperforms traditional ad units. Audiences look at native ads more frequently than non-native and buyers are investing accordingly."

2016 saw 121,821 digital advertisers, the trend report says, with 5,519 video advertisers. There are more email (10,925), native (11,042), and mobile (33,141) advertisers than there are video advertisers. The number of video advertisers didn't change year-over-year, with roughly 1,930 each year.

Looking at individual advertisers, MediaRadar found Comcast the most invested in video advertising: It had 2,153 placements in 2016. The next most frequent video advertisers by placement were Proctor & Gamble, Microsoft, Toyota, and Verizon.

While a recent MediaRadar report showed only 112 publishers offered vertical video ads in Q1, that could change. The report suggests the proliferation of vertical video will be a topic to keep an eye on this year.

Download MediaRadar's full trend report for free (registration required).

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net