Programmatic Video Ad Sales to Double This Year to $6.2B

Programmatic video ad sales are taking off, and it's not just the companies involved in programmatic selling that are saying so. According to research firm eMarketer, spending on programmatic video ads will more than double this year to $6.2 billion. That will make up 60 percent of all online video ad spending.

Why are more marketers moving to programmatic sales? eMarketer says they're enticed by the improved targeting and measurement. It also helps that programmatic marketplaces are reducing issues of fraud and non-viewable impressions.

"Video ad dollars are now transitioning more rapidly to programmatic ad buying as buyers and sellers now see the value in enhancing ad buys with greater audience intel and audience measurement capabilities continue to improve," says eMarketer senior analyst Lauren Fisher.

She believes that as technology makes it easier and safer for brands to advertise with online video, programmatic will show itself to be the smartest and most accurate way to do so,

"Long term, it will be interesting to watch how this desire for more audience-driven ad buying in video marries up with the parallel desire that's unfolding in traditional TV ad buying over the past 12 months," Fisher says. "That interest, combined with the huge cross-device movement that's playing out across the industry has the potential to make programmatic the primary transaction vehicle for the vast majority of digital video ad dollars over the next several years."

Programmatic display ad spending is seeing a similar trajectory. That area will grow to $25.2 billion this year, representing 73 percent of all U.S. display ad sales. Facebook will take the largest slice of that pie, with $11.1 billion or 44 percent of all programmatic display sales. Google will take second place, with $2.4 billion in sales representing 9.4 percent of the whole.

Mobile ad sales are also driving programmatic's rise: Mobile programmatic ad spending will reach $17.7 billion this year, growing by 66 percent.

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net