The Future of Advertising: Trends in Programmatic Display Advertising
Estimating the Programmatic Display Advertising Market Size requires scoping spend across formats (display, video/CTV, native, audio, DOOH) and environments (web, in‑app, walled gardens vs open internet), then parsing the portion transacted via programmatic pipes. Top‑down models start with digital ad spend by channel, applying programmatic penetration rates and take-rate stacks (tech/platform fees). Bottom‑up, analysts aggregate DSP/SSP/exchange revenue, retail media programmatics, and disclosed auction volumes, normalizing for double counting. Growth tailwinds include CTV acceleration, retail media expansion, and commerce media, each adding high‑value inventory to automated pipes.
Unit economics vary by channel. Open web display trades at lower CPMs with scale; premium video/CTV commands higher CPMs with stricter verification and household controls; in‑app performance relies on SKAN‑compliant attribution and probabilistic modeling; DOOH programmatic brings flexible activation with location/context targeting but nascent measurement. Regional splits reflect CTV/device penetration, privacy regimes, and publisher consolidation. As cookies deprecate, contextual and first‑party data deals may shift more spend into PMPs/PGs, keeping programmatic execution while changing targeting mechanics. Over a multi‑year horizon, attach rates increase as more inventory and budgets mandate automation for speed, control, and transparency.
Medium‑term, market size expands via three levers: higher programmatic penetration in video/CTV and DOOH, retail media’s growth with programmatic activation, and measurement improvements that unlock brand budgets (attention, deduped reach). Counterweights include macro slowdowns and signal loss; mitigations involve incrementality measurement, cohort targeting, and SPO to protect efficiency. Providers that demonstrate stable outcomes and lower supply-chain cost will capture outsized shares of the expanding pie.