The fusion of native and programmatic advertising is finally underway

Many advertisers and publishers hope to meld native-ad units with programmatic buying tools, and this may finally be possible thanks to a new specification from the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

The IAB's OpenRTB 2.3 spec could underpin a programmatic-native ecosystem if it’s adopted in the ad-tech world.

In simplistic terms, the key to the new spec is the ability to serve up sponsored content that matches the look and feel of a publisher site in real time through automated processes. 

In this in-depth research from BI Intelligence that updates our popular July 2014 report on programmatic, we find that the US digital-ad market will reach a programmatic "tipping-point": For the first time this year, programmatic transactions will be a majority (52%) of non-search digital-ad spend. We estimate 30.6% of total digital-ad spend will go to programmatic real-time bidding (RTB) platforms, and 21.7% will go to non-RTB programmatic. 

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Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Advertisers and publishers are rapidly adopting programmatic ad-buying and selling tools. More than four-fifths of agencies and brands already purchase display ads programmatically, while an even greater proportion of publishers are pursuing programmatic channels as part of their sales strategies, according to surveys and our own conversations with industry participants.
• Spending on programmatic advertising is growing quickly, at ~20% annually. 
• Real-time bidding is growing even faster than programmatic overall, at a five-year CAGR of 24%. RTB revenue will top over $26 billion by year-end 2020, up from $8.7 billion this year. Mobile RTB and video RTB are growing even faster, at roughly 2X the rate of programmatic overall. (The report has the full growth breakdowns.)
• Media-agency programmatic "trading desks" are being decentralized as programmatic expertise begins to permeate the agency and brand ecosystem. This may speed growth in programmatic spending among agency clients. 
• Pricing is following two divergent trends: for premium- and guaranteed placements they are on the upswing, while prices continue to plummet for miscellaneous inventory.

In full, the report: 

• Forecasts programmatic and RTB spending by format through 2020.
• Looks at the latest programmatic adoption trends among both publishers and advertisers.
• Explores the emerging trend of "decentralizing" agency-trading desks and native programmatic.
• Outlines the latest news and trends affecting top programmatic-focused companies.
• Analyzes how programmatic and programmatic-premium is impacting digital ad prices.

To access the full report from BI Intelligence, sign up for a 14-day full-access trial here. Full-access members also gain access to new in-depth reports, hundreds of charts and datasets, as well as daily newsletters on the digital industry. 

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