8 Predictions for the New Programmatic Age
Enter the New Programmatic Age: The Age of Generative Intelligence, the Plague of Media Buying, and the Emergence of a New Programmatic Customer.
In the next three years, generative AI will replace the role of a media buyer.
In turn, as larger brands trust the technology, larger brands will give credibility to these technologies. As a result, smaller businesses will have access to those same technologies, coupled with a more efficient path to purchase those placements.
Consumption and distribution patterns will change, as most websites and apps will fall into the ether, with a few larger brand names and distinct, niche publishers surviving, and even some thriving, trading off of a more recognizable name or a more dedicated following.
Against that backdrop, here are some predictions:
Programmatic will change to include niche categories and be seen as automated and unique - Not just websites, apps, and streaming platforms anymore. The idea of programmatic will become automatization of advertising - regardless of channel, ad unit type, or audience. What is niche now - hotel ads, messaging ads, advertising on a United airplane or a 7-Eleven gas station pump - will become normalized. More the better.
Small businesses will realize the power of programmatic - buyers will want access to more channels, finding ones that work best for them. This new definition of programmatic will become more recognizable to them.
Creativity will be automated - All creative from images to videos, including new advertising type units, will be automated at scale. Customized to each individual prospective sale regardless of size, type, channel, content, buying cycle, etc., and will scale in real time.
Distribution specification will become an afterthought - People will not care where the advertisements run but instead only on how they perform. Details of audience types, segments, placements, will be filtered by machines, and humans will not require these in an interface.
Customers will become smaller buyers - $114bn in total programmatic spend, with forecasted growth of 6.3%, will only explode with untapped smaller buyers. These people (1) do not know what programmatic is, (2) how convoluted it is, and (3) if performance is there, they will spend.
Mobile will win - Speed glorious speed. As buyers move downstream, so too will advertisers preferences for mobile. Checking performance on the green or on the go, will become the new normal.
Conversions are king - As ad units change, coupled with precision customization within creative, programmatic is no longer top-of-funnel and the first-to-be-cut in any downturn. With better units, the New Programmatic Age competes alongside social.
Simplicity reigns - No matter what you think of In-N-Out Burger, they have a simple menu. Only a few things to choose from that enables greater scale, increased distribution, and fewer things for staff to get wrong. It’s a shorter line to defend, which only amplifies the ability to do those fewer things exceptionally well. Like the original White Castle before them, simplicity wins. Advertising is no different. Simple interface, simple to understand.