Finance Posts Largest Quarter-Over-Quarter Growth on Record, Up 11 Points
Private Exchanges Continue to Show Robust Growth, Posting Continued Increases in Average Clear Prices Quarter Over Quarter
New York, New York – Index Exchange, a division of ad technology leader Casale Media, released the findings of its Quarterly Report covering Q3 2014 programmatic spending (download the full report here: http://indexexchange.com/downloads/Index-Quarterly-Report-RTB-Issue-6.pdf).
The report reveals that Q3 2014 marked a historical high in quarter-over-quarter growth in programmatic spending by finance brands (up 11 points), bringing the sector into more competition with retail, which continued to dominate the overall market. Q3 also saw programmatic spending increases across nearly every sector with the exception of business, which remained flat relative to Q2. The largest quarter-over-quarter jump in spending among leading sectors came from retail (+23), followed by CPG (+14).
Top spending finance brands included American Express (maintained the top spender spot growing 37 points over Q2), Progressive Group (recently called out for having embraced the in-house programmatic trend) and Citigroup. The top ten finance brands accounted for more than half of all finance sector spending in Q3 (50.8%).
“Programmatic continues to grow with major increases now observed within developing sectors including finance and entertainment,” said Andrew Casale, VP of Strategy for Index Exchange. “Growth in these sectors is an extremely positive sign and validates the increasing importance of programmatic across all verticals. We anticipate that this type of aggressive growth will trend across all sectors, and speaks volumes about how much brands believe in programmatic.”
The entertainment sector displayed the most growth in winning bid price (WBP) among leading sectors, jumping 17 points. This rise in competitive bidding behavior among entertainment brands during Q3 is likely related to fall movie blockbusters and TV promotions, often impacted by seasonal pushes around series premiers.
Bid density rose throughout the quarter, peaking mid-September and then tapering slightly. Of the top spending sectors, which together accounted for more than 95.3% of the total market in Q3 2014, CPG and travel brands indexed highest for both average clear price (CP) and average WBP.
CPG CPMs led the overall market in Q3, ousting travel which held the top position the previous three quarters. Additionally, the food and drink sector made up 51 percent of spending driven primarily by Kellogg’s, who more than doubled its market share in Q3 with 125 percent growth.
Other key findings of the report include:
- Global/national brands continue to dominate programmatic spending by a wide margin – representing 70 percent of the total market in Q3 2014 (up 2% from Q2).
- The top three demand-side platforms (DSPs) accounted for more than half of all spending (55%), up 4 percent from Q2. This marks three consecutive quarters over which the share of spend held by the top three platforms grew.
- The average clear price for impressions bought rose 2.7 percent between the second and third quarters of 2014.
- Private exchange impressions cleared 2.6 times higher on average in Q3, up slightly from the 2.5 times difference recorded in Q2 2014.
- Cookieless impressions on mobile grew significantly from 63 percent to 87 percent in Q3.
- Consistent with Q2 findings, the vast majority (81%) of mobile impressions with cookies came from devices running the Android OS in Q3.
This report unveils US programmatic spending trends with a focus on Q3 2014, using transactional data harnessed from the Index Exchange platform. Index Exchange sees and reports on every major source of programmatic demand in the U.S. The report is generated through analysis of impressions traded each quarter across marketplace powered by Index Exchange. Data is based on marketplace activity in the United States only, and can also be accessed in real-time at http://indexexchange.com/trends.
The full Index Quarterly Report can be downloaded here:
http://indexexchange.com/downloads/Index-Quarterly-Report-RTB-Issue-6.pdf
About Index Exchange
Index provides a neutral, transparent exchange layer that enables leading publishers and suppliers to sell their ad impressions in real time. A division of online media technology pioneer, Casale Media, Index equips enterprise level sellers with custom architected solutions, fully transparent sell side management technology, and access to programmatic demand that is organized and certified by humans into an ever evolving taxonomy.
