Key Findings Show Impressions with Third Party Data Drives Pricing, While Retail and Financial Services Industries Top Advertising Spenders
NEW YORK – Index, a division of ad technology veteran Casale Media, reveals a significant uptick in the adoption of real-time bidding (RTB) among major brands. In its latest Index Quarterly report, which aggregates data from the billions of impressions traded each quarter across marketplaces powered by Index, findings show that the overall number of impressions bought via RTB increased 37% between the third and fourth quarters of 2012.
“Looking back on 2012, programmatic buying of online advertising has grown exponentially as a valuable digital solution for advertisers and publishers”
The number of brands participating in RTB across the platform nearly tripled since the first quarter of 2012. Additionally, the share of the RTB market held by local businesses doubled over the same time period. This rapid growth, according to the report, has fueled an increase in the average market clear price, which rose 24% between the third and fourth quarters of 2012.
The report’s findings reveal that wider adoption of RTB is contributing to the more pronounced impact of seasonality and major events on marketplace demand and bidding prices. For example, the financial industry edged out telecoms as the number two RTB spender in Q1, as a result of tax season, while the education industry made its only foray into the 10 biggest-spending industries on the platform in Q3, coinciding with the run up to back-to-school.
The winning bid price index bottomed out during Q4 when Storm Sandy hit the East Coast, while Nov. 23 (Black Friday) and Nov. 28 (date of the record jackpot Powerball lottery draw) saw the highest average winning bid prices.
“Looking back on 2012, programmatic buying of online advertising has grown exponentially as a valuable digital solution for advertisers and publishers,” says Andrew Casale, VP Strategy at Casale Media. “RTB spend has been projected to reach over $6 billion by 2015 and we are well on our way to seeing this become a reality. Our report highlights the need for further transparency into this burgeoning marketplace to continue to drive better ROI.”
Other key findings include:
- The number of impressions bought via RTB increased by 37% from Q3 to Q4, affirming optimistic predictions earlier in 2012
- The number of parent brands (e.g., Unilever) actively employing RTB increased a whopping 49% from Q3, to 11,678 brands.
- The market share of local businesses active in the marketplace grew by 50% from Q3 and has doubled since Q1. This indicates smaller, local businesses increasingly trust RTB to target niche audiences in very specific geographic regions
- Among the top five DSPs, market share dropped 8% from Q2 to 70% in Q4. The report predicts a continuing trend toward leveling market share among DSPs
- The market share held by the top five sectors dropped 2.5% from Q3, following three quarters of growth, reflecting greater usage of RTB by smaller sectors and late adopters
- The number of impressions where the user’s browser supported cookies and third party data was available dropped by nearly 10% from Q3. The report predicts that as Do Not Track becomes standard for new web browsers, the decreased availability of user data may cause winning bid prices to decline
- Pronounced fluctuations in average winning bid prices were observed on days coinciding with and leading up to major natural and cultural events; in Q4 this was especially evident
Issue 2 of the Index Quarterly Report discloses hard facts emerging from data collected over the last two quarters of 2012 across marketplaces powered by Index. Data is based on marketplace activity in the United States only. To download the full report, please visit: http://indexssp.com/index-quarterly-report/RTB-issue-2.
About Index
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 veteran, 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.
