Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
BENCHMARK REPORT
DIGITAL MEDIA BUYING
H1 2015
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Table of contents
2
+ Executive summary 3+ Methodology and respondent profile 4+ Budgeting benchmarks 5+ Programmatic buying benchmarks 7+ Media buying by channel
- General trends 9- Display 11- Video 13- Mobile 15- Social 17- Search 19
+ About Industry Index Research 21
Executive summary
+ The digital marketing mix is in flux: Traditional display media is giving way to video and mobile from a budgeting standpoint, and programmatic buying is growing across every channel, including offline mainstays such as TV.
+ Efficiency, targeting and value are the name of the game, which explains the growth we are seeing in programmatic. These terms came up repeatedly when respondents were asked to name the key benefits of programmatic buying. Such benefits were offset by transparency, viewability and inventory quality challenges.
+ In general, with video ad spending rising on the desktop and mobile and across channels including social, viewability has emerged as a major issue for marketers and a key potential roadblock to increased digital ad spending.
+ Marketers are taking a full-funnel approach to their digital media campaigns, looking to drive awareness, consideration, purchase and customer retention. However, respondents indicated loyalty is not yet a key objective for their digital campaigns. 3
Methodology and respondent profile
+ An online survey was fielded to 192 marketers between June 3 and July 5, 2015. All respondents were verified through the Industry Index platform. Respondents who completed the survey were given $10 incentives.
+ 86% of respondents indicated they work for agencies; 11% said they work brand- or client-side and the remaining 3% indicated they work for a publisher.
+ All respondents who completed the survey purchase or influence the purchase of digital media.
4
BUDGETING BENCHMARKS
Highlights: Budgeting benchmarks
+ Among the media buyers we surveyed, one-quarter said that display was the media type they primarily purchase or influence. Accordingly, display accounted for the largest share of digital media spending, at 32% of reported budgets.
+ Mobile, video and social look to be the engines driving growth in digital media spending. All three channels are expected to see healthy increases in the year ahead.
+ Marketers cited the ability to target consumers across multiple connected devices as a critical media objective, with 90% of respondents saying it was very important or important. Although 52% said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their current partners’ delivery against this objective, there was still a 38-point gap, indicating an area where solutions providers can improve their performance.
6
PROGRAMMATIC BUYING BENCHMARKS
Highlights: Programmatic buying benchmarks
+ Programmatic has become a digital media buying mainstay. More than three-quarters (76%) of respondents said they buy media through programmatic channels or platforms.
+ A small albeit growing percentage of marketers have dedicated programmatic budgets, but for the most part, programmatic buying is drawing from existing media budgets.
+ Marketers cited several key attributes as very important or important when evaluating programmatic solutions, including inventory quality, transparency, fraud prevention, cross-channel capabilities and ability to integrate with their existing ad-tech solutions. Satisfaction scores with current partners on all these attributes revealed a sizable delivery gap.
+ Programmatic continues to struggle with balancing the perceived benefits of efficiency with the challenges of transparency, inventory quality and viewability. 8
MEDIA BUYING BY CHANNELGENERAL TRENDS
Highlights: General media buying trends
+ With the exception of search, branding and awareness were the leading goals for all the media channels we evaluated. Search was unique for its focus on purchasing, cited by 88% of respondents as their goal for the channel within their marketing plan.
+ Despite the widespread availability of alternative pricing structures, the cost-per-thousand (CPM) is still the leading choice of marketers across the channels included in this study.
+ Marketers pointed to a host of obstacles preventing them from budgeting more to digital. These varied by channel: Viewability dominated for display and video; cookie limitations were the top challenge for mobile; attribution topped the list for search and social.
+ Marketers apply a host of KPIs to assess the success of their digital media campaigns. Engagement and video views were the top metrics overall. The venerable click-through rate (CTR) continues to be relevant across all channels. 10
MEDIA BUYING: DISPLAY
Highlights: Display
+ Marketers currently invest in a broad array of display categories, led by retargeting, ad networks and rich media. Media attribution, data management platforms (DMPs), analytics tools and demand-side platforms (DSPs) are the categories in which they are most likely to invest over the next 12 months.
+ Respondents indicated they divide their display budgets across a range of categories, led by ad networks, at 19% of the total. Overall, four (out of a total of 15) categories accounted for half of marketers’ total display ad spending.
+ Display vendors are meeting or exceeding expectations for nearly all of marketers’ key evaluation criteria, with the exception of performance and ROI, where delivery lagged slightly.
12
MEDIA BUYING: VIDEO
Highlights: Video
+ Marketers currently invest in a broad array of video categories, led by mobile video and video ad networks. They cited smart TV advertising, interactive video and video curation as the categories in which they are most likely to invest over the next 12 months. Other potential growth areas include social video, DMPs and content creation.
+ Ad networks represent 25% of respondents’ video ad spending. Overall, three (out of a total of 13) categories accounted for half of marketers’ total video spending.
+ On average, video eCPMs were significantly higher than those for traditional display categories.
+ Video vendors are meeting or exceeding expectations for all of marketers’ key evaluation criteria.
14
MEDIA BUYING: MOBILE
Highlights: Mobile
+ Cross-channel/device advertising, location-based advertising, ad networks and mobile video are the top categories in which marketers currently invest. Mobile audiences and DSPs are the top areas in which marketers anticipate increasing their spending over the next 12 months.
+ Mobile budgets are divided across 14 categories, led by location-based and cross-channel advertising, at 20% and 17% of the total, respectively. Overall, four categories accounted for nearly two-thirds of marketers’ total mobile ad spending.
+ Mobile vendors are exceeding expectations for all of marketers’ key evaluation criteria.
16
MEDIA BUYING: SOCIAL
Highlights: Social
+ Social networks and ad platforms lead all other categories when it comes to marketers’ current social media investments, with social video a distant second. Potential growth areas over the next 12 months include social commerce, influencer programs, rich media and video.
+ Not surprisingly, social networks accounted for the largest components of respondents’ social ad spending, at 45%, making it the single largest budgetary category by share of spend across any of the channels included in this survey.
+ Average eCPMs for social ad networks were lower than corresponding display, video or mobile ad networks.
+ Social vendors are exceeding expectations for all of marketers’ key evaluation criteria.
18
MEDIA BUYING: SEARCH
Highlights: Search
+ Search is unique among the channels evaluated in this survey in that respondents cited purchasing as far and away their leading goal for search within their marketing plans. For all other channels, branding and awareness were the top goals.
+ Search also is the only channel in this survey for which respondents selected online sales as the leading KPI for their campaigns.
+ Respondents indicated they allocate approximately two-thirds of the search ad budgets to the desktop and one-third to mobile (smartphone and tablet). However, mobile search is projected to increase at roughly three times the rate of desktop search over the next 12 months.
+ Search vendors perform best when it comes to delivering ROI, but marketers still see attribution as a challenge.
20
ABOUT INDUSTRY INDEX RESEARCH
Benchmark where you stand with Industry Index research
At Industry Index, we believe better data is a key factor in making informed technology investment decisions. Our platform serves up thousands of data points about marketer intent and the factors that go into purchasing choices. But data without insights only takes you so far. That’s where Industry Index research can help. We analyze innovation trends and provide context around the technology categories that matter most to marketing decision makers.
INSIGHT REPORTS offer a comprehensive view of specific channels and categories. They rank a select group of technology vendors based on their Industry Index ratings and feature survey data tailored to the category on marketer spending plans, campaign goals and partner selection criteria. Insight Reports point marketers to the companies their peers consider the leaders in a given space and help vendors understand how they stack up against the competition and the factors that matter to real buyers considering their brand or category.
BENCHMARK REPORTS enable you to measure your own activity against others in your industry, in turn helping you answer that nagging question of “how am I doing?” Based on a sample of the 3,500+ verified marketers who are registered Industry Index users, benchmark reports feature unique insights on marketer intent, buying triggers, goals and spend allocation across key digital marketing channels and formats (such as display, programmatic, mobile, social, video). Best of all, you can track how this data evolves over time, so you know if and when you need to adjust your strategy or your messaging.
CUSTOM RESEARCH allows you to understand a particular audience segment, craft a bespoke survey and get the insights you need to move your business forward. We’ve helped some of today’s leading technology brands understand:
+ Competitive benchmarking + Product development and marketing insights + Market perceptions and messaging resonance 22
