The digital advertising industry is about to swarm into New York City for the next Programmatic I/O conference.
Cedato will be there to catch up on programmatic trends and meet new partners seeking programmatic video solutions.
The conference program offers an array of engaging topics and workshops on AI, Ads.txt, DSPs and more. However, we couldn’t help notice once again the lack of video advertising on the agenda, and specifically, programmatic video.
The surprising absence, excluding one session on video convergence, doesn’t align with the predictions that 81% of all web traffic will be video by 2021 (Cisco).
So for those of you seeking insights on modern video this week at Programmatic I/O, we’ve listed five key issues we would have liked to see discussed on the agenda:
Video advertising automation is becoming the standard
To date, the online video ad industry has been chasing its own tail trying to keep up with a mushrooming eco-system and the technologies supporting it. As more publishers and advertisers adopt programmatic video we expect the process of automation to mature on a global scale. Ultimately, the gradual acceptance of programmatic video will help overcome basic barriers such as trust, technology gaps and performance concerns.
Fighting back against the disproportionate tech-tax
The video environment is still plagued by data fragmentation, streaming and viewer experience issues. Technology plays a vital role across the board to help automate workflows and augment business results.
Motivated to deliver better results, the publisher community is becoming more tech-savvy and less tolerant to the tech-tax toll. At Cedato we find that more publishers today are willing to invest the time and effort to assess programmatic video technologies and their choice of technology partners, in an attempt to avoid the unnecessary tech-tax penalties.
Rise of the modular programmatic video stack
As the dust settles on disruptive programmatic video trends and technologies, we see wider adoption of the modern video stack. Programmatic video stacks are expected to provide more simple tools on one hand and better yield optimization opportunities on the other. The most essential building block in the stack will be the smart video player. It will increasingly feature built-in optimization and access to all video formats for mobile, inapps and connected TV. To perform well across all screens, devices and units, the player will need to seamlessly integrate with the rest of the programmatic video tech stack.
Artificial intelligence becomes the norm in programmatic video
Machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence, is already a vital piece in programmatic video transactions. By harnessing AI, publishers are increasingly able to see which types of campaigns yield the best returns, rather than blindly relying on hit-or-miss tactics that drain budgets. Machine learning will increasingly help the industry to analyze performance and predict how user experience and engagement will affect video revenue.
For publishers, the ability to fine-tune predictions and improve performance in real time translates into big bucks. According to Juniper Research, “machine-learning algorithms that drive efficiency across real-time bidding networks will generate $42 billion in annual ad spend by 2021, up from $3.5 billion in 2016.”
Video header bidding continues to disrupt the programmatic video landscape
Video header bidding has been disrupting the programmatic landscape for over a year. It offers the promise of significantly increasing yield and fill-rates, flattening the playing field and increasing transparency. Unfortunately, standard video header bidding which is processed either on the server or client side does not prevent waterfall-like latency, redundant ad calls and a range of VPAID errors.
Video header bidding that runs on both the server and client side could lead the way to overcoming VPAID errors.
So this was our wish list for Programmatic I/O. Over to you…. What video ad-tech topics would you have liked to see discussed at Programmatic I/O?