Why have companies such as eyeReturn, Casale Media and Acuity Ads investing so much into real time bidding – simple, it is a growing part of digital advertising revenue. According to the latest data from eMarketer, Real-time bidding (RTB) spending will account for 13% of all US display advertising spending this year (2012), more than triple its share in 2010. It won’t stop there, the number will continue to grow year over year – which will start to have a great impact on digital spending, but it will also have an impact on the role of the media planner and buyers. Their role will involve and the requirements of their job has already started to change.
This year, the overall US display ad market will grow 21.5% to $14.98 billion from $12.33 billion in 2011, according to eMarketer estimates from September. In the same year, growth in RTB spending, at 98%, will easily outpace display.
While this data is based on the growth and growth potential in the US, we can speculate that Canada is not that far behind, especially when you factor in IAB Canada recently announcement, “Online Advertising Rises By 16% To $2.593 Billion In 2011.” Of course RTB is not just impacting “banner ads,” but is having an significant impact on areas such as mobile advertising, and video advertising according to 24/7 Real Media.
eMarketer also makes a point to highlight four key influences that will determine the growth of RTB: the maturation of Facebook’s private ad exchange (FBX), an expected influx of video and mobile inventory, an anticipated greater availability of premium ad inventory and an overarching demand for better transparency for all of digital display, not just RTB.