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How doubling programmatic spend can boost marketing ROI by 20pc

NEW YORK ? A Contexxt executive at the MMA Mobile Automation and Programmatic Leadership Forum stressed the need for marketers to pivot their programmatic spend toward millennials and invest more heavily in mobile video if they want to boost their return on investment by a significant amount.

During the session, ?Programmatic, Proven," the executive discussed how millennials? traditional viewing habits are skewing more and more toward mobile these days, widening an opportunity for brands ? especially those in the beauty and retail sectors ? to capitalize on this trend. With programmatic spend expected to double in the next one to two years, marketers that make the appropriate allocations in their budgets for this will see a 20 percent uptick in marketing ROI.

?The sweet spot of where we?re going to see the biggest increases in programmatic is within that 18 to 24 demographic,? said Dave Coffey, principal data scientist at Contexxt.

Proper allocation of programmatic
Programmatic spending is projected to double in the next year and a half, reaching a total of $28.1 billion. This increase will undoubtedly have a strong effect on brands? marketing strategies, especially among those that venture more deeply into mobile advertising for the first time.

More importantly, companies that double their programmatic spend will enhance their sales by 5 percent each year. Many of these predictions are expected to occur due to millennials? rapidly shifting viewing habits, which are increasingly moving away from television and toward mobile.

?There is certainly an opportunity for mobile in terms of programmatic,? Mr. Coffey said. ?There?s a clear white space where the industry can grow.

?We see this as a huge opportunity for the mobile space.?

He also advised marketers to allocate 33 percent of their marketing budgets to mobile and 35 percent to video. Both of these mediums have proven to perform very well among Generation Z consumers and millennials.

The changing ad units within social networks will also make video even more pervasive. For example, Instagram now allows users to post videos up to 60 seconds in length, giving marketers ample opportunity to target users with relevant, snackable content.

Marketers interested in providing valuable experiences on mobile are embracing programmatic and native video in growing numbers, a Shazam executive affirmed at the 2016 IAB Mobile Marketplace (see story).

Best chances for brand-building
Social allocation is also known to fuel brand-building activities, and is the key to driving success among younger consumers. Video can be integrated into many types of social media posts, injecting them with a boost of interactive content.

The beauty and retail sectors in particular see the most potential in social media marketing and programmatic, due to the nature of their businesses.

However, according to a new report from NinthDecimal, consumer packaged goods brands are now leading in programmatic ad spend on mobile, making a significant leap from 2014 (see story).

Additionally, the Internet of Things will continue to open up vast marketing opportunities, as it will be able to take programmatic data and help brands increase their exposure across a variety of devices.

?We know that more and more things are going to generate data, and more things are going to create exposure,? Mr. Coffey said.