Exchange-based programmatic media-buying continued to outpace t
he overall growth in advertising spending during April, expanding
35% over the same month last year. During the same period, total ad spending expanded only 14%, according to data compiled from the actual media buys processed by a majority of Madison Avenue’s
major agency holding companies by Standard Media Index.
While exchange-based media buys still represent a tiny share of total ad spending by agencies -- just 1.3% --
it is one of the fastest growing sectors, second only to mobile, which rose 109% in April.
Ad networks (+22% in April) and social media (+22%) also continued to
grow much faster than the overall ad marketplace, and no doubt were fueled partly by programmatic trading via platforms such as Facebook Exchange, etc.
While SMI
currently breaks digital buys into a variety of subcategories, the company said it is gaining even greater access into the granular detail of the buys processed by agencies, and will start reporting
even more refined looks beginning with the release of its May data in the next few weeks.