The majority of advertisers think that being able to more effectively measure the success of campaigns would allow them to justify additional investment in programmatic.
Infectious Media surveyed 214 decision-making marketers who are engaged in programmatic and have budgets of over $100,000. The respondents had programmatic remits in EMEA, APAC or North America, and 90% agreed that better measurement would make justifying increased investment easier.
66% reported that accurately measuring their campaigns was currently their biggest challenge. Maintaining high visibility (65%) and increasing brand safety protection (64%) were also listed as major concerns. 72% said that they believed that agencies are currently struggling to correctly measure programmatic.
However, 92% strongly agreed that providing accurate measurement services is an important part of a media agency’s role.
Reliance on clicks
The survey results indicate that advertisers are still relying on clicks as the main indicator of a campaigns success. 56% described total click numbers as their most important metric, with cost per click (45%) and click-through rate (43%) following close behind.
The problem with click data is that is can be distorted by fraud, and its ability to predict sales has been seriously questioned. 53% reported that they are currently trying to change their approach to display measurement.
There are some important barriers preventing marketers from being able to better measure their campaigns. Among the respondents, linking display measurement to the measurement of other channels was listed as the main challenge by 60%. Privacy restrictions (57%) and gaining access to other relevant performance data (57%) were also big challenges.
Martin Kelly, Infectious Media CEO and co-founder, said: “It’s clear from our study that advertisers are waking up to the fact that the measurement model most have relied on for their programmatic campaigns is broken and digital ad spend is being held back as a result.
“Advertisers are looking to agencies to show greater leadership on how the system can be improved. Unfortunately, most have been content with the easy option of spending advertisers’ money on cheap inventory that meets a given target on clicks, regardless of the risk of fraud or the limited ROI this delivers.
“Agencies have a responsibility to educate their clients on the more sophisticated approaches that are available, offering them metrics that better fit their business objectives and challenging them to think beyond clicks.”
