What are the Latest Developments in Programmatic Native?

Brands and publishers are struggling to prepare for the major upcoming Google and Apple privacy changes.

The IAB recently reported that publishers could lose up to $10 billion dollars with the removal of cookies, and brands aren’t ready to let go of third-party data. Amid these changes, brands and publishers are seeking new technologies to help earn revenue and reach audiences.

Where does that leave brands who leverage programmatic native advertising?

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Programmatic Native Tech Develops Amid Transition

The removal of cookies is pushing ad tech platforms to navigate a complex digital landscape. As they delve into unnavigated territory, they are forming new technology to support publishers and brands.

Smart, a leading ad tech platform that supports programmatic ad buying, recently announced a partnership with White Ops, a cybersecurity company that protects against bot attacks and fraud. Coming together, the companies will build more sophisticated technology that will protect media buyers against fraud.

According to Smart’s CEO Arnaud Creput, the most recent Google announcement (that third-party cookies won’t be replaced with alternate individual identifiers) instills the idea that, “survival in an open ecosystem requires publishers to take full control of their technology, which begins with their adserver.”

And publishers will need ad servers they can trust.

Even though the open internet is going through major disruption with privacy changes, many companies are still thriving.

Native ad platform Dianomi saw revenue climb 58% YoY last year. Much of this success can be attributed to a new vertical they rolled out in H2 2020. The new vertical gives brands premium, in-context, brand-safe solutions, that are built on context, rather than cookie-based targeting.

Dianomi’s growth shows that brands can reach their audiences successfully while respecting individual privacy. And the removal of third-party cookies doesn’t mean that programmatic advertising will disappear—in fact, we see native programmatic growing.

MediaRadar Insights

In January and February 2021, we saw an increase in both brands and ad spend in the native programmatic space over the same period in 2020. There were 7.5k advertisers spending $68.5mm in 2021 compared to 4.8k advertisers spending $41.37m in 2020.

This 66% increase in spend is largely driven by the Finance and Real Estate category, which had a much smaller presence in 2020.

Of the top 10 brands which made up 20% ($8.3mm) of all native programmatic spend in 2020, the Finance and Real Estate Category spent $439k.

In January and February 2021, the top 10 native programmatic advertisers made up 24%($16.5mm) of ad spend. Finance and Real Estate spent $11.3mm, which is 17% of all native programmatic advertising.