Top 10 Programmatic Advertising Trends you should be looking out for in 2023

Prepping your ads and budgets for the coming year, it’s important to have some guidelines. Well,? DecenterAds is here to help! We have collected the top programmatic trends that will help you understand what is happening in the market and how to better prepare for the challenges of the new year. Without further ado, let’s dive in!?

1. AVOD is replacing SVOD?

The end of the year saw the presentation of advertising-backed tariffs from two major players in the streaming market:?Netflix?and Disney+. For some, this step, despite its logic and expectation, came as a surprise. But it's true: ad-based?VOD?is increasingly taking the lead in subscription services. This trend will only grow — and so will the opportunities for?connected TV?advertising in 2023.?

2. CTV and OTT continue to grow?

Speaking of CTV and all the networks of smart television devices, that market continues to thrive.?IAB?expects buyers to increase media investment in more than by 14%. With more AVOD at play, there will be more channels to reach the target audiences, so diversification really becomes key to raising advertising profit in 2023.?

3. First-party cookies are the VIPs?

Last but not least on the subject of CTV is its innate cookieless nature. It takes IP addresses, behavioral markers, device IDs, etc. for targeting, thus greatly facilitating the task of advertisers.?

In the cookieless future, (which is undoubtedly coming despite how many times Google postpones it,) the role of proprietary data will only grow, presenting new technologies, tools, and tactics to reach your desired customers even without detailed data we were so used to. Pay close attention to innovations in this area, as their fast adoption can secure your success in the new digital environment.

4. In-app advertising is the new black

The mobile gaming market is a huge deal. According to Newzoo, it will surpass $200 billion by 2023, and the number of players will exceed 3 billion people. The sheer size of this audience makes it reasonable to invest your ad budget in the industry; yet, it’s not all there is to it.?

In-game advertising, especially the rewarded videos in FTP apps, is one of the greatest tools for driving engagement. Most developers note that users welcome helpful videos that not only give them an in-app bonus but are also relevant to the content they're promoting. Using precise targeting, you can immensely boost your measurement of performance ROI with in-app ads.

5. White Labels gain popularity?

White Label solutions are?DSP?platforms on which you don't just register and start working in a ready-made interface with a ready-made set of?SSP?partners, but which you own and configure completely yourself — from how it looks to connecting your own traffic sources. It has been increasingly popular throughout 2022 and the trend seems to go on in 2023 with more WL DSPs granting more freedom to advertisers and marketers.?

Does this solution suit everyone? No: both self-serve and white-label DSPs have their own advantages and downsides. If you are an experienced advertiser who knows exactly what traffic your business needs and where to find it, and has specific requirements for how the platform is structured, WL DSP can be the perfect solution. Just keep in mind that it is quite costly for smaller advertisers — both in terms of money and time resource you spend on managing your own solution.?

6. The line between demand and supply is blurring?

Software ecosystems are a trend across industries, and programmatic advertising is no exception. But what might a complex ecosystem look like in this niche? The answer is given by another trend that will be relevant in 2023 — the convergence of DSP and SSP to the point of complete blurring of the boundaries between them.

The process has already started. DSPs look to integrate direct functionalities of SSPs, like it happened, for example, in The Trade Desk case this year. SSPs, in turn, go deeper into the things that traditionally were under DSPs' “jurisdictions”, like direct partnerships with media agencies.?

Such convergence may seem daunting for some users, and this is understandable: changing clear and familiar patterns requires adaptation to new rules of the game. However, it is worth remembering that such transformations always bring new opportunities, and to use them for maximum profit, it is worth staying at the forefront of changes.

7. DOOH came out of its hibernation

Thankfully, the COVID-19 pandemic is increasingly under control and people around the world are returning to normal life — along with some advertising channels, which were put on hold for a long time due to circumstances. One such channel is digital outdoor advertising or DOOH.?

According to?Statista, more than three-quarters of advertisers plan to increase their budgets for?DOOH?(according to BWG Strategy, only about 4% of budgets are currently spent on this channel on average). And this is just the beginning: the rapid growth of the DOOH market, which is expected to exceed $50 billion by 2026, is more than likely in the coming years.

8. Audio is still looking for its voice (pun intended)

The growth of voice assistants and the recent history of M&As gives us reason to expect interesting innovations in the field of audio advertising, be it ad placement on streaming music services like?Apple Music?or integration of advertisements into podcasts. In 2023, it is worth following partnerships between digital audio companies and programmatic media platforms to adapt your strategy in time to a disruptive new opportunity — if one emerges.

9. 5G Will Speed Up Programmatic

As Statista shows, the United States and China at the moment lead in the world’s 5G adoption rate with 296 and 356 cities with stable access to the technology. In 2023, 5G is to become more and more mainstream, while some countries may extend and even begin experimenting with 6G. Increasing Internet connection speed will be a major factor of influence for the?Real Time Bidding?industry. Beyond the obviously faster bids, Forbes points out that 5G will make connections more stable, granting a non-disruptive experience for the users and more opportunities for advertisers. With higher Internet speed and smoother connection, they will be able to utilize the full potential of high-quality visuals and videos in their inventories.?

10. Metaverse is the most promising concept

What can be better for digital advertising than a more immersive digital world? This is exactly what?Metaverse?is supposed to be, so no wonder it is so highly anticipated across and beyond the industry. However, even without the Metaverse in its most grand version, envisioned by Mark Zuckerberg back in 2021, we have many projects like Roblox,?Decentraland, The Sandbox, and Roblox that start to outline the first outports of Metaverse. 2023 will open this area for smaller startups and projects, introducing more people into this new digital environment — and with this mainstreamization, the time will come for ads inside the newborn Multiverse.?

Are you excited about these trends? We sure are! If you need advice on how to apply them best to your programmatic advertising strategy for 2023, reach out to our support anytime. And don’t forget to return to the DecenterAds ?blog?for more insights in the future.?