Realtime Data Accelerates Online Marketing

Abstract

The way how digital media can be bought is changing fundamentally, from direct buy to automated buying, combined with realtime data. This evolution is not just a trend, it is a paradigm change. This change is driven by a massive development of technology on the one hand, and the need to optimize processes and the use of tools on the demand side on the other hand. Big agency networks are proclaiming the move to automated media buying in realtime since a few years. 50 % of all media buys will be automated until end of 2015, regardless of the media channel, stated Matt Seiler, former CEO of IPG Mediabrands (O’Leary, N. (2014). Matt Seiler is out to remake and automate the media agency world (Online). http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/matt-seiler-out-remake-and-automate-media-agency-world-155047. Accessed 26 Jan 2014). The combination of ad space with audience data for more target-oriented and more affine media buys itself is not revolutionary. The resulting possibilities for online-marketing, with the granularity of the data, the miscellaneous technological capabilities and especially the advantage of the data availability in realtime, geo-focused and multichannel, are tremendous.

Will this data bring more efficiency for advertiser and is it worth for them, to invest in additional resources to handle big data? Where does all that data come from? Who is storing and analyzing the data and is it compliant with existing data privacy? How far will automation lead us? Will automation replace humans someday or will it just make our lives easier and more successful to deliver better results, as they always say? In fact automation of media buying and the usage of consumer data will continue as a process which has already begun for quite some time.