Direct-Sold Ad Revenue Declines With The Rise Of Programmatic

According to research conducted by marketing platform LiveIntent, direct-sold ad income has declined for publishers over the last year in favor of programmatic.

In the automobile industry, programmatic revenue augmented by more than 105 per cent as demand for private cars was pushed by a fall in public transit use.

Education newsletters also grew by 75%, which is an indication of parents’ struggles to deal with school closures and full-time care from home.

Let us elucidate with an example and take the case of Likemind, an email and web publisher focused on learning. The CRO of Likemind, Peter Chang states – 

“ Email revenue has traditionally been driven primarily by 1:1 relationships with advertisers and will continue to be a primary focus for us, as advertisers have leaned into their CRM databases, we have seen an increase in email revenue driven by programmatic buys as part of larger campaigns by smart advertisers that understand performance and measurement.” 

Overall, food-and-drink newsletters experienced a 60% YoY rise in gross revenue, owing primarily to increased home ordering during the pandemic and a shift in ad spending to inventory in this category. 

According to the report, more market dollars flowed to direct to consumer (DTC) items during the last year since the epidemic drove individuals to stay at home.

This also explains the 4.42 per cent increase in arts-and-entertainment newsletters.

LiveIntent CEO, Kerel Cooper, said that it was not surprising to see publishers enjoy the programmatic outcomes. He says – 

“ Advertisers want campaigns that are measurable, targetable and have incremental reach outside of the walled gardens. That is the email newsletter ecosystem to a tee.” 

Cooper also adds that with the demise of third-party cookies, logged-in and measurable targeting has become more scarce and hence, the value of ads will continue to grow in the future. 

This study by LiveIntent is based upon the company’s 2,500 publishing and advertising clients.