A funny thing is happening (and not happening).
As TV ratings erode, Rates on TV are going up. The recent NFL broadcast rights deal perhaps most notably exemplifies this as evidenced by the price tag which essentially doubled for the various packages in the previous contract negotiations struck in 2011. I’m pretty sure this means rates for space are going to go up too. The Networks bucked up because they know Big Brands don’t have much elsewhere to go. Why? Because they are horrified by the thought of a complete and utterly atomized audience. You can not build a brand without Mass Media. Period. The irony is that all this fragmenting of large audiences into a zillion platforms has only increased the value of the few that can sustain them. What was once portrayed as a liability has turned out to be a commodity. There may be unlimited choice for consumers, but for Big Brands, there are few precious resources.
On the flip – the war against digital ad fraud is gaining ground, according to a recent report from the ANA ‘White Ops Shows War on Ad Fraud is Succeeding’. “For the first time ever more fraud will be stopped in 2019 than will succeed…an 11% decline in 2 years”. Great. So by weeding out the fraud there are less overall available IMP’s. At the same time “digital ad spending increased by 25.4 percent between 2017 and 2019”, according to the same report.
So here’s my question, if programmatic supply is going down and advertiser demand is going up, why have CPM’s remained the same?
If I’m an advertiser, I’d demand an answer. Unless of course…. they don’t want to know.
