Programmatic native video: One format to rule them all

Our industry is in a long march towards the perfect communication method, and recent trends may reveal just what marketers have been toiling after.

Looking towards the ad tech front, in Asia as a whole, programmatic penetration is set to nearly double by 2020, according to a Boston Consulting Group study. Meanwhile, the trend towards video should come as no surprise, but eMarketer claims an overwhelming 84 percent of digital marketers are increasing investment in mobile marketing in 2018. Thanks in part to the massive growth on mobile—where native advertising dominates—native spending will balloon to US$16.87 billion in the APAC region by the close of 2018, as reported by Statista.

What do these developments spell? A move towards programmatic native video.

Going native

This amalgamation takes shape as a threetiered approach. Narayan Murthy Ivaturi, vice president of FreakOut explains the native component, “native comes as a breath of fresh air in a scenario like this. With ads taking the shape and colour of the adjacent content, they seamlessly entrench into the user experience, thereby resulting in higher engagement and meeting other KPIs. The best part—most true native formats can’t be blocked by Ad Blockers. Native ads are a good example of contextual customisation at scale.”

This unobtrusive ad integration format means the world to both consumers, who are treated to tailor-made content, and CMOs and their teams, who can rest easy knowing that their work will harmonise with the context its built into and reach its intended audience.

Keeping craft creative with programmatic

On the programmatic side of the value chain, the creative facets of digital marketing can once more take precedence in campaigns. It’s been a long-held misconception that programmatic saps the creative energy out of marketing campaigns. In reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

“Yes a cross-section of the media, client and agency ecosystem is too busy looking at numbers only and forgot the entire approach to advertising—everything starts at an impression. In the run for data and KPIs and other metrics we are neglecting the creative input,” said Ivaturi.

New technology fills this role too. With creative developments like real-time, dynamic creative
optimisation—combined with advanced targeting capabilities—users get the unique experience they’re seeking, and brands get the metrics beyond simple CTR to quantify that engagement.

Leading the charge

The future of programmatic native video is a bright one, and FreakOut sits at the apex of its development. A global marketing technology company which operates as part of FreakOut Holdings and an authoritative voice in the mobile-first native space, the proof is in the pudding in terms of accomplishment. The company was the first to boldly create a DSP in Japan, a programmatic market that in 2017 alone marked 37 percent of revenue from digital advertising as generated from programmatic.

The company is currently in the final stages of expanding into 16 major APAC centres—again, the first company of its kind to do so—and also has 28 group companies that help provide holistic solutions to clients, which both brand advertisers such as Unilever and P&G, agencies such as WPP and OMG, and publishers alike.

This multinational reach and breadth of experience translates into better service for clients, as the company is able to run campaigns on the local, regional or global level, all of which can assimilate into programmatic.

Its many tools available to CMOs include native advertising, in-app and mobile web video, TV sync technology and taxi signage to name a few. From an inventory perspective, FreakOut has over 3,000 publishers, and provides completely brand-safe ad placements in a native format. Its DSP, SSP and DMP solutions also aid in automating work flows, facilitating campaign management, monitoring both digital and offline KPIs, and delivering an overall robust framework to meet each client’s goals.

“For marketers, the big challenge is planning using data, identifying a common denominator that links all user sets across mediums and planning holistically using a single piece of communication,” says Ivaturi. For those in need, FreakOut is providing a full-scale resolution.