Why A More Conscious Approach to Programmatic Can Pay Dividends?

• Advertisers in the Middle East would benefit from focusing on media quality, rather than cheap reach, as they adopt programmatic media trading practices.

By international standards, the Middle East is at the beginning of its programmatic advertising journey. Rather than being a hindrance, however, this could enable the region to avoid the pitfalls encountered by other markets – not least in fields like brand safety and ad fraud.

Of the US$3bn currently spent on display advertising across the MENA region annually, the IAB estimates that only 20.9% is being traded programmatically. For context, in Germany that figure stands at 40%; in the UK, Europe’s most advanced digital advertising market, 76% of display ad spend is programmatic.

Brands in these territories have primarily treated programmatic technology as a means of making media buying as efficient as possible. When asked by martech company Alfi for the most important benefits of programmatic, most advertisers in markets like the US and France selected automation (94%) and real-time measurement (72%).

Considerations such as media quality have been low on the agenda, and this has come at a cost. A recent study from NewsGuard and Comscore found that publishers of mis- and disinformation are hoovering up vast sums through wayward programmatic spend. The problem is particularly acute in the US, the researchers believe, with the country’s advertisers sending an estimated $1.62bn to misinformation sites.

This has prompted a change in attitude. Brands and their agency partners are increasingly practicing ‘conscious media’ planning. This involves making deliberate decisions on what media to prioritise, focusing on quality environments and diversity of media, and actively eliminating spending with those responsible for disinformation and online hate.

The recent WARC Guide to conscious media investment – written in partnership with the Conscious Advertising Network – shared lessons from brands including GSK, HMD, Virgin O2, and Reebok, who are already making conscious media choices, and seeing brand impacts.

Quality media boosts impact

Campaigns perform best in high-quality and relevant contexts. Until recently, this approach has been overlooked by most digital advertisers.

When consumers trust the information on a page, they trust the advertising. An Australian study from May 2021 found digital display ads were more effective incredible, premium environments. This applied across a variety of criteria: 41% better recognition compared to the average online benchmark, 48% better at prompted recall, and a 55% brand lift.

Premium publishers are beginning to organise themselves into alliances that enable advertisers to buy programmatic ads across a range of premium websites and apps, removing the need to engage with multiple sellers to achieve the same reach. Examples include The Ozone Project in the UK and Trusted Media Brands in the US.

This marketplace development is occurring on the buy-side, too. Agency networks like WPP’s GroupM and Havas Media have curated lists of publishers to help their clients to support diverse media owners and to promote sustainability.

Alcoholic drinks company Diageo has gone one step further, devising its own ‘Trusted Marketplace’ for where its ads appear. This approach includes zero tolerance for ad fraud, brand safety protection, and minimum viewability standards. The company is prepared to act to uphold this, pausing programmatic activity if the Trusted Marketplaces is breached. And the persistence has paid off: campaigns are yielding significant brand and business results.

Benefits for brand and consumer

Any such transition to conscious media investment will not be easy.

Writing for WARC, former Diageo marketer Jerry Daykin (now Senior Media Director, EMEA, at GSK Consumer Healthcare) revealed that the new approach was a “shock” to the marketing system. People were accustomed to cheap reach, flexible targeting, and easy ways of working with new partners. However, both brands and consumers have ultimately benefitted from the change.

This transition will be doubly important as programmatic extends beyond digital display formats and into a host of new media channels, including gaming, digital out-of-home, audio streaming, and connected TV.

Brands in the Middle East may lag behind Europe and North America in the adoption of programmatic. Yet they have an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of their US and European counterparts, and to deploy programmatic technology in a way that improves effectiveness as well as efficiency.

First doesn’t necessarily mean best; better to get it right from the outset.