Casale Media’s Index Quarterly Report Reveals Brand Adoption for Programmatic Ad Buying More Than Tripled in 2012

Key Findings Show Impressions with Third Party Data Drives Pricing, While Retail and Financial Services Industries Top Advertising Spenders

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Index, a division of ad technology veteran Casale Media, reveals a significant uptick in the adoption of real-time bidding (RTB) among major brands. In its latest Index Quarterly report, which aggregates data from the billions of impressions traded each quarter across marketplaces powered by Index, findings show that the overall number of impressions bought via RTB increased 37% between the third and fourth quarters of 2012.

The number of brands participating in RTB across the platform nearly tripled since the first quarter of 2012. Additionally, the share of the RTB market held by local businesses doubled over the same time period. This rapid growth, according to the report, has fueled an increase in the average market clear price, which rose 24% between the third and fourth quarters of 2012.

The report’s findings reveal that wider adoption of RTB is contributing to the more pronounced impact of seasonality and major events on marketplace demand and bidding prices. For example, the financial industry edged out telecoms as the number two RTB spender in Q1, as a result of tax season, while the education industry made its only foray into the 10 biggest-spending industries on the platform in Q3, coinciding with the run up to back-to-school.

The winning bid price index bottomed out during Q4 when Storm Sandy hit the East Coast, while Nov. 23 (Black Friday) and Nov. 28 (date of the record jackpot Powerball lottery draw) saw the highest average winning bid prices.

“Looking back on 2012, programmatic buying of online advertising has grown exponentially as a valuable digital solution for advertisers and publishers,” says Andrew Casale, VP Strategy at Casale Media. “RTB spend has been projected to reach over $6 billion by 2015 and we are well on our way to seeing this become a reality. Our report highlights the need for further transparency into this burgeoning marketplace to continue to drive better ROI.”

Other key findings include:

• The number of impressions bought via RTB increased by 37% from Q3 to Q4, affirming optimistic predictions earlier in 2012
• The number of

  From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/11/casale-medias-index-quarterly-report-reveals-brand/