One industry that’s constantly changing and evolving is the marketing industry – not only because of technological advancements, but also wider trends and changes in society that impact marketing decisions. So if you’re looking for a job in marketing, it’s important to keep up with the latest expectations and requirements from employers.
With this in mind, we felt the need to share the findings of some recent research conducted by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), which found that knowledge about programmatic ad buying needs to be increased among marketers in the coming year.
According to the report, which was conducted in December 2015 and published earlier this month, nearly two-thirds (64%) of mobile display ads are being traded using programmatic media buying technologies. In addition to this, more than half of all brands are purchasing mobile inventory using these technologies.
Despite this, however, the survey of 300 marketers found that less than a third (29%) of respondents felt they had an “excellent” understanding of mobile advertising. In fact, more than a fifth (22%) said that their understanding of the discipline was “poor”!
It was also discovered that programmatic advertising on mobile devices was one of the least understood areas of mobile, with 45% of marketers reporting to have “little or no knowledge” of the sector.
Commenting on these statistics, the IAB’s mobile manager Mike Reynolds explained to The Drum that mobile spend is expected to increase in the next two years, with the majority of brands and agencies accounting for this boost by moving money from other sectors, including TV and outdoor. It is also estimated that 80% of mobile display ad revenue will be traded using programmatic media buying technologies.
“It’s great to see just how far mobile has come in a relatively short amount of time and it’s even more exciting to see mobile on the agenda for so many advertisers in the UK,” said Reynolds.
He added: “The results show that programmatic has established itself as an effective way of buying mobile media, however there is a clear disconnect between this buying technique and knowledge levels. Therefore, strengthening this knowledge base across the industry remains a top priority of ours for 2016”.
If you want to learn more about the key skills and knowledge that today’s marketing and advertising employers are looking for, talk to the Lucy Bristow team.
Image: Mobile Marketing for Small & Medium Business | Colorado by SocialMediaVIDEOmarketing available under a CC BY 2.0 license
