Forrester

Why Read This Report

Media buying technology and operations are undergoing a dramatic transformation — marketers are replacing traditional relationship-marketing tactics and opaque ad networks with programmatic media buying that includes transparent, real-time biddable media and audience targeting. These new options give interactive marketing professionals what they crave: improved targeting, less waste, more efficiency, and better results. However, marketers who don't get educated and involved in this model will pay the price, either by dealing with inefficient buyers reluctant to abandon the old ways or by ceding control to a demand-side platform (DSP) or central trading desk without entirely understanding its methodologies, not to mention missing the boat on serving their increasingly demanding, always addressable customers. To take full advantage of the opportunity, interactive marketers must jump into programmatic media buying by evaluating their current media-buying partners against a new set of programmatic vendor and agency options to determine their ideal balance of service and control. This report is an update to the report of the same name, originally published in September 2011.