STRATA Q1 sees growing interest in programmatic, streaming audio

strata logo canvasFirst quarter results for STRATA’s regular Advertising Agency Survey revealed a growing focus on programmatic exchanges and increased interest in streaming audio platforms. The findings showed that 21% of agencies plan to conduct 20%-40% of ad spend programmatically, a 50% increase from the previous quarter. On top of that, 41% of respondents said they plan for 10%-20% of their ad buys to be programmatic.

Streaming sites, both audio and video, have generated increased interest as advertising sites. Streaming radio sites such as Pandora and iHeartRadio were of interest to 53% of respondents, marking a 15% increase from the year-ago period. Video sites saw an even bigger spike, with 71% of respondents saying they are more interested in them than they were last year.

“Digital publishers keep on getting better at providing more advertising opportunities to ad buyers,” STRATA Director J.D. Miller said. “Agencies are getting a better handle on their media mix and are creating exciting campaigns with these various tools.”

In terms of overall business, 49% more agencies expect to see an increase in second-quarter business compared with the same quarter last year. Forty-six percent also project better growth in the first half of 2016 than 2015. The optimistic outlook follows a recent report from PwC that forecast significant growth for Internet advertising both globally and in the U.S.

Anna Washenko