The methodology of the DataBeat report on programmatic advertising trends for March 2024 is based on the analysis of anonymized data from DataBeat network partners. This report compares programmatic advertising market metrics in the USA for March and February 2024 (month-over-month, MoM) and March 2024 versus March 2023 (year-over-year, YoY). Overall, the observed trends are as expected, including the rise in CPM in the first quarter, as confirmed by this report.

For this report, DataBeat processed advertising impressions worth $115 million, which accounted for 60 billion impressions from more than 100 buyers.

Main Points

The overall CPM MoM increased by 4.6%, with banner ad CPM rising by 5.9% and video CPM by 3%. The overall fill rate for programmatic advertising increased by nearly 7.6%. This trend matches expectations, as a seasonal improvement in KPIs from January to March is typically observed. The only KPI where we see a year-over-year decline in February and March is video CPM, which may be related to the new guidelines from IA Tech Lab for video advertising (instream/outstream).

The overall YoY CPM increased by 9.6%, although banner CPM only rose by 4.3%, and video CPM actually decreased by 4.7%. This is due to a shift in volume share from banner to video advertising. Additionally, the fill rate increased by 4%. Overall, the KPIs look strong even against the backdrop of the gradual phase-out of third-party cookies in Google Chrome, which has not yet started to impact the market.

Devices

• The share of mobile devices continues to dominate — 55%, and their CPM remains stable both MoM and YoY with an increase of almost 7%.
• The share of desktops accounted for 41% of devices.
• Mobile device advertising turned out to be the most expensive — CPM $1.84, followed by desktops with CPM $1.72. Tablets close the trio with a CPM of $1.47.
• Desktop CPM increased by 3% MoM, which is less than the cost increase for mobile devices, which was 5%. Interestingly, the CPM gap between computers and mobile devices is minimal, indicating that advertisers allocate similar budgets for both ad formats.
• Tablets account for only 3% of the market, and their CPM increased by 5% MoM and 10% YoY.
• Fill rate metrics are distributed as follows: 62.4% desktops, 40.3% mobile, and 28% tablets.
• Fill rate MoM on desktops is significantly better than on mobile devices, increasing by an astonishing 17%, while on mobile it is only 3%. However, if we look YoY, the picture is different: mobile increased by 10%, while desktop decreased by 4%.
• The large fill rate gap between desktops and mobile may be due to the fact that a large part of the mobile inventory is occupied by direct deals, leaving no room for programmatic.

Ecosystems

• In the programmatic landscape, Google as a market leader holds 42% of the market, while client integration prebid stands out as the most widely recognized and used form of integration among publishers, holding 36% of the market. The TAM share was 19%, and EBDA (Open Bidding) — only 4%.
• The highest CPM is for prebid-based solutions ($2.09), followed by TAM ($1.95), with EBDA in third place ($1.5). Google is in last place with a CPM of $1.45
• Google's CPM grew by 7% MoM, however, YoY it fell by 8%. Nevertheless, this does not prevent Google from dominating the market.
• The CPM for prebid solutions shows similar trends as AdX both MoM and YoY: CPM increased by 6% and 11%.
• TAM experienced a slight decline in CPM MoM, although YoY CPM increased by 7%. However, it remains preferred by most publishers due to its higher CPM.

SSP

• Magnite (ex-Rubicon) holds the largest share of integrations: 19%, and their average CPM is $2, increasing by 12% MoM.
• Most partners follow the general industry trends, except for Pubmatic: their CPM fell by almost 25%, yet they still have a high CPM: $2.
• Although Teads holds only 3% of the market, their CPM is almost $4, which is twice as much as others. The reason for this is their focus on premium formats in high-quality content.
• The complete Top-10 looks as follows: Magnite, Index Exchange (16%, $1.6), Triplelift (14%, $1.97), Xandr (Microsoft, ex-Appnexus) (7%, $1.7), Pubmatic, OpenX 6%, $2.38), Teads, Criteo (3%, $1.04), Kargo (3%, $2.52) and Sovrn (2%, $1.79)

TAM SSP

• In the TAM ecosystem, the majority is held by the owner — Amazon, occupying 37% of the market with a CPM of $1.52 (a decline of 25% YoY)
• Yahoo (ex-Oath) holds the second largest market volume with 14%, though their CPM is much lower — only $0.5 (a decline of 35% both MoM and YoY).
• There are only a few partners, such as OpenX, Triplelift, Magnite, and #Index Exchange, who are strong both in Prebid and TAM, offering similar CPM, which explains their dominance among other SSPs in the market.
• Top-10 TAM SSP: Amazon, Yahoo, OpenX (8%, $2), GumGum (7%, $2.62), Triplelift (5%, $2.2), Magnite (ex-Rubicon) (4%, $2.12), Index Exchange (3%, $2.02), Magnite (ex-Telaria) (3%, $8.5), Sovrn (2%, $2.27), Connatix (2%, $2.61).