What Yahoo’s BrightRoll and Gemini Mean for Programmatic Advertising and Call Tracking

Yahoo recently announced its $640 million acquisition of programmatic video advertising platform BrightRoll, predicted to gross over $100 million in revenue next year. Earlier this year, Yahoo also introduced their marketplace for mobile advertising – Gemini – giving advertisers the ability to serve mobile-specific ads through the existing Yahoo Ad Manager. Yahoo’s announcements this year not only signal big changes for the search engine in 2015, they also speak to changes marketers and advertisers can expect see in the coming year.

Programmatic Advertising in 2015

This year U.S. programmatic ad spend has already reached $10 billion (eMarketer) and that number is expected to double over the next two years. With past spend and lofty revenue predictions for the coming years, it’s no surprise that Yahoo invested so much into a programmatic advertising platform. Yahoo’s acquisition of BrightRoll, paired with their Gemini mobile platform, puts Yahoo in a unique position entering 2015. According to eMarketer, 44% of programmatic display ad spend will be for campaigns targeting mobile devices, signaling to marketers and advertisers that Yahoo’s moves are strategic. With a foothold in a new mobile platform and the acquisition of a well-poised programmatic ad platform, Yahoo may become a viable online ad network (compared to Google and Bing), one not to ignored, in 2015.

Programmatic Ad Measurement and Call Tracking in 2015

Despite the growth of programmatic advertising, there remain some controversial aspects in the space. While many advertisers and marketers are seeing positive results, programmatic advertising offers marketers significantly less control over when and where their ads run. A recent study by eMarketer found that two thirds of marketers who had implemented a programmatic advertising strategy were having difficulty measuring their results. With automated bidding and placements, marketers need to know whether their programmatic ad solution is actually generating a positive display advertising ROI.

With up to 50% of clicks on mobile display ads being accidental and nearly 45% of display ad traffic coming from mobile devices, it’s important that marketers include phone numbers in the landing pages you drive display traffic to. Mobile users find it easier to click on a phone number and connect with your business immediately, rather than filling out a form.

Automating mobile placements through programmatic could be a great solution, but not if your ads are showing in the wrong places or failing to drive conversions. High clicks and low conversions are an indication of accidental clicks or poor placement. But what if instead of filling out your form (as mentioned above) mobile users are calling after seeing your display ad instead? Your conversion rates could be skewed, and the only way to know for sure if using call tracking numbers in your display ads.

To learn more about call tracking for programmatic advertising download the free white paper, “The Buyers Guide to Call Tracking for Marketing.”

What Yahoo’s BrightRoll and Gemini Mean for Programmatic Advertising and Call Tracking