Some might say the marker of any great technology adoption is when the product fades into the background.

That’s what Sean Buckley thinks is happening to programmatic, the collection of technologies which ad up to automated and advanced digital ad trading.

In this video interview with Beet.TV, Buckley, Chief Revenue Officer, Magnite, explains how he sees 2023 panning out.

Front and center

“I really think programmatic becoming more invisible is a central theme,” Buckley says. “I think programmatic is just going to be the way media’s bought and sold.

“We’ve certainly seen that develop in other areas of digital media. I think CTV, for a variety of reasons, has maybe lagged that a little bit.

“But I think now programmatic is front and centre. This is the way buyers want to transact.”

Streaming surge

Buckley’s assessment came as Magnite merged technology from its Magnite CTV and SpotX platforms into a single supply-side platform (SSP), Magnite Streaming, aiming to help media owners maximize video across live, VOD, CTV, OTT and addressable linear.

And Magnite released a survey of US and Canada TV-viewing adults showing:

  • 81% watch streaming TV, making it the most popular vehicle.
  • That falls to 48% and 30% for paid traditional and broadcast TV, respectively.
  • 87% are looking to add an ad-supported streaming service in 2023.
  • Binge consumption is only marginally less common among viewers of ad-supported services.

Programmatic trajectory

Programmatic CTV is rapidly increasing in popularity. In 2022, it surpassed 20% of total programmatic video ad spend for the first time, according to eMarketer.

Its projections show programmatic CTV ad spend to reach over $19 billion in 2023, making up 13.5% of all programmatic digital display ad spend.

Buckley says that is a good thing.

“We think it brings a whole host of benefits to the ecosystem and it will become less of this sort of special corner of the market and more of just the standardised way that things are,” he says.

Biddable benefits

Magnite is a technology company that provides a programmatic advertising platform for the digital media industry. It helps connect advertisers with publishers to buy and sell advertising space programmatically, enabling efficient and effective digital advertising campaigns.

Buckley says the industry is warming-up to programmatic.

“I definitely think it’s changing,” he says. “Media owners in particular in the streaming space may have looked around at other areas of digital media and not necessarily loved the developments.

“In the streaming space for the first time over the course of the last six to 12 months, though, we’ve started to hear and engage with media owners around the upside that the programmatic ecosystem presents.”

Those benefits include allowing sellers to set floor prices.