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The year 2021 witnessed a drastic increase in programmatic ad spends as the industry continued to grow worldwide. According to a study, programmatic buying reached almost $455 billion in ad spend in 2021 with more and more advertisers looking to achieve better results.

The future of programmatic advertising is exciting as the industry will continue to rise with an estimated ad spend expected to accelerate to nearly $524.31 billion in 2022. As the world of programmatic advertising moves towards some major changes, what does 2022 really have in store?

1. Supply Path Optimisation (SPO)

While SPO has been around for a while, it is only lately that it has gathered popularity. SPO will be a major area of focus in 2022 since it simplifies the supply chain between advertisers and various publishers, which would otherwise have intermediaries.

SPO allows buyers to streamline their partners to access inventory. By giving media buyers the capability to bid and win inventory at the most reasonable price, SPO allows publishers to maximise their revenue in the long run.

2. Demand Path Optimisation (DPO)

An inverse of SPO, DPO aims to recognise the buying factor of impressions instead of the selling. DPO, if combined well with SPO, can actually help advertisers settle better terms and transparency from brands/companies they can potentially buy ads from.

DPO provides the ultimate win-win situation for publishers by giving increased revenues and lesser risk from ad tech vendors, thereby becoming a trend to watch out for in the coming year.

3. Programmatic audio

As the name suggests, this is the use of programmatic advertising technology that automates the selling and insertion of ads in audio content by using a process that is very similar to display advertising. This is done across podcasts, digital radio, and/or music-streaming services.

This past year saw an increase in digital audio with weekly podcast listenership increasing by 17 percent since last year. Spotify has experienced a 30 percent increase in ad-supported monthly active users since last year – reaffirming the belief that audio may be the new video.

The year 2022 will see a huge increase in programmatic audio due to increasing interest of publishers and availability of proper technology and standards to provide it.

4. Rise of contextual advertising

Contextual advertising enables matching the content of the webpage with that of the ad. This focuses on creating a seamless experience for the user by focusing on the content of the screen rather than individual users.

As data privacy laws are becoming more stringent, contextual advertising is set to gain popularity since they solve all issues related to personal data. The coming year is expected to see a rise in contextual advertising with more effective deployment, better measurement, and insights.

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5. Cookie-less world

Google’s plans to stop supporting third-party cookies by the end of 2023, will result in ending almost two decades of data-driven performance targeted advertising.

The industry took the first step towards a cookie-less world with brands and marketers now working towards user-oriented solutions that drive results and yet focus on privacy regulations. This will cause substantial disruption in the industry, driving focus towards content-based advertising instead of focusing on cookies.

It’s clear that 2022 could turn out to be an exciting year for the industry, with changes and disruptions happening in every way possible. It could truly define the way the industry progresses.

What could truly be the most defining trend for the future of programmatic advertising is the journey towards a cookie-less world. This journey will be driven by focusing on data that marketers already own and use that data to create opportunities and deliver personalised and relevant experiences to the right users.