Growth Charts: Measuring Effectiveness As Programmatic Advertising Continues To Dominate

I recently shared programmatic projections that had programmatic ad sales rising to $21.5 billion this year and to $22.69 billion by 2027, increasing the dominance it has over direct sold advertising for U.S. digital publishers.

A new study from Proximic by Comscore helps explain one of the reasons why, as it found that nearly three-quarters (72%) of advertisers and marketers are planning on increasing their programmatic investment this year as well, up from 62% last year and “reflecting its pivotal role in modern marketing strategies.”

“Media channel spend is expected to shift further toward programmatic transactions in 2025,” says the 2025 State of Programmatic report, “with a growing share of budgets being transacted programmatically across CTV, web and mobile digital, and audio. Meanwhile, the share of social media programmatic spend is projected to hold steady at 30% in 2025, reflecting that the majority of social budgets are still being transacted directly.”

(Source: Proximic by Comscore)

Of the metrics to measure a programmatic campaign’s effectiveness, reach and frequency was the highest-ranked metric — “highlighting the importance of audience scalability and campaign exposure” — followed by conversion rate, CTR, and ROAS.

“Conversion rate is nearly as significant, underscoring the need for measurable results tied to performance goals,” the report says.

Whether it’s managing ads as they’re ordered or monitoring data in real-time, the right software can put the sales and production teams on the same unified page. For publishers looking to get the most out of programmatic, an all-in-one platform and publishing CRM like Magazine Manager can make immediate and long-term differences.