Why DMPs are the ‘tech du jour’
Data management platforms (DMP’s) are the top tech investment priority among media buyers and sellers with 48 per cent of respondents in a recently published survey claiming they use one, while only one-in-10 stating they have no plans to do so.
The survey, commissioned by Oracle Marketing Cloud and conducted by ExchangeWire Research, found a strong adoption rate of DMPs among media buyers and sellers, with 90 per cent of respondents that have employed one to date claiming the initiative has been a success.
Indeed, 91 per cent of respondents claimed a positive ROI from their DMP adoption within 12 months of implementation.
Improved insights
The research outfit claims that awareness of DMPs is high among those in the digital media sector as the technology helps every tier of the media industry glean better audience insights, and then strike up premium ad partnerships.
This alignment of objectives between the two groups is one of the reasons early-adopters have seen early success, according to ExchangeWire Research, which further segmented its respondents, adding that 24 per cent of the brand marketer respondents claimed adopting a DMP improved advertising ROI.
Meanwhile, 33 per cent of publisher respondent that implemented a DMP revealed they chose to do so in order to integrate first party data in order to offer better targeting options to clients, and all of them said they have achieved success with this.
Integration headaches are ultimately worthwhile
ExchangeWire Research noted how the implementation of a DMP was not a simple task due to the complexities involved with integrating different technologies, with almost half 48 per cent of media buyers participating in the study claiming it was a major challenge.
However, the industry is not deterred by such challenges, according to the findings. A fifth (21 per cent) of both groups said their organisation plan to implement a DMP within the next six months, and less than 10 per cent currently have no plans to implement one.
Commenting on the results, Gary Revenson, EMEA head of technology, at WPP media agency Maxus, described DMP’s as the “nerve centre of a business” that can subsequently help clients “join all the dots on a media plan”.
He added: “Why is it so ground-breaking? Because every user now has a potent insight tool at their disposal, which can add colour and granularity to the customer information a business already has."
Zuzanna Gierlinska, Oracle Marketing Cloud's director for DMP’s, added: “As brands increasingly rely on digital channels and the technology vendors that power them in order to engage their audience having a holistic approach to data management is key to driving ROI… It’s no longer the sole preserve of the early adopters.”
Media agency heads share DMP success stories
The study, was debuted at ExchangeWire’s flagship ATS London conference, where one panel session saw senior media agency staff discuss their use of advertising and marketing technology to improve their performance, and justify clients retaining their services, instead of taking their ad tech proposition in-house.
During the session, Damien Blackden Maxus, CSO, said the adoption of DMP’s had gathered pace in the last 18 months in particular, and that the implementation of such a data-led strategy meant both clients and agencies had to change.
He added: ‘It does bring a lot of change that’s required. You see a lot of clients that are having to bring on board CRM-experts, etc. And a lot of clients, and agencies, are not set up in such a way, and that brings a lot of cost for advertisers trying to manage that change.’
Fellow panellists Pippa Glucklich, Starcom Mediavest Group, co-chief executive, and Paul Frampton, Havas Media's UK chief executive, also explained to delegates that their respective outfits had set up what effectively amount to consultancies that can help clients that want to take their advertising technology function in-house.