AOL has moved all of its reserved inventory from its owned and operated sites to its proprietary Demand Side Platform (DSP).
The move means 100 per cent of the digital brands reserved inventory will be automated, with the aim of freeing up time currently lost in the manual process, while increasing the effectiveness of digital campaigns.
Advertisers can buy all reserved inventory on AOL UK’s owned and operated sites including AOL, The Huffington Post, Engadget, TechCrunch, Parentdish and MyDaily.
This move follows a recent survey by IAB UK which revealed the share of ads bought through programmatic technologies is estimated to grow from 47 per cent in 2014 up to 75 per cent by 2017.
Noel Penzer, MD of AOL UK, said: “Making all of our inventory and premium formats available through our DSP is a major milestone for AOL UK and the industry as a whole.
‘It re-affirms our investment in and commitment to automation and our belief that programmatic will be the main driver of digital advertising budgets going forward. We believe all of our inventory can be bought in an automated fashion, giving agencies and advertisers more time to spend on bigger creative integrations, sponsorships and tailored solutions.”
Meanwhile, Steve Hobbs, MD of AMNET UK, said: “This is an interesting move by AOL that validates the increasing power of programmatic spend in the UK. As one of the leaders in the purchase of programmatic premium campaigns, AMNET will certainly be interested in exploring how we can best use AOL’s premium inventory and formats effectively to deliver value for our clients. We hope to see more premium publishers following AOL’s decision over time.”
In recent years AOL has invested organically in programmatic technologies, building its DSP and Supply Side Platform. Over the last 12 months the organisation has made numerous acquisitions, including video trading platform, Adapt.tv, and attribution modelling technology, Convertro, with the aim of launching a cross-screen programmatic platform in 2015.
