67 per cent of digital display advertising will be traded programmatically by 2019, up from 59 per cent this year, with the value of advertising sold reaching nearly $85bn.

According to Zenith, the value of advertising sold programmatically will be $57.5.bn this year, but that will grow at an average rate of 21 per cent a year to reach $84.9bn in 2019.

Programmatic trading is most-advanced in English-speaking markets. In Canada, 81 per cent of digital display advertising is estimated to be bought programmatically this year, while the US and the UK will see 78 per cent and 77 per cent bought programmatically. Denmark sits in fourth place with 70 per cent and France in fifth at 63 per cent.

The US is the largest programmatic market by some distance, accounting for 57 per cent of the global total this year alone at $32.6bn. China comes in second at $5.3bn with only 29 per cent of its digital display advertising currently being traded programmatically.

“The most advanced display markets will be 90 per cent programmatic by 2019. It won’t be many years after that until the global display market is fully programmatic,” said Jonathan Barnard, Zenith’s Head of Forecasting and Director of Global Intelligence. “The question then is how rapidly programmatic techniques will spread to other media. We will be keeping a close eye on developments in the US as a guide to likely developments in the rest of the world.”

Outside of internet advertising, programmatic is increasingly being seen in other more traditional media. In the US, Zenith estimates that $5.6bn will be spent across TV, radio, cinema and outdoor in the US this year – representing six per cent of total ad expenditure in these media. This is expected to rise to $13bn, or 13.6 per cent, by 2019.