Our Programmatic Lunch next month will bring together stakeholders from across the industry, gathering the entire programmatic chain in a single place to discuss the challenges and opportunities that exist around this technology, and how every part of the ecosystem can benefit from improved targeting, more efficient ad spending, and more personalised creative.

Ahead of the Programmatic Lunch, we spoke with Andy Chandler, vice president for EMEA at Tapjoy, one of our sponsors for the event, about how programmatic is changing the world of app monetisation, what challenges developers and brands have to overcome, and what the future holds for the industry.

“I think we’ll see a resetting of the industry to focus more on that primary goal of programmatic – for brands to be able to reach their audience at scale when they’re most likely to engage with their advertising and therefore be influenced by it,” said Chandler. “In order to do this, I think we’ll see a lot more cross device and cross media collaboration, so you can tell a compelling story across a number of different media types.

“Programmatic tools give advertisers more insight into exactly where their advertising is showing. These tools are needed because the digital landscape is more diverse than any other media that has come before, so to reach audiences most effectively, you need to cover the wide array of places they spend their time.”

Tapjoy’s particular focus is on in-app advertising, which according to Chandler, many advertisers still underestimate as a channel to consumers. One of the strengths of programmatic is that marketers can be more data-driven when it comes to these decisions, using machine-learning tools to find their audience rather than relying on instinct and past performance.

“App inventory offers brand safe, full screen, highly engaging ad inventory, in many ways closer to broadcast placements than traditional digital placements,” said Chandler. “If you compare results for viewability, for engagement, for sound on and for actual response, we see our app inventory outperform desktop inventory also two-to-one. Programmatic allows everything to be treated equally and for advertisers to choose what is working the best, which will only aid adoption of app inventory.

“One of the challenges app inventory still has is just how much the industry still thinks in terms of web only. I always take note when I’m reading trade articles on how many times ‘site’ or ‘cookie’ are used as the generic term. With web being the minority of digital media times now, it’s something the industry has to adapt to in order to keep track of the audiences they want to reach.”

Our Programmatic Lunch is all about letting the entire chain connect and discuss the issues that face it right now, and few topics loom larger than the encroaching adoption of GDPR. However, Chandler believes that working to higher data standards could be good for the industry in the long term, despite the upheaval it requires in current practices.

“No one will really be able to tell until we’ve seen how [GDPR is] being implemented within advertising,” said Chandler. “It’s worth noting that this isn’t a specifically advertising-aimed regulation. I have friends in finance and insurance who are also trying to prepare. I think every company looking at their data infrastructure more closely can only be a good thing because of the sizable revolution that has taken place in the area of data in the last five years.”

Despite some of the hurdles and challenges that face the industry, Chandler believes that the potential of programmatic has yet to truly be explored, and a renewed focus on the core objectives of the technology will help everyone in the programmatic chain achieve new heights.

“Programmatic buying in media is designed for brands to be able to reach their audience at scale when they’re most likely to engage with their advertising and therefore be influenced by it. Up to now, it hasn’t always been used with this in mind, and so is having its value questioned, but the promise of that original goal is so strong that everyone in the ecosystem has a responsibility to deliver on it.”

The Programmatic Lunch takes place on 24 November at The Mayfair Hotel in London. We’re bringing together some of the UK’s top programmatic minds from across the whole value chain to talk through some of the big issues in the space, connect with each other, and enjoy a spectacular lunch.

Click here to book your place at the event, and join representatives from firms including News UK, Spotify, Oath, Teads, The Media Trust, LinkedIn, Havas, Thomson Reuters, Amobee, Celtra, OpenX and more.