Marketers say audience targeting is both the most effective programmatic advertising tactic and the most difficult to execute, according to recent research from Ascend2.

The report was based on data from a survey conducted in May 2020 among 264 marketers (41% work for B2C firms, 34% for B2B firms, 25% for hybrid firms).

Some 73% of marketers say audience targeting is one of the most effective tactics for a programmatic advertising program. Other top tactics include keyword targeting (41% cite it as among the most effective), retargeting (27%), and contextual targeting (26%).

Top Challenges 

Some 46% of marketers say audience targeting is among their top challenges when executing a programmatic advertising strategy. Other top challenges include budget allocation (37% cite it as an issue) and personalization (32%).

Top Metrics 

Marketers say the most meaningful metrics they use to judge the effectiveness of programmatic advertising campaigns are return on investment (61% cite it) and return on ad spend (38%).

About the research: The report was based on data from a survey conducted in May 2020 among 264 marketers (41% work for B2C firms, 34% for B2B firms, 25% for hybrid firms).