How rise in programmatic ads is leading to talent crunch in the industry

Programmatic advertising is growing considerably and reached 42 percent in 2021, a 12 scale point up from 30 percent in 2019, the Pitch Madison Annual Report 2022 said. Meanwhile, AdEx in India is also growing by leaps and bounds and has crossed Rs 74,000 crores in the year 2021 with digital having 34 percent share, the report stated.

Programmatic advertising, an AI-enabled automated process of bidding for ad inventory, promises brands greater transparency, better return on investment (ROI), attribution, cost efficiency, and campaign effectiveness. Industry leaders opine that with the rise in Programmatic ads, the biggest challenge before brands, agencies and publishers in India is to get the required skilled workforce.

Paras Mehta, Head of Matterkind (India), who is the driving force behind the Programmatic function of IPG, says, “There is a dearth of resources in programmatic at all levels in India. The talent exists, but due to various opportunities that India offers, some of the global companies prefer to outsource some part here from other regions. Hence it is challenging to get the right bunch of people for local work. There is a huge demand for skilled professionals at all levels such as trading, research, data analysis, and audience-led planning but like any other specialized skilled work, it is always an uphill task to find the right professionals.”

The real-time reach of these Programmatic ads to tap consumers of specific interest, behavior, demographics, etc. makes it extremely specific to derive better derivatives. Programmatic was hit hard during the pandemic because brands could pause campaigns immediately—but its flexibility allowed it to rebound quickly.

At present, India is one of the fastest-growing advertising markets globally. Over 35% of Indian advertisers are allocating at least 40% of their ad spend to programmatic strategy, as per the OpenX & ExchangeWire report on ‘The State of Programmatic in JAPAC – 2021’. "It is not only expanding further on digital, but has also started growing in OOH and print as well. Significant investment in the area is coming from tech, BFSI, education and media advertisers,” an industry analyst said.

Rahul Vengalil, Managing Partner of Isobar, a dentsu group company, says, “Soon 70-80% of digital ads could be programmatic. Large advertisers would also set up programmatic desks at their end in the near future. Publishers have gotten into this bandwagon as well. So there is going to be a demand for people to run this ecosystem at agency end, publisher end and brand end”.

While many brands are doing programmatic ads in-house, most of them are dependent on agencies, experts say. 

An expert said, "The marketers who were doing in-house programmatic have also returned to agencies now after realizing that open exchange buying can sometimes put their brand at risk as they cannot be 100% sure where their ads are being viewed. So, our programmatic portfolio is swelling further."

In a bid to cope with the demand-supply gap, agencies are adopting a multi-thronged approach. “To begin with, looking inwards, there are many sharp minds within the organization who show an active interest in being part of the growing programmatic fraternity. Also, freshers, digital marketing graduates, are showing an inclination towards beginning their career with programmatic/ addressable media. Last and most important, most companies are upskilling their existing talent pool by encouraging them to take up online courses offered by various tech and platform owners,” Mehta explained.

Experts stress that in the cookie-less world, the ad industry would need professionals who also understand the privacy laws and can deal with first-party data.