While the tumultuous discussions continue regarding the value of transparency, more and more brands continue to redefine success in programmatic. While highly-ranked publishers encourage brands to recognize the value of their inventory rather than just the cost, of late, the industry is beginning to notice that advertisers are paying attention to the importance of context in media. Low-cost cookie chasing campaigns have dictated media plans for years. However, brand marketers are now having to consider where their ads show up, and just who sees them.

We have become a culture that is highly reliant on online search. Recent reports indicate that 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product when searching on their phone. B2B researchers conduct an average of 12 searches before engaging on a specific brand’s site. In fact, 65% of smartphone users look for the most relevant information, regardless of the company that’s providing the info. Searches are imperative and prevalent in today’s marketing activities.

Did you know that nearly 95% of Google’s revenue comes from online advertising? The average consumer is served up over 1,700 banner ads per month, yet only 50% of them are ever viewed. What is it that makes some ads capture one’s attention, and others go by the wayside? Genius Monkey knows, as we grasped the concept of multifaceted online ads way before the recent findings were released, proving what we already knew.

Google, in partnership with Ipsos, recently conducted research geared towards discovering the tastes, behaviors and wants, as well as the future trends, of the up-and-coming “Generation Z” consumer group (those born after 1995). Screens Most Used Of those Gen Z teenagers polled, 78% use smartphones, 69% use laptops, 68% spend time watching TV, 62% use gaming consoles and 52% utilize tablets. Of those between the ages of 18-24 that responded to the same questions, 87% use smartphones, 80% use laptops, 72% spend time watching TV, 56% use gaming consoles and 56% utilize tablets.

There are exponential changes occurring in the field of retail. Recent research indicates that at least 58% of retail sales (non-grocery) is expected to be influenced by digital in 2017. More astounding is the fact that this figure equates to an additional $86 billion in non-grocery retail sales this year that will be influenced by digital, as brands continue to strive to deliver truly integrated digital experiences to their customers by improving their mobile strategy.

A recent survey revealed that people interact with their mobile smartphones an average of 13 times per hour. In addition, 60% of ads that people found to be influential in making a purchase were viewed on a smartphone. These stats should be very telling to a company interested in the capture and conversion of their mobile customers. Red Lobster is a good example of a company that is taking advantage of the mobile behaviors of their customers.

Google is launching ad blocking technology in Chrome… and why this is a good thing for all of us! According to Mary Meeker’s 2017 Internet Trends report, the marketing industry doesn’t want ad blocking increasing on mobile devices from the current adoption rate of 1%, which is considerably lower than the current rate of 18% for desktop computers. The good news is that there is an improvement plan being implemented.

The impact that mobile advertising has on the landscape of advertising is growing exponentially, and no company in any industry should ignore the tracks that mobile ads are leaving in the sand. Here is what we ALL can learn from the travel industry: Google recently reported that when it comes to booking hotels, almost 50% of Google Hotel ads referrals are now coming from smartphones, indicating a continued growth by nearly 2.

“Searches on smartphones for ‘Furniture near me’ has increased year over year by 85%.” Furniture shopping has come a long way. No longer is it only an in-store activity, as smartphone and mobile use has become the norm. Nearly half (47%) of furniture shoppers have indicated that they are increasing their online purchases via mobile, and even if they go to the brick and mortar store, it’s most likely that it was mobile that drove them there.

According to a recent forecast by eMarketer, it is estimated that close to 80% of every dollar spent on advertising will be allocated to programmatic in 2017. This number equates to a whopping $32.56 billion for the year! There is no room for doubt that programmatic is here to stay; especially in light of the fact that by the end of the year, that number is expected to grow to 84%.