Demand for programmatic advertising has skyrocketed over the past seven years. Programmatic advertising, simply put by Marketing Week as, “the use of automation in the buying and selling of media,” can be used for all kinds of advertising, both traditional and digital. But a recent report by Zenith highlights programmatic’s use in digital display advertising.

Zenith found that 10.4% of digital display spending worldwide was transacted programmatically in 2012. Last year, that total came in at 65.3%, and is expected to grow to 69.2% in 2020 and reach 72% in 2021.

Marketing Charts revealed the money behind those percentages. From 2012 to 2019, global ad dollars dedicated to programmatic rose from $3.9 billion to $106 billion. In 2021, that amount will increase to $147.1 billion. Out of the $106 billion spent on programmatic in 2019, U.S. ad spending accounted for $67.3 billion. Overall, the U.S. spent $81.7 billion on digital display in 2019 and 82.4% of that spending was programmatic. In 2021, programmatic spending in the U.S. is expected to rise to make up 85.8% of digital display spend.

Instead of dealing with the auction-​based model of purchasing advertising, says Marketing Week, programmatic results in automated, instant purchases after the ad purchaser has designated the impressions they’re interested in and the price they’re willing to pay.

While constructing your pitch to enlighten your client of the benefits of programmatic, make sure you’re fully equipped with the information you need about your target audience. AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel offers intelligence on a variety of consumers, from Car Mechanics/​Restorers to Fashionistas to Hearing Aid Shoppers. On each profile, you can see how receptive each audience is to certain types of digital display ads and decide which ad types deserve to be included in your pitch. The more information you have backing your proposal, the more comfortable your client will be agreeing to it.