Publishers and marketers are aggregating more data, from more sources, than ever before. And in order to realize the full value of that information, they require a technology-driven solution — a central hub — to collect, integrate, manage and activate those large volumes of data. The data management platform (DMP) emerged just a few years ago as a response to this need.
As the promise of Big Data plays an increasingly significant role in the digital marketing landscape, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Winterberry Group published The Data Management Platform: Foundation for Right-Time Consumer Engagement, a whitepaper revealing that DMPs could potentially serve as a principal technology solution for multichannel data aggregation, integration, management and deployment. DMPs are technology tools that normalize disparate data sets so that marketers can better understand and utilize data from multiple sources.
The IAB-Winterberry Group survey of thought leaders found:
- 92% said their organizations’ or clients’ interest in DMPs has increased over the past year.
- 77% said DMPs will play either a critical or major supporting role in expanding the performance of long-term advertising and marketing efforts.
- 62% said their companies had already implemented a DMP plans to do so within the next 12 months.
Jonathan Margulies, Managing Director, Winterberry Group, commented:
Today, the online marketplace is only just beginning to grasp and appreciate the impact of ‘Big Data’. We are seeing more data from more sources through more channels and platforms than ever before. Our timely white paper shows that DMPs could represent a real solution for marketers, publishers and merchants looking to put large-scale data to work in manageable ways.
The report also drew several conclusions about the likely evolution of DMPs as underlying technology for Marketing Operations over the next 12 to 18 months:
- DMPs will expand in scope to support the aggregation and activation of more types of data, as well as the execution of a broader suite of data-centric advertising, marketing, media and customer experience services.
- Analytics tools and support services will grow more central to the DMP offering, driving an expanded value proposition.
- Solutions will grow more specialized as unique user needs demand focused tools that may not readily be supported by a one-size-fits-all approach.
- Third-party DMPs will grow increasingly agnostic with respect to both data and media as they fulfill a more central responsibility for the integration and optimization of those two fundamental inputs.
- A new wave of consolidation will reshape the DMP developer landscape, transforming the traditional and digital marketing services industries in the process.
- Marketers, publishers and other data users will initiate a series of large-scale organizational realignments to capitalize on the potential of their enterprise information assets.
The full report is available here.
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