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Programmatic Trends 2021
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TRENDS IN PROGRAMMATIC 2021

Last year, we took it upon us to predict some of the most exciting trends we believed would dominate the programmatic advertising space in 2020.

Little did we know that a few months into the new year, the world would be turned upside down, and by the time our Face-to-face meetings turned into Facetime meetings, most industry predictions were thrown out of the window.

Now, we’re turning our focus to the new year and look at some of the key trends we believe will define the programmatic advertising space in 2021.

A TO THE I

Artificial intelligence was one of the key topics we included in last year’s forecast, and although 2020 certainly turned out to be a big year for AI and machine learning in programmatic, we can only see this grow further this year.

With customer journeys becoming more complex and target audiences increasingly specific, it’s becoming more and more difficult to display your ad in front of the right people at the right time. AI’s ability to identify and accurately predict buyer patterns at scale and in real-time is something that human power simply can’t live up to.

In the past, AI has been something of a buzzword, but after seeing the success early adopters have achieved after implementing AI into their programmatic strategy, more and more advertisers swear by the power it holds.

DIGITAL OUT OF HOME (DOOH)

Programmatic Digital Out Of Home or DOOH refers to the automated media trading on digital out of home platforms such as billboards or signage. It’s the evolutionary offspring of one of the oldest and most traditional advertising channels; Out Of Home (OOH) advertising.

Marketeers have long struggled to bridge the customer journey gap between online/offline, and at home/outside of home. Combined with smartphone location data, Digital Out Of Home has the power to drive conversions even in the offline world.

Both DOOH and OOH digital advertising were hit hard by global lockdowns brought on by the pandemic, but the Advertising Association + Warc Expenditure report predicts that it will make a comeback in 2021 with an expected growth of 38.7%.

Take a look at our programmatic DOOH.

PROGRAMMATIC PODCAST ADVERTISING

With more than 150m monthly listeners in the US alone, podcasts are becoming more and more popular.

eMarketer estimates that spend on podcast ads will double by 2022 and reach $106.5 million, and it’s not just in the US that podcasts are gaining momentum. According to WARC, 38% advertisers globally plan to boost their podcast ad spend in 2021.

We can reach users across apps such as Acast, Spotify, Radio.com, Tunein, Deezer across both iOS, Android and across a range of devices including smartphones app & web as well as smart speakers and even in car.

Here at Advant Technology, we’re big fans of programmatic podcast advertising and have vast experience of running both local, national and international campaigns. Read more about our digital audio advertising solutions here.

Picture of Ben Myers

Ben Myers

Ben Myers, CEO of Advant Technology. Programmatic advertising expert and all round digital strategist. Globe trotter, food fanatic, cocktail maker, car crazy, that's Ben. London born n bread, it was here where he gritted his teeth in the advertising world starting at Videojug.com and then moving onto Teads where he drove sales, publisher growth and ad operations. A regular speaker at trade events around the globe. Passionate about helping brands achieve their goals through digital advertising.
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Market & Structure Tool

Advant Technology — LinkedIn Ads for Enterprise Technology

Which markets change your campaign, and how

A working companion to the multi-market playbook. Explore what actually differs between the UK, US, DACH and APAC — or answer four questions to see whether your account list needs one campaign structure or several.

United Kingdom

UK
Message-based formats
Available

Outside the EU/EEA/Switzerland exclusion since Brexit, so Conversation Ads (successor to Message Ads) are not caught by the EU restriction that applies to Germany.

Governing regime

UK GDPR. Standard UK GDPR employee-data handling applies; no equivalent to Germany's works-council co-determination layer.

Decision culture

Closer to US pace. Single decision-maker with committee sign-off is common; buying-group validation is typically faster than DACH.

Localization

English-native. No localisation tax on creative or landing pages for UK-only targeting.

United States

US
Message-based formats
Available

Conversation Ads run without the EU/EEA/Switzerland restriction.

Governing regime

CCPA / CPRA. California's B2B and employee-data exemptions expired 1 Jan 2023 (AB 25 / AB 1355 / AB 1281 not renewed). Business-contact data in ABM lists touching California residents is now in scope.

Decision culture

Fast-moving, champion-led. Often an internal champion drives the process with executive sign-off, rather than slower group consensus.

Localization

English-native. Tone and proof points differ from UK (ROI framing, case-study style) but no language barrier.

Germany-led DACH

DACH
Message-based formats
Unavailable in EU/EEA/CH

Following a Nov 2021 CJEU ruling that native inbox advertising needs direct-marketing consent under the ePrivacy framework, LinkedIn stopped EU-targeted Message/Conversation Ads (new campaigns blocked 15 Dec 2021, existing ones suspended 10 Jan 2022).

Governing regime

GDPR + BDSG. Germany's Federal Data Protection Act adds works-council (Betriebsrat) co-determination rights over some employee-data processing. A works agreement cannot itself legitimate otherwise-inadmissible processing (German court ruling reported Jan 2025).

Decision culture

Consensus-driven. Formal sign-off and longer internal validation typically precede commercial conversations — plan reporting windows accordingly.

Localization

German materially outperforms English. True below enterprise-only accounts; enterprise buying groups are more English-tolerant, but mid-market is not.

Singapore-led APAC

APAC
Message-based formats
Confirm in Campaign Manager

Singapore sits outside the EU/EEA/Switzerland exclusion, so formats are presumed available — but coverage isn't centrally documented by geography, so verify before planning.

Governing regime

PDPA (Singapore). A distinct consent-and-purpose-limitation regime, not equivalent to GDPR. Treat as its own compliance track, not a GDPR analogue.

Decision culture

Not representative of wider APAC. Singapore is English-language and Western-business-norm-adjacent; this does not extend to Japan, Korea or Greater China buying culture.

Localization

English viable — for Singapore only. Do not treat English-only creative as a proxy for the rest of APAC if the account list extends beyond Singapore/Hong Kong hubs.

Decision-culture notes are directional, not universal — treat as a planning prior, not a rule for every account.

Is the target account list evaluated by one centralised, cross-border buying committee, or by in-market/regional committees?

Does the plan rely on message-based formats (Conversation Ads) in any EU/EEA/Switzerland market?

Does language localisation materially change conversion quality in at least one target market (e.g. DACH below enterprise, or APAC beyond Singapore/Hong Kong)?

Is your target-account list in every market comfortably above LinkedIn's practical minimum audience size (commonly cited around 300)?

Recommendation

Answer the questions above

Select one answer for each question to see the recommendation.

Recommendation

A unified structure fits your answers

Your account list is centrally decided, doesn't depend on a restricted message format, and localisation isn't a material factor — the exception case for a single, unified campaign structure.

  • None of the market-splitting triggers apply — re-check this if your account list or market mix changes.

Recommendation

Split by market: separate campaign groups, budgets and thresholds

At least one structural factor makes a shared template unreliable across your markets.

  • Regional buying committees mean each market is a separate decision unit — a shared campaign group would blend distinct audiences.
  • A message-format plan cannot run as one structure if it includes an EU/EEA/Switzerland market — Conversation Ads aren't available there, so at minimum that market needs a different format mix.
  • Where localisation changes conversion quality, a shared budget and qualification threshold will misread the localised market's real performance.
  • At least one market may sit below the practical minimum audience size — consider folding that market into a regional structure rather than giving it a standalone campaign group.
  • Check each market's target-account list against LinkedIn's minimum audience guidance before finalising how many standalone campaign groups to build.
Built from the claim ledger behind LinkedIn Ads for Enterprise Technology: A Multi-Market Demand Generation Playbook . Two items (EU/EEA/Switzerland message-format restriction, ~300-account audience floor) are corroborated across independent sources but not verified against LinkedIn's own current help pages — confirm both in Campaign Manager before final budget commitment. Last reviewed 14 August 2026.

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