Algorithms threaten to end ‘Mad Men’ era of TV ads - Financial Times

Programmatic buying is gaining traction in the online ads business. It allows marketers to buy cheap ads on thousands of websites rather than negotiating deals directly with publishers. Marketers can target ads to specific people based on data about them.

“The industry is at the forefront of great change,” says Tim Spengler, worldwide chief executive for Interpublic’s media-buying group Magna Global. “The next couple of years will be evolutionary, then it will be revolutionary. Technology will force it.”

The upfronts are a legacy of the 1960s advertising world depicted in the hit TV series Mad Men, featuring Don Draper. Broadcasters aligned their season premieres with the autumn release of new cars in an attempt to tap into the large sums that carmakers spent on TV commercials. The networks started selling bundles of ad time in May for the autumn shows, giving marketers months to prepare their campaigns.

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