How to Use B2B Programmatic Benchmarks: Understanding and Optimizing Campaign Success

Updated: December 9, 2024

If your B2B organization engages in digital marketing, programmatic advertising is likely to be an enormous part of your efforts. According to studies from eMarketer, programmatic makes up the majority (91.3%) of U.S. digital display advertising, with programmatic ad spend reaching nearly $157 billion in 2024.

With programmatic advertising becoming a major focus in B2B digital marketing, it’s vital to master the use of benchmarks for gauging ad performance. In this blog, we explain what programmatic benchmarks are, how to set them and how to use them to measure and optimize your campaigns.

What Is Programmatic Advertising?

Programmatic ads use automation, machine learning, algorithms and data to target audiences through an automated ad-buying process, increasing efficiency and saving time and money. However, because automation decreases human control, programmatic ads have a greater likelihood of inappropriate ad matching. For example, ads might be shown to audiences that aren’t relevant to your campaign goals or displayed alongside content that contradicts your intended message or conflicts with brand values.

This makes it crucial to monitor and assess ad performance — an area where programmatic platforms excel. Programmatic is a data-driven process that provides the insights and the flexibility to adjust campaigns in real time. With the right analysis, it’s easy to identify and correct target and placement issues as they happen. This is where benchmarks come in.

What Are Programmatic Benchmarks?

Programmatic benchmarks are often mistaken as a type of key performance indicator (KPI), but programmatic benchmarks and KPIs are actually two different types of metrics that are typically used together.

KPIs gauge the success of a campaign against defined objectives. Benchmarks, on the other hand, compare campaign performance to a broader reference point, such as industry averages, competitive performance or past results. They are typically based on aggregated data from a large number of campaigns and provide an average or median value for specific KPIs, like click-through rate (CTR) or cost per click (CPC). Benchmarks amplify KPIs by adding valuable context so you can gauge where your programmatic performance should be while assessing your progress toward specific goals.

Benchmarks + KPIs = A fuller picture of success

KPIs measure campaign success against specific goals.
Benchmarks measure success against industry standards or historical or competitive performance.
Benchmarks supercharge KPIs, adding valuable context to gauge where performance should be.

Why Use Programmatic Benchmarks?

Without benchmarks, it can be difficult to determine whether your programmatic advertising efforts are effective, as there is no point of comparison as to what constitutes a good or bad result. Benchmarks can help you set realistic goals and targets for the programmatic campaigns and track progress toward achieving them.

Moreover, by providing insights into industry trends and competitors’ results, benchmarks allow you to optimize programmatic ads for greater relevance and impact, ensuring your efforts are competitive and effective. Measuring against industry or competitor averages enables you to identify areas where you may be falling behind or have opportunities to gain a competitive advantage.

Key B2B Programmatic Benchmarks

There are several benchmarks you can use to evaluate the effectiveness of your programmatic ads, including:

Click-through rate (CTR) measures the percentage of users who clicked on an ad after seeing it.
The average CTR for B2B programmatic ads is around 0.08% to 0.15%.

Cost per click (CPC) measures the cost of each click on an ad.
The average CPC for B2B programmatic ads is around $2 to $3.

Cost per thousand (CPM) measures the cost of 1,000 clicks on an ad.
The average CPM for B2B programmatic ads is around $5 to $7.

Viewability rate measures the percentage of an ad that is seen by the user (depending on screen placement, scrolling, device).
The average viewability rate for B2B programmatic ads is around 60%.

However, these benchmarks are just averages and not necessarily suggestive of what your company’s specific benchmarks should be. Your benchmarks may differ depending on your industry, target audience and placements, as well as your historical performance. Moreover, you may want to track other benchmarks, such as conversion rate (CR), cost per acquisition (CPA) and return on ad spend (ROAS) that are more specific to lead generation and revenue-based goals.

It’s recommended that you work with an experienced programmatic advertising partner who can help you determine realistic benchmarks for your specific business.

Average programmatic advertising benchmarks

*Vary across industries, audiences and placements

Factors Impacting B2B Programmatic Benchmarks

Let’s dive a little deeper into the factors that impact programmatic performance and the benchmarks that might be used as reference points.

Industry. The unique characteristics of different industries and sectors can influence performance benchmarks. For example, strict regulations and compliance requirements can constrain ad formats, creative or messaging used in healthcare ads, resulting in lower engagement benchmarks compared to less regulated sectors.

Audience. Different audiences tend to respond differently to specific ad formats, creative or messaging. For example, a tech-savvy audience may respond well to a dynamic ad experience, potentially resulting in a higher CTR than a conservative audience. Likewise, the preferences and behaviors of different audience segments can influence ad performance. 

Placement. Different channels and ad placements also tend to perform differently. For example, ads placed on high-traffic news sites may have higher viewability benchmarks due to increased impressions, but they also might result in lower CTRs compared to ads displayed on niche industry sites where audiences are more targeted and engaged.

Steps to Use Programmatic Ad Benchmarks to Measure Campaign Success

1. Determine your KPIs – The first step is to identify the KPIs you’ll use to measure the success of your advertising campaign, depending on campaign goals. For example, you might use CTR, impressions, reach, frequency and viewability to measure the performance of an awareness campaign.
2. Establish industry benchmarks – Once you’ve identified your KPIs, set industry benchmarks for those metrics. Industry benchmarks show you how your ad performance stacks up against your competitors and provide a valuable reference point when you lack historical performance data.
3. Set your own benchmarks – As you build you own performance history, establish internal benchmarks based on average performance per KPI. Internal benchmarks might be further broken down into audience segments, campaign types, channels, devices and geographic locations, especially if ad performance varies across these factors. Internal benchmarks allow you to track performance trends over time, helping assess growth and improvement.
4. Set performance targets – Performance targets are aspirational or strategic goals, often set above industry averages or internal benchmarks and based on business objectives. Performance targets motivate improvement or aim for competitive advantage.
5. Monitor your performance – Track your performance against benchmarks regularly. Continual monitoring allows for rapid adjustments if ad performance begins to decline.
6. Optimize your campaigns – Use the insights gained from monitoring performance against benchmarks to improve your programmatic ads. Adjust targeting, creative or other aspects of your campaign for better performance and to meet or exceed your benchmarks. (We describe this in more detail below.)
7. Adjust performance targets – If you find that your performance targets aren’t achievable or that you are consistently exceeding them, adjust them accordingly.

How to Use Programmatic Benchmarks to Optimize Your Campaigns

Benchmarks make an excellent tool for testing and continuously improving ad performance. They help refine targeting, optimize budget allocation, adjust ad frequency and placement, and maximize your return. With benchmarks, you can analyze audience segments, fine-tune spending and make data-driven adjustments to improve overall campaign effectiveness.

Here’s how it works:

• Develop a hypothesis – For example, you might hypothesize that increasing personalization and refining placement based on engagement benchmarks will better align ads with user interests and behaviors, resulting in a higher CTR and lower CPA.
• Conduct A/B testing – Set up A/B tests to compare different versions of your ads against each other. This might involve variations in creative, messaging, placement, frequency or audience targeting.
• Analyze results – Review the results to determine the winning ad. Then, compare its performance against internal or industry benchmarks to evaluate whether the ad is merely the best of the test group or truly competitive within the industry.
• Optimize campaigns – Use the insights from your A/B tests to further optimize your programmatic ads. Continuously testing ad variations enables incremental improvements, helping you meet or exceed your performance targets.

Best Practices for Improving Your Programmatic Benchmarks

• Set clear and measurable goals – Before you even begin using programmatic advertising, your business should set clear and measurable goals for your campaigns. These goals should be aligned with your overall marketing and business objectives and should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART). Setting clear goals helps your organization focus its efforts and measure progress.
• Use data to inform decisions – You should use data to inform your programmatic advertising decisions. This may involve analyzing campaign data to identify trends, patterns and insights that can help identify areas for improvement and inform future decisions.
• Target the right audience – Programmatic ads are highly targeted. Ensure you are targeting the right audience by segmenting your target audience based on demographics, behavior or interests, and tailoring the ad format and creative messaging to each segment. By targeting the right audience with the right ads, you can improve your campaign performance and achieve better results.
• Use retargeting – Retargeting is a powerful technique that can improve programmatic advertising benchmarks. By targeting users who have previously interacted with their brand or website, businesses can increase the likelihood of conversions and improve their campaign performance.
• Monitor and optimize campaign performance – It bears repeating: ongoing monitoring and optimization are essential for improving your benchmarks. Consistent refinement gives you a competitive edge and drives higher returns, ensuring your programmatic ads continue to meet or exceed your performance targets.

Get the Best Results From Your Programmatic Advertising

Achieving the best results from your programmatic advertising efforts requires a solid understanding of programmatic benchmarks expertise with B2B industries and audiences and insight into the many factors involved in programmatic advertising. Navigating the nuances between audience segments, platforms, timing and other variables can be complex. That’s why it’s essential to partner with a B2B marketing agency that understands industry benchmarks and has the expertise to optimize your campaigns.

With over 25 years of expertise in B2B marketing and a data-driven approach, Elevation Marketing helps you set, meet and exceed benchmarks for your programmatic advertising. Our tailored strategies ensure your campaigns are powered by actionable insights that enhance performance and drive success. Contact us to see how we can elevate your digital marketing efforts.