Programmatic advertising is constantly evolving. New formats emerge, audience behaviors shift, and advertisers keep looking for smarter ways to reach people across devices and channels. Looking at the 2025 advertising benchmarks data across publishers, formats, devices, and targeting strategies, several patterns stand out—offering clues about where programmatic advertising may be headed in 2026 and how marketers can align their strategies.

Below are some of the key trends advertisers should keep an eye on in the coming year.

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1. Mobile Continues to Lead Performance

Mobile remains the strongest performing device environment in programmatic advertising and is likely to remain the primary performance driver in 2026.

• Mobile CTR: 0.44%
• Desktop CTR: 0.24%
• Tablet CTR: 0.32%
• Mobile CPC: $0.89

Creative performance data reinforces this trend. The best-performing display sizes are mobile-first banners, including:

• 300×50: 0.70% CTR
• 320×50: 0.58% CTR

These outperform common desktop placements such as 300×250 or 728×90.

What this means for 2026:
Advertisers should continue prioritizing mobile-first creative design, responsive ad formats, and mobile-heavy media allocations to maximize engagement.

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2. CTV Is Becoming a More Cost-Efficient Video Channel

CTV continues to gain momentum in programmatic strategies, particularly as the most attention driven media but also as a more cost-efficient alternative to online video inventory.

This means advertisers can reach audiences through premium streaming environments at significantly lower cost per thousand impressions compared with online video placements while keeping the creative ad attention high.

While online video still plays a strong role in performance campaigns, the pricing difference and attention levers highlight why many advertisers are increasing CTV investment to extend video reach more efficiently.

What this means for 2026:
Expect more advertisers to shift video budgets toward CTV inventory to improve cost efficiency while maintaining high-quality viewing environments.

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3. Native and Retail Strategies Continue Driving Engagement

Targeting strategies tied to native environments and retail-driven intent signals show some of the strongest engagement metrics.

Top strategies reach CTR levels around 1.21%, outperforming many traditional display targeting approaches.

Native advertising also remains highly competitive in terms of efficiency:

• Native eCPM: ~$10.60
• eCPC: ~$0.42
• CTR: ~0.18%

These results reflect the strength of formats that blend naturally into content environments and leverage contextual relevance.

What this means for 2026:
As privacy changes continue to limit tracking-based targeting, native and contextual strategies will likely become even more important for engagement-driven campaigns.

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4. Open Ad Exchanges Still Deliver Strong Value

Despite the growth of curated marketplaces and private deals, open ad exchanges continue to offer high performance at competitive prices.

• OpenX: ~0.80% CTR
• TripleLift: ~0.75% CTR
• Sharethrough: ~0.66% CTR

At the same time, CPMs remain relatively low—often between $2.50 and $3.50.

What this means for 2026:
Open exchanges remain a cost-efficient way to scale campaigns while maintaining strong engagement performance.

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5. Publisher Selection As An Optimization Lever

Performance can vary dramatically depending on the publisher environment.

Most publishers fall within 0.25–0.73% CTR, but certain placements significantly outperform benchmarks. One example in the report shows TuneIn reaching a 2.53% CTR, several times higher than typical placements.

What this means for 2026:
Advertisers should focus on continuous publisher testing and optimization, as the right placements can dramatically improve campaign results.

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6. Industry Category Targeting Continues to Influence Pricing

Programmatic pricing varies widely across verticals, highlighting the importance of category-specific planning.

• Health & Fitness native CPM: ~$11–12
• Travel CPM: ~$10–11
• Technology CPM: ~$7–8

These differences reflect demand levels and audience value within each vertical.

What this means for 2026:
Advertisers should align budget expectations and performance benchmarks with industry-specific CPM dynamics.

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Final Thoughts

Programmatic advertising never really stands still—and that’s part of what makes it so exciting.

Looking at the advertising benchmarks data, we see a few clear patterns - mobile still dominates engagement, CTV is becoming a smarter way to scale video campaigns, and native formats continue to outperform traditional display in many cases.

At the same time, some fundamentals haven’t changed. Crafting your audience targeting and balancing scale with efficiency will always play a big role in campaign performance.

For marketers planning their next campaigns - combine these insights with ongoing testing and optimization, and let the data guide where budgets go next.

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