SYDNEY/BOSTON: Australia leads the world in programmatic advertising and is even ahead of the US and UK for mobile and video programmatic trading, a new report has stated.

According to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Australia benefits from a sophisticated structural system and has a more concentrated market with trading desks specifically pushing programmatic, AdNews reported.

The Australian ad market is currently worth about US$13bn a year, but programmatic digital display adspend in the country is expected to edge up to US$724m in 2015.

That would represent year-on-year growth of 24.9% and account for almost a quarter (73.6%) of online display advertising.

Anna Green, partner and managing director at BCG Australia, said: "The high penetration means that the opportunities to maximise revenues and deliver improved results for advertisers is there."

However, she added that the sector could improve further if agencies enrich the data they hold on users while ensuring those working in the market are given the tools they need to deliver results.

The Google-commissioned BCG report went on to say there are significant benefits for publishers, such as improved revenue and profits, if they automate their inventory management and trading strategies, Business Review Weekly reported.

But one of the biggest challenges for publishers and digital media companies is that they have been too focussed on low-value activities in the programmatic supply chain.

For example, publishers have often regarded automated ad exchanges as a way to offload remnant or unsold inventory and they have been too cautious about deploying fully-programmatic initiatives.

Data sourced from AdNews, BCG, Business Review Weekly; additional content by Warc staff