Dive Brief: 

• Demand Media is ditching its direct sales business to put full attention on programmatic. 
• The company is shifting away from premium sales display ads, which means several sales positions have been eliminated, but Demand Media is not revealing how many. 
• According to CEO Shawn Colo, Demand Media will, for the time being, continue to service a few big unnamed advertisers with big custom ideas. 

Dive Insight: 

Demand Media's decision to ditch direct sales of display advertising is yet another example of the direction the industry is heading. Programmatic seems to be the way of the future and agencies would be wise to adapt accordingly.