Programmatic Media

Simple programmatic advertising meaning is that advertisers purchase ads through an online forum. Instead of traditional purchasing, brands, and providers come together inside a real-time bidding platform. Importantly, advertisers find programmatic media highly effective because it can be tailored to the viewer.

To better understand programmatic display advertising, imagine the user experience from the start. A consumer sits down to watch their favorite series on a Connected TV with Hulu installed. Perhaps the series features luxury vacation destinations all around the globe.

During a commercial break in the series, the watcher views a Connected TV commercial from a high-end hotel brand. The Connected TV commercial serves to bring attention to the available lodgings. That Connected TV commercial may spark interest in the viewer since travel is always on the brain due to the series’ content.

To reinforce this ad, programmatic display advertising allows a marketer to serve that user programmatic banner ads while he or she picks up the phone to do some internet searching. The viewer then remembers that brands Connected TV commercials because of the relation and clicks on the ad to the advertiser’s site.

Online advertising examples will include more than programmatic banner ads that may or may not be paired with Connected TV. Each advertiser must consider their budget, target audience, and advertising goals. A sale may not always be the end goal of an advertiser’s programmatic advertising campaign. The advertiser may be looking to build or spread awareness about themselves or an important issue to the public. Considering objectives will help marketers decide on the best medium to use.

Examples of programmatic advertising include TV, video, display, native, and audio ads. The most effective ads tell a compelling story that encourages viewers to act when shown in the media. Video programmatic advertising has seen a surge in popularity with ad spending increasing almost five times in the last five years.

The real-time bidding programmatic process isn’t as complicated as it sounds. Keep in mind that the programmatic meaning isn’t the same as the definition of real-time bidding. Real-time bidding is just one part of programmatic advertising. Real-time bidding or RTB marketing provides the chance to monetize advertising space. The advertising space can be held by publishers and reserved for select brands. Conversely, ad space may be sold in an open auction format with publishers utilizing RTB software to automate bids and sales.

Programmatic advertising software has truly been revolutionary within the industry. Before programmatic marketing programs, advertisers would buy ad space in bulk. Plus, there was less control over who was seeing impressions on a website. As an example, there was a challenge of narrowing the audience down by gender, age, and location.

With RTB software, advertisers can bid on the chance to show specific ads based on select data points. The RTB process is streamlined to simplify things for both the publisher and the advertiser. The following are the basic steps on how real-time bidding works as part of programmatic marketing:

• A consumer visits a webpage with the visit generating an impression. The impression is prepared for the auction automatically.
• Before leaving the website, a tracking cookie is linked to the consumer.
• Advertisers interested in the consumer’s profile will place bids. The advertiser with the highest bid gets to generate an impression to the consumer.

A common question could include, “What is digital advertising agency?” Digital advertising agencies were created to give specialized advice on digital marketing. Unlike traditional ad agencies, a digital marketing agency has evolved to meet the changing landscape of advertising online. These agencies will have more than general knowledge about the types of programmatic advertising available. They will be able to link brands with preferred programmatic advertising platforms that are most likely to meet their objectives.

Programmatic marketing platforms that an agency may recommend could include a demand-side platform or DSP. A DSP programmatic platform permits advertisers or agencies to bid on digital inventory. DSP programmatic advertising companies won’t offer just one type of media option. Examples of their ad inventory could include streaming services ads, banner ads, mobile video ads, and in-stream video ads. Along with DSP, marketers are often likely to hear the term SSP as part of programmatic advertising platforms. SSP stands for supply-side platforms and represents ad exchanges through publishers. SSPs are geared toward publishers, while DSPs are made for marketers.

With programmatic advertising Google and programmatic advertising via The Trade Desk ad spaces, among others, have built a strong foundation for all advertisers and sellers without forcing high budgets. Agencies can grow a brand exclusively through digital channels without the need to book traditional ad space on live television and radio broadcasts. Best of all, there are more meaningful interactions through programmatic advertising platforms. Digital agencies provide cost-effective solutions with real-time reporting capabilities. Instead of waiting to see how well impressions are performing weeks or months in the future, marketers can check the status quickly with the ability to also see what trends worked best for the advertiser over time. Campaign creation and adjustments can then be made to fine-tune the digital ads and improve performance.

Programmatic marketing companies can offer options that fall into programmatic direct or programmatic guaranteed categories. Programmatic direct makes up the highest percentage of ad spending holding onto approximately 58% of the market share. Essentially, programmatic direct is an agreement between a publisher and an advertiser. The agreement will be finalized through a programmatic bidding platform, and most of these exchanges will be made via an online auction.

If the ad is offered through an open auction, various buyers bid on the impression. However, programmatic direct can also include deals that occur through private auctions. Private auctions usually feature only a select number of buyers who have been invited by the publishers. Before joining the auction, a certain minimum price may have been agreed upon by all parties.

Programmatic guaranteed is a deal negotiated between the publisher and advertiser with set terms. Any inventory is reserved specifically for the advertiser without outside buyers being able to bid on the space. A minimum price is usually provided for a predetermined number of impressions.

The benefits of programmatic advertising are plentiful. Most advertisers turn to the format because of the precise targeting offered. Instead of displaying ads to those outside the preferred demographic, the media can be chosen based on the person’s location, income, age, gender, and hobbies.

Programmatic advertising tools will also free up marketers for more important duties. Purchasing through traditional agencies is a much longer process and typically involves long-term negotiations and contracts. Most programmatic advertising examples are known to be generated through automated processes where software programs rely on algorithms to make bidding and placement nearly instantaneous.

Internet advertising advantages and disadvantages should also always include looking at reporting capabilities. In most cases, publishers and agencies give access to real-time data. The reporting data permits advertisers to make critical decisions, such as campaign spending and targeting. Optimization doesn’t always have to be a manual process when using programmatic marketing but can be done in some cases to fix a few tweaks. This leads to another aspect considered in programmatic advertising–transparency. Only choose to work with transparent partners regarding their terms and conditions and how they manage your campaigns.

The future of programmatic advertising is projected to flourish through the next decade. Data collected by eMarketer predicts that programmatic spending will account for more than 86% of all digital ad spending nationwide. By 2022, that figure is expected to surpass 88% in the field.

The reason for the surge has a direct link to the increase in CTV households. CTV refers to televisions with the capacity to go online and access streaming content. CTV examples include smart televisions, Amazon Firesticks, Apple TVs, Roku devices, and gaming systems. These devices connect to streaming services such as Hulu, Discovery Plus, Peacock, and Prime Video. CTV is so popular that it has surpassed linear TV and will only grow from here.

An advertising agency’s website provides powerful insight into the tools offered by professionals in the industry. A preferred agency will give partners full support to make vital choices about their programmatic marketing strategies, which can be found in programmatic advertising case study materials to see what types of strides the programmatic media agency has achieved.

Best practices include selecting a programmatic marketing agency that believes in the importance of transparency, reporting, and relationships. Their programmatic advertising services should provide pertinent data including impressions, clicks, CPV, and CPMs, among others in real-time and the programmatic agency should allow customization options for the client. Retargeting is a tactic to be used by the agency. With retargeting, consumers who have previously shown interest in a brand will be served relevant ads.