Programmatic advertising depicts the automated serving of digital ads in real time based on individual ad impression possibilities, where open marketplaces, in other words potential ad placements on apps or websites, is made available to anyone, and the highest bidder in an ad auction gets to place their ad in that spot for a given amount of time.
It also represents most types of ad spaces on all screens including video, mobile, native and display ads. The term gets used a lot within the digital advertising industry and often relates to areas such as real-time bidding (RTB), remnant inventory and open auctions. Programmatic is the new digital form of globalization. The borders, walls and obstacles once capable of preventing holistic customer tracking online and offline are now forever demolished.
WHY GO PROGRAMMATIC?
INSTANTANEOUS INSIGHTS AND DATA:
Both advertisers and publishers can gain instantaneous insights and data without any slowdown which in turn eliminates time delays associated with order processing and supporting real-time bidding. Within the programmatic advertising ecosystem buyers and sellers efficiently connect to each other. Advertisers can reach audiences via publisher web properties faster than ever before and on multiple devices and platforms. Almost immediately, all sides can determine what is and is not working — no need to wait weeks, days or even hours to find out how everything is functioning in the campaign.
GOOD FOR YOUR BUDGET:
Programmatic advertising makes use of data to serve impressions to a chosen audience. This increases chances for conversions and means less money lost on ineffective advertising.
GREATER TRANSPARENCY:
It helps all sides to have greater transparency into digital advertising mechanics and performance. Thanks to a wide variety of both first- and third-party data available, all sides have greater insights on how ads are performing, who is viewing and interacting with ads, where these end users are located, whether ad impressions recorded are legitimate or not, etc. The number of data points available through programmatic is unmatched.
IMPROVED TARGETING:
Many different data points and key performance indicators can be used to target an audience which makes reaching the right audience much easier. With programmatic software, you can reach potential customers worldwide by placing ads within multiple ad networks, partners, channels and geographical locations.
IMPROVED EFFICIENCY:
By automating the advertising insertion and tracking process, programmatic greatly increases the efficiency of marketing campaigns, especially for those looking to work at scale. Campaigns can be adjusted and monitored as needed with very little time and effort. Without programmatic, if a publisher wanted to run ads from a wide variety of demand sources, they would have to develop, run, manage and track campaigns manually with each and every advertiser for all of their campaigns. This kind of effort simply does not scale well. The same logic applies to brands trying to advertise to all of their target audiences across lots of properties.
KEY TERMS IN PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING?
AUCTION/BIDDING:
In a private auction, which is also sometimes known as a private marketplace or a closed auction, a publisher allows a select group of advertisers to bid against one another for available ad inventory. It’s like an open exchange, but on a much smaller scale. Often, a publisher’s premium inventory is made available in this manner, which can help drive up ad prices; however, as a result, it can also lead to low fill rates.
REAL TIME BIDDING:
RTB, or real-time bidding, refers to the automated buying and selling of advertisements and placements as soon as a website or app is loading or as ad placement opportunities arise. RTB is a subset of programmatic that occurs in real time.
SUPPLY SIDE PLATFORMS [SSP]:
An SSP helps publishers maximize their revenue earned through ad networks by acting as a layer between publishers and third-party advertising networks. Supply Side Platforms give publishers control over their ad inventory and help them dictate how it is sold and delivered to ad networks. With SSP’s, a bidding environment was created to help publishers extract the most revenue possible for their ad inventories.
DEMAND SIDE PLATFORMS [DSP]:
Demand Side Platforms are aimed to assist agencies and advertisers with the buying side. A DSP is defined as an infrastructure that enables advertisers and agencies (buyers) to manage their media buying via a single platform.