What is programmatic marketing?

What In The World Is Programmatic Advertising???

/ Experts, Marketing, Programmatic / By

All too often, we have conversations with prospects and marketing experts who don’t understand programmatic advertising. To be fair, a lot of the history and terms can be complicated so we wanted to create a blog post to break down the key elements.

Let’s start by going through a timeline of when programmatic advertising started and how it has progressed over time – 
  1. Programmatic first started back in 1994 when the first display ad ran on HotWired.
  2. Ad servers FocalLink Media, NetGravity, and Doubleclick launched in 1995.
  3. Ad networks WebConnect, Ad.com, and Doubleclick launched in 1996.
  4. Ad exchanges RightMedia and Doubleclick launched in 2003-2005.
  5. Demand side platforms (DSPs) and supply side platforms started launching in 2007.
  6. Real time bidding (RTB) launched in 2009-2011. Within 100 milliseconds in an auction set up.
Let’s also outline some key terms to know when talking about programmatic advertising – 
  • Ad Servers – This is an easy place to switch out ads, and receive more advanced reporting.
  • Ad Networks – These are human-owned. They are manual intermediaries that aggregate ad inventory for publishers & sell to advertisers as a broker. They are fragmented, regional, and niche. 
  • Ad Exchanges – These are technology platforms. Like a stock market, but for ads. No direct buys. They are used to broker deals between demand side platforms (DSP’s) & supply side platforms (SSP’s). They require a DSP (demand-side) for advertisers and SSD (supply side) for publishers. Items are sold impression by impression.
  • Demand Side Platforms (DSP’s) – Advertisers ability to access ad exchanges.
  • Supply Side Platforms (SSP’s) – Publishers ability to access ad exchanges.
  • Real Time Bidding (RTB) – Selling impression by impression, but in an auction format. 
What is programmatic?
  • Programmatic advertising is using technology to target users (behaviorally, demographically or geographically) that will help advertisers meet their end goal across display, native, CTV, audio and video formats.
  • It’s where the exchange, the network and the publishers all come together to deliver ads for advertisers.
  • There is a focus on the audience rather than the site or publisher.
  • There’s simplicity surrounding how many places you access inventory.
  • There is an ability to target across all forms of media (video, tv, audio, display, native).
Why should advertisers and marketers understand programmatic advertising?

Programmatic Spend Trends

There’s never been a better way to target the right audience, at the right time, on the right device. Programmatic ad spend is on the rise and there’s a reason for that.

Reach out to Above The Fold to learn more now.