Why Programmatic Advertising is a Gamechanger in 2020

Amidst an overall decline in marketing spend overall, digital ad spend is growing, expecting up to 13% in 2nd half of 2020 and 60% of all brands are predicted to use programmatic advertising. (IAB 2020)

What is it?

Programmatic advertising is a diverse range of tools, platforms automated (software) bidding strategy to buy ads using machines and complex algorithms to purchase display space. 

RTB (real-time bidding), automated buying and selling are done with AI, machine to machine. This completely removes the human element and focusses on data-driven purchasing of ad space that is far more relevant to your business.

Programmatic advertising is designed to do away with old-fashioned, hit-or-miss campaign design. That system was notorious for costing marketers way too much money.

~John Lincoln, CEO and founder Ignite Visibility.

 

  

In programmatic advertising, a DSP (demand-side platform) is where buyers are able to manage real-time bidding for displaying platforms. Using a DSP means marketers can automate the management of their bids and pricing to target their audiences based on KPI’s like CPC (cost per click), and CPA (cost per acquisition). Real-time data allows purchasers to truly optimise and control the impact of their ads over verticle and lateral targeting and advances algorithms to lower their CMP in auctions. Another feature of DSP is access to premium inventory, real-time analytics and audience targeting options. It's real-time buying at the right time and right place.


An SSP (sell-side platform) is where web publishers are able to offer an exchange ad space for revenue opportunity and optimise selling of their media space. They interface directly with DSP’s and offer real-time bidding. 

Programmatic advertising means using AI to automate ad buying so you can target more specific audiences. Real-time bidding, for example, is a type of programmatic ad buying. This automation is much more efficient and fast, which means higher conversions and lower customer acquisition costs.

 Maybe you are reading an article on the automotive industry on Forbes magazine website. Your ads will be tailored in real-time to fit both your demographic details and your specific interests. I’ll bet you own a late model BMW.

The benefits of PA:
Audience management targeting

PA can refine huge amounts of data plus tracking to find the perfect audience including gender, age, location, preferences, device, platform, history, and locations. It can define when or where an ad is played, for what duration and so on. It can also suggest when to place an ad where and in what format. This will prioritise campaign optimization to reduced CPC, and provide a detailed measurement. 

 

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)

Once thought to be a throttle on the advertising industry, the consent and protection benefits will mean cleaner data sets for advertisers over time, more accuracy with first-party data now is most highly valued and reliable, and much better quality over time.


DOOH (Digital Out Of Home)

SSP’s combined with mobile use helps close the gap between home and store by closing the loop using speed, location, reaching clients where they spend time and increasing store visits.


AI and smart devices

Everyday 25% household items are purchased with the help household smart devices. If you are not optimising for these devices you are missing huge opportunities.

 Wearable devices

You’ve been wearing them for years. They are already collecting data on your location, lifestyle, health metrics providing insights to the advertising industry. User data opens a massive opportunity to target prospects at the time, right place with the most relevant messages.

 5G fifth generation cellular network technology

5G isnt just about Ad ecosystem running faster even though we know websites and videos will load at 100x 4G. More than that - it will augment mediums like VR, and force marketers to create and deliver across many formats, multiple formats and devices, and truly make use of the latency that 5G promises.

 So what do you need to consider when choosing an agency?

  • Pricing - make sure you know exactly what you are paying for.
  • Transparency of their platforms, payments and costs.
  • Targeting first-party data, being able to use CRM and email data.
  • Utilising conversion tracking and detailed attribution models.

 Although programmatic advertising is complex and getting started can seem like a complicated process there is no better value in your marketing strategy. Take your time to learn more about your vendors and make the right decision for your business.

 

 If you’re ready to take the next steps in advertising we’d love to hear from you.

 Contact us today