First, let us understand the programmatic advertising or rather more apt term ‘programmatic media buying’ as it’s a very common word nowadays. If anyone who is into the domain of marketing and advertising, he or she must have come across this new way of buying the media. However most of us also need deeper understanding of this channel of marketing to make the best use of it for the brands we are marketing or promoting.
Programmatic Media Buying
Programmatic Media buying is a way of online ad buying by using technology. Technology uses the algorithm to serve the media need based on requirements of the brand. So, it can be called as Algorithmic media buying. The efficacy of programmatic media buying is increasing rapidly owing to the advancement in data management & processing algorithms, development in data and media quality measurement, more focus on brand image protection and privacy security post GDPR implementation.
There has always been certain intelligence applied to reach to desired audience while launching an advertising campaign (for example; choosing the TVC or radio ad timings, selecting the newspaper brand or page on which ad to be shown, or finding the right location of outdoor hoarding; etc.). However never before, it was as rich as (in terms of targeting options available due to data driven ad platforms/companies; example – Google & Facebook are the most rich in user info and their behaviors) programmatic media buying can offer in the recent times.
The major benefits of Programmatic Media Buying are as follows:
- Highly Efficient & Faster TAT(Turn Around Time)
The whole process of buying media is faster and efficient. Programmatic media buying has done away with the lengthy negotiations and RFPs or request for proposal. Technology driven and algorithm based processes make media buying and placing the ads easier and way more efficient.
- Precise Targeting
The advancement of data mining and usage of machine learning and artificial intelligence tool enables programmatic buyer to target the required audience with higher degree of precision. Apart giving the option of following the users in real-time through their internet journey (by using re-targeting or remarketing campaigns), the advertisers have wide range accurate available targeting options like demographics, geolocation, characteristics or behavior of the users, internet history (like sites visited, what they searched for), IP addresses, Operating system, device type etc.
- Smarter trading of media with real-time bidding
Let’s consider this example: Every time Diya opens a publisher’s website or app, ad exchange gets bid request along with Diya’s information. In human terms it would look like this: Hi there, A user, who is 24 years old female, using an android phone, living in Bangalore, interested in food, fashion, urban lifestyle is now available online to see an ad. Who would be interested to her ad?
The advertisers’ DSPs (demand-side platforms) process the user characteristics and take a call to whether it is relevant and valuable to serve her ad. If Diya’s credentials qualify as per advertiser’s need, an ad is served to her.
- Win-win for Brands, Publishers and users
The smarter bidding technique with relevant ads to potential users makes programmatic advertising a win-win situation for everyone.
Sarah is travelling to Bangkok, she lands on Suvarnabhumi Airport and checks some of apps of her regular use on her smartphone. A display ad appears showing the best deals on hotels. How relevant the ad is for her! Bingo, it’s something she wanted. Similarly taxi ads, food offers, popular destinations ads makes a perfect sense Sarah at the moment. She would love to see such ads rather seeing an ad of insulin or a real estate flats deal.
Here, programmatic advertising made use of user characteristics, geo-location and fetched Sarah the most relevant ads. It is the right target for advertiser. Publisher has higher chances of gaining a conversion and earning money. The user has been assisted in what she was looking for.
- Omni Channel
One of the major benefits of programmatic media buying is its capability of targeting audiences using multiple channels at the same time. This is omni-channel marketing on smartphone, tablet, desktop and Smart TV.
- Real time performance indicators
Programmatic advertising offers real-time data and information. This helps advertisers to gain an insight about the performance of ads. Advertiser gets clear view on the volume and quality of engagements. The optimization of campaign is very easy with this capability of real-time performance metrics.
- Optimization Ease due to Flexibility
Advertisers are provided with great flexibility by programmatic media buying. They need not wait till the end of campaign to optimize the campaign. It can be done mid-way or anytime. They are enabled to make the best of their campaign by taking a call of optimizing based on impressions, clicks or conversions. In fact, the advertisers have the option of paying only for required impression, relevant clicks, leads/installs or sign-ups. There is a great freedom on the amount to be spent for a specific campaign too.
The popularity of programmatic media buying is ever increasing and rapidly being adopted by the brands and media buyers. All the benefits of relevant advertising, optimization capabilities, real-time, flexible and precise are aiding to its growth. However, the brands or advertiser should be cautious to partner with right partner for a better return of their investment as well as efficient management of the challenges of programmatic media buying!
Get connected with BlendAI Digital’s experts for a consultation on commencing or optimizing your programmatic advertising program.
