What is Programmatic Advertising?
Programmatic advertising gives advertisers the opportunity to target audiences, not publishers.
For example, if we go old school and think of newspapers, you’d place an ad in the newspaper, and anyone that bought that newspaper and happened to flip to the page featuring your ad would see your ad – but they may not be in your target demographic at all.
With programmatic, instead of targeting publishers one at a time (buying that print ad in the newspaper for example), advertisers have the opportunity to target audiences across multiple publishers – in real time – depending on where the target audience is going.
Imagine if every magazine, website, in-app ad or TV commercial that your target consumer interacted with featured your brand! And add to that the opportunity to measure effectiveness with tracking and reporting…
Programmatic ads follow the audience, instead of just sticking with one publisher.
So, if your target consumer visits a recipe website, then a news app, then goes to stream their favorite show on their (connected) TV, your ad can reach them specifically.
What is a “Publisher” in the digital realm of advertising?
A publisher is any digital space, usually a website or an app for your smart device – which could be on your phone, tablet, gaming console or Smart TV.
What are some examples of Programmatic Advertising?
Some examples of programmatic advertising include Google’s Display & Video 360 (DV360), and CTV.
CTV stands for ‘Connected TV’ and refers to devices including smart TVs (a television with a built-in internet connection and media platform), connected devices, such as Roku, and game consoles such as PlayStation and Xbox.
With Connected TV advertising, users will view your advertisements when they watch their favorite videos, movies, and TV shows on popular streaming platforms like Hulu, YouTube, ABC, CBS, Discovery+, Disney XP, Univision, ESPN and many more.
To give you an idea of the massive reach available here, Disney XP reaches 40% or more Adults 18+ monthly in every DMA. And that’s just one publisher.
What are some benefits of Programmatic Advertising?
It’s fast.
It’s efficient.
It’s automated.
But most importantly – it’s targeted!
It’s targeted to YOUR AUDIENCE, and not limited to whatever publisher you choose.
Evidence of this is in the feedback from audiences.
2/3 consumers aged 25-44 say that products advertised on streaming TV are more relevant than those advertised on traditional cable TV.
There is a reason for this.
The ads these consumers are seeing are targeted to them – their age, demographic and psychographic – but most importantly with their needs/wants and lifestyle in mind.
Efficiently Reach New, Qualified Audiences
Programmatic advertising allows for advertisers to target audiences across multiple publishers in real time, instead of targeting publishers one at a time. Additionally, advertisers have the benefit of scale. As far as their budget allows, advertisers can efficiently reach new and qualified audiences they couldn’t have before.
And, given its relative agility, programmatic advertising also makes it easier to test new creative, follow your audiences and expand your brand reach.
According to a study by Streamable, 89% of U.S. consumers subscribe to streaming services, while data from AudienceProject shows those still watching linear TV on a weekly basis has hovered around 60% from 2018-2021.
If your audience is cutting the cord, or maybe never had a cord to cut, you may want to test running your video ads on a premium CTV publisher like Fubo, Hulu, Sling, YouTube TV, or one of the many others you can reach via programmatic advertising.
Benefits of Programmatic Advertising
There’s a reason why over 90% of digital display dollars moved through programmatic advertising in 2022. Programmatic is a very powerful method of finding, engaging and growing your audience.
Programmatic advertising is highly effective at building brand awareness, interest and recall and allows for granular audience targeting, overlaid with brand safety measures and reporting.
Increased ease of access to CTV publishers helps ensure placement quality, further brand safety and provide a sort of future proofing against a post-cookie world.
Well-tuned programmatic campaigns provide increasingly efficient lift to a brand’s primary digital channels like organic and direct web traffic.
What types of programmatic ads are there?
Programmatic display ads can take on many forms. Primarily, when we think of programmatic display advertising, HTML5 banners and video spots placed on desktop and mobile publisher sites and, more recently, programmatic ad placements have come to include digital out-of-home, streaming audio (including podcasts) and connected TV (CTV).
According to PEW Research, only 56% of Americans watched satellite or cable TV in 2021. So when someone mentions watching “TV” these days they’re increasingly less likely to be referring to traditional, linear TV and more likely talking about catching highlights of last night’s game, or their favorite show, on their smart TV’s YouTube App, especially if they’re under the age of 34.
Should you partner with an Agency?
Finding the right programmatic agency partner will maximize the benefits for your brand and minimize any drawbacks. The best agencies match expertise with a respect for best practices and transparent reporting.
Additionally, an experienced programmatic agency will have access to more publishers and platforms as there are minimum buy-ins to get placements.