There’s no doubt there are still issues with programmatic advertising; fraud, poor creative, and a lack of transparency from media agencies cause much debate.
Despite this, real-time bidding (the automated auction of ad impressions) has many obvious advantages for publishers.
So, I thought I’d help programmatic newbies with a list of the benefits of RTB.
If you’re new to real-time bidding (RTB) in display advertising, the acronyms can be an obstacle to understanding a fairly simple concept.
It’s just like PPC; using real-time auction technology to sell ad space, often to a known or lookalike audience (which you may be familiar with via Facebook advertising).
In 2016 the majority of digital advertising budgets will be spent on programmatic ad inventory in both the US and UK.
Brands owners such as Procter & Gamble and American Express were relatively quick off the mark to specifically state that they wanted the majority of their advertising budget to be spent programmatically.
In conjunction with our Get With The Programmatic conference taking place on 29 September, here’s a revised and updated beginner’s guide to all things programmatic.
With programmatic advertising rising ever higher up the marketer’s agenda, I thought I’d assemble some quotes from various industry figures.
As much as anything, this is to help me on my journey to better understand the ad network world now that machine learning is upon us and the industry.
What does programmatic mean for ROI, fraud, video ads, native, brand advertising etc?
To continue your education (alongside mine), why not attend ‘Get with the programmatic‘, Econsultancy and Marketing Week’s new conference on the topic, 4th December in London.
Programmatic advertising is complicated. There’s no doubt about that.
This complexity explains why there is quite a lot of terminology involved, but it can seem quite opaque to the newbie.
Luckily, Econsultancy has a wonderful and thorough discussion and explanation of programmatic - Programmatic Marketing: Beyond RTB.
As a taster, I thought I’d throw some important terms into a glossary. It’s just the basics, but I hope it helps.
Programmatic advertising has been around since 2009. On mobile though, it’s only recently started to take off
Penetration and performance of the smartphone has increased and programmatic buying companies have seen the opportunity. Whilst Facebook and Google are taking most of the mobile advertising dollar, programmatic is certainly on the rise as it seeks to deliver quality and quantity.
Talking with RTB.com’s Mike Miller, it struck me that the factors making for the success of programmatic mobile are those we see as trends across marketing. So what are these trends?
Real-time advertising spend increased 80% in the UK in 2013 and now accounts for 14% of the display market, according to data included in a new infographic.
Last year real-time ad revenue in the UK reached €204m, compared to €82m in France and €113m in Germany.
The graphic also highlights the growth of premium real-time display and video inventory, as well as the variety of brand formats available.
Econsultancy recently published a Real-Time Marketing Report in association with Monetate, which is based on a survey of almost 900 client-side and agency respondents.
The report focuses on a range of channels alongside real-time display advertising, revealing that although most respondents recognise the importance of delivering winning experiences to their customers in a near instantaneous manner, marketers are finding real-time marketing to be full of challenges.
Real-time bidding (RTB) provides a great opportunity for companies to vastly increase their online presence to an interested audience.
However, as this market continues to grow, the options available to brands for management of their RTB increase and choosing the right agency for your company’s needs becomes harder.
One of the main problems faced with anyone researching their options for RTB management is that they have to navigate a minefield of display ecosystems, agencies, DSPs, trading desks etc.
However, in choosing an RTB agency to build and manage successful campaigns the most important first questions to ask are not always the most technical.
Having been involved with a number of RTB pitches and working with our clients we have found they have gained the most from asking questions such as those outlined below:
Chris O’Hara, Co-Founder and CRO of Bionic Advertising Systems, is the author responsible for our recently published Programmatic Marketing: Beyond RTB Best Practice Guide.
Below, he answers some questions about the new programmatic direct landscape and other topics covered in the report.
In a competitive real-time bidding marketplace it is important for demand-side platforms (DSPs) to deliver a high level of service and manage client expectations, however our new Online Advertisers Survey Report suggests that this isn’t always the case.
On the plus side though, marketers also appear to be pleased with the targeting and reporting capabilities that DSPs can offer.
In fact, improved targeting was cited as the main benefit (67%) of working with DSPs, followed by real-time understanding of campaign performance (53%) and the ability to buy at impression level (53%).
The benefits of RTB (real-time bidding) are something that’s often debated in marketing circles, as though it has obvious advantages in allowing advertisers to name their price for specific users RTB is criticised for relying on poor ad inventory and resulting in inflated prices.
But regardless of where you stand on the relative pros and cons of RTB, it’s fair to say that the technology has fundamentally altered the way that online advertising is bought and sold.
Our new Online Advertisers Survey Report asked 650 advertisers and agencies about the benefits of real-time bidding and found that more than half of advertisers see improved performance (62%) as the main advantage.
This was followed by reduced wastage (54%), lower cost per acquisition (53%) and better targeting capabilities (46%).