Introduction
As the methods in which buyers and sellers exchange programmatic inventory continue to evolve and improve, it is vital to continue to stay up to date on the frequent changes currently taking place in the programmatic industry so your company can best maximize its involvement and success.
Today, we wanted to quickly run-down the most common methods in which advertisers of all sizes are purchasing media programmatically and then we will zero in on a very dynamic method currently growing in importance for premium advertisers, Programmatic Direct.
What are RTB, Private and Programmatic Direct Marketplaces?
Real-time Bidding (RTB) – Buying ads through computer-run, real-time auctions. The buyer/advertiser only knows the category, not the actual website that the ads will appear on.
Private Marketplace (PMP) – An invitation only RTB auction where one publisher or a group of select publishers invite specific buyers to bid on inventory. The buyer/advertiser knows precisely which sites and ad placements their advertisements will appear on.
Programmatic Direct – Method for advertisers to automate direct ad buys for premium campaigns. Programmatic direct incorporates both guaranteed and non-guaranteed contracts.
Programmatic direct differs from real-time bidding in that it is a guaranteed-buy rather than an auction like RTB. Publishers and advertisers are adopting programmatic direct because it allows for premium purchases to be conducted programmatically rather than through the traditional method of direct ad buys.
FYI: A good resource to check out for more information is from the iab. In particular, visit this link for a more in-depth look into Programmatic and RTB.
Programmatic Direct Continues to Grow in Importance for Premium Advertisers
Programmatic direct allows advertisers to receive priority access to premium inventory which previously has only been available through a direct relationship with the publisher.
Whereas programmatic was once known as a method for monetizing leftover remnant traffic, much has changed in the past few years. Today, advertisers who were previously skeptical to use programmatic buying due to its lack of one-on-one relationship with the publisher, can now safely buy premium inventory in a programmatically automated manner.
Most commonly, the method in which a programmatic direct transaction takes place is when advertisers and publishers negotiate deals beforehand with a fixed CPM and then the actual execution of the deal happens programmatically.
Google is bullishly predicting that in the near future, “The majority of advertisers and publishers will choose to conserve resources and streamline the sales process by conducting direct deals programmatically.”
Clearly, both advertisers and publishers stand to gain huge benefits from the programmatic direct relationship because it stands to evolve and maximize the online advertising market for premium transactions.
Programmatic Direct – Core Benefits
Advertisers
- First look access to premium inventory.
- Ability to use data to target campaigns with precision.
- Real-time optimization with analytics.
- Ability to segment target audiences.
- Ensure brand-safety by targeting specific websites and apps.
Publishers
- Create new partnership with advertisers for premium inventory.
- Brand safe advertisers to work with.
- New opportunities for selling premium ad units.
- Minimize unsold premium inventory and move more premium inventory more easily.
- Increase content exposure at the audience segment level.
- Optimize content to grow high value audiences.
- Demand maximum CPM rates for narrowly defined target audiences.
At Total Media, we have an abundance of experience working with both premium advertisers and publishers with highly-trafficked websites seeking to maximize their ROI through programmatic direct.
If you would like to begin using programmatic direct on either the buy-side or the sell-side and are not sure how to begin, we can help you along the way. Feel free to contact us here for further consultation.
Brian Blondy is the Marketing Manager at Total Media. You can contact Brian by email at or on LinkedIn