4. WHAT IS PROGRAMMATIC ?
A holistic approach through which media buyers and sellers may align organizational
processes with automation technology in support of ongoing, channel-agnostic customer
engagement (and to allow for the continuous optimization of that effort as business strategies
evolve). - Winterberry group (2013)
5. PROGRAMMATIC R.T.B FLOW
Source: Media Kitchen History of Programmatic
DMP - DATA MANAGEMENT PLATFORM
SSP - SUPPLY SIDE PLATFORM
DSP - DISPLAY SIDE PLATFORM
The workflow:
User comes to site triggers
impression
DMP send audience data to DSP
informs who should bid
Publisher sells Inventory via SSP
Traders commissioned by
Advertisers use DSP to bid for
Inventory
6. TYPES OF PROGRAMMATIC SELLING & BUYING
Source: media kitchen history of programmatic
Open exchanges traditionally
associated with remnant inventory
Shift towards Private exchanges for
premium inventory – Publisher regains
some control of pricing
Programmatic guaranteed - direct
publisher to advertiser
14. Source: Winterberry Nov 2013 white paper programmatic everywhere?
CHALLENGES INHIBITING PROGRAMMATIC USE
15. CHALLENGE: BRAND & REPUTATION
Contextually irrelevant ads are seen as intrusive and irritating
16. CHALLENGE: BRAND & REPUTATION
Misplaced ads risk animosity towards the brand
17. CHALLENGE: TRANSPARENCY & TECHNOLOGY TAX
Technology tax”, claims 60-80%
of ad spending complain
advertisers and publisher –
economist (2014)
‘For every dollar a digital
advertiser spends on a
placement, a publisher reaps
around 45 cents - Seth Demsey
- svp of global advertising
products and strategy for AOL
Networks. (2013)
18. CHALLENGE: TRADITIONAL MEDIA PLANNING - DATA
ANALYTICS
Media planning – selecting
media
Data analytics – selecting
audiences
19. CHALLENGE: RACE TO THE BOTTOM
Concerns Inventory will
become commoditised & drive
down prices
Cannibalise premium inventory
21. CHALLENGE: COOKIES & MOBILE
Fragmented experience through
mobile apps browser
Limitations of cookies on mobile
Can restrict ability to make re
targeting across devise
22. CHALLENGES: MEDIA CHANNEL VS CREATIVE ENGAGEMENT
Brand building creative vs direct
response creative
A system where all ads are treated as
equal can penalizes award winning
creative.
Difficult to ensure an ad placement
bought programmatically is actually in-
view
23. CHALLENGE: CLICK FRAUD
Reduced direct relationship between
the advertiser and the publisher has
disappeared
Incentivise increase in click fraud
Anonymous site publishing with access
to ad exchange
24. KEY CHALLENGES OVERVIEW
Challenges Possible solutions
PUBLISHERS • Race to the bottom
• Operational buy In
• Test the market short rolling contracts
• Private market places for premium
inventory
• Price floors in open auctions
• Education
TECHNOLOGY • Lack of consolidation in ad
tech
• Click fraud
• Centralisation & consolidation
• Industry standardisation
• More open source less proprietary
specialists
• Disincentives fraudulent clicks
• Avoid anonymous publishing
• Click fraud detection tools
ADVERTISERS • Brand & reputation
• Contextual relevancy
• Brand safety check
Industry definition:
A holistic approach through which media buyers and sellers may align organizational processes with automation technology in support of ongoing, channel-agnostic customer engagement (and to allow for the continuous optimization of that effort as business strategies evolve). - Winterberry group (2013)
My definition
Automated rules-driven approaches to buying and selling digital Ad space (Susan Takpi 2014)
A study by BCG, sponsored by Google, found that advanced behavioural targeting, which uses technology to reach specific users with the desired characteristics, helped advertisers increase their return on investment by 30-50%. One popular tactic is “retargeting”, which allows advertisers to look for people who have visited their website before and show them an ad related to an item they were looking for but did not buy – Source http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21615872-rise-electronic-marketplace-online-ads-reshaping-media-business-buy
Programmatic approaches are starting to evolve from real-time bidding for online impressions to encompass the broader sweep of managing and optimising customer engagement across channels and devices. - http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-advertising/how-programmatic-advertising-is-changing-the-rules-in-planning-buying-and-execution/1113
Programmatic rtb FLOW
Programmatic if we were to map it as a process flow would like broadly like this
The taking onto account the key components of the eco system
Users
User lands on site typically a cookie from the server will set by the server of the web page you are browsing, retain some user info such as which products or services you are interested what you were looking at in previous site visits
Demand and supply exchange
Publishers make their ad impressions available through marketplaces called ad exchanges
Supply side platform (eg) will send a bid request to Demand side platform (EG) typically using large exchange such as Googles double click
DMP will contain the data of the specific audience type you would like to target
DSPs automatically decide which of those impressions it makes the most sense for an advertiser to buy
Traders
Traders managing the bidding commissioned on the behalf of advertisers- typically they would only get involved if ad spend is over a certain threshold trading tool such as Appnexus
A bid winner is selected they will pay 1 penny over the last bid
Types of programmatic selling & buying
There are different types of programmatic exchanges with advantages and disadvantages
Open Auctions – inventory is exposed in market place / ad exchange – challenges of commoditising inventory no control over price
Traditional RTB - multiple bidders access inventory from an open exchange or marketplace, transactions take place in “real time.”
Open exchanges traditionally associated with remnant inventory – publisher has no control over pricing
Private exchanges
Allow publisher to set inventory prices and restrict inventory access
Often seen as an opting to make Premium inventory available through this
ad exchanges are becoming increasingly important to publishers as they loose print sales and they attempt to claw back profits through
ad revenue declines - News international have set up a private market place, telegraph have one - PATS INTIATICE
Avoid inventory being commoditised on private exchange
Programmatic guaranteed
Premium inventory sold
Unreserved fixed rate – publisher can make inventory available at a specific rate to a specific advertisers – no auction involved
Why the interest in programmatic ?
Winterberry group (strategy consultants in digital advertising in partnership with the like of Adobe and IAB) Published a white paper in November called programmatic everywhere ?
260 executive-level advertisers, marketers, publishers, technology developers and marketing service providers (conducted predominantly in the United States between August and September 2013).
The graph illustrates some of the objectives that’s driving the interest of publishers and advertisers in programmatic
Notable whilst advertisers are concerned with efficiency, publishers are more concerned with effective targeting
The current usage
Large % of advertisers are already using RTB
Which is set to increase over next two years
projected AD Spending in US
E Marketer State in 2013 just over 40% ads in the US BOUGHT PROGRAMMATICALLS
estimate in the US in the next 3 years this will increase to 80% ad spend will be using programmatic
In the UKS IAB REPORTED
From the £1.86 billion spend on display ads across the internet and mobile in 2013 28% was delivered programmatically
Source: Internet Advertising Bureau UK's (IAB) Media Owner Sales Techniques study
Just under ½ £billion spent programmatically last year. at £520.8 million last year
Source: http://www.themediabriefing.com/article/iab-programmatic-report-june-2014-spending
International outlook
The trends tend to be pretty consistent around the world
Though time will tell if what people say and what they do will align.
So we know what programmatic is
We’ve talked about it being on the radar of most in the digital advertising space
As we all things whilst there are some perceived benefits there are a also some very real challenges
Challenges inhibiting programmatic use
Resistance to process owner: I would be interested in understanding what skys biggest challenge is resistance for current process owner
Fear of job losses impact on bonus if ad revenue is incentivized by monetary reward or internal recognition
Brand safety
Lack of transparency in the process
Programmatic survey: http://www.iab.net/media/file/WinterberryGroupWhitePaperProgrammaticEverywhere.pdf
Brand & reputation
Advertisers shift from buying impressions in millions on a single site to audience impressions across multiple sites and channels there is a risk the brand and creative message can be diluted and become contextual irrelevant
There is a growing recognition that more personalised and relevant advertising will translate into greater ROI,
but this must be balanced against the risk of failing to engage with consumers. Neither of the above audiences would be particular engaged
Any real-time initiative requires careful planning because it is buying the audience where they are, not the pages they may visit.
If your audience uses parts of the web where your brand would rather not go, then this needs to be built into your thinking from the start
Poorly targeted or otherwise inappropriate ads are seen as intrusive and irritating, potentially even resulting in animosity towards the brand -
Brand & reputation
There is a growing recognition that more personalised and relevant advertising will translate into greater ROI, but this must be balanced against the risk of failing to engage with consumers.
Countless studies have shown that the lion’s share of the ROI of a campaign can be directly traced to the quality of the campaign creative
Programmatic ads are purchased based on the user rather than the site, so some ads may show up on sites advertisers may believe have no relevance to their campaign
Poorly targeted or otherwise inappropriate ads are seen as intrusive and irritating, potentially even resulting in animosity towards the brand - particularly in the case of example 2
Measuring efficiency
True efficiencies of programmatic are yet to be proven other costs are not broken out
For all its promise, programmatic buying has not yet delivered greater transparency and efficiency
Technology Tax
The market is fragmented with many Niche players
Technology tax Advertisers and publishers complain, about a “technology tax”, claiming that 60-80% of ad spending is siphoned off by ad-tech firms
Eg: trading desks, DSPs, exchanges, networks, data suppliers, data aggregators, ad verification vendors, tag management vendors, etc.
IAB report advertisers are often paying significantly higher CPMs for programmatic non-guaranteed than a publisher receives net of fees…the lack of transparency, where technology fees aren’t broken
SVP at AOL 2013 suggested close to half of every dollar spent goes to one of the many Niche providers within the fragmented eco system
Too many less specialisation and more consolidation across the industry - pats example
More innovation to scale – almost like a Linux type solution to reduce the current fragmented offering that doesn’t kill innovation
In the interim advisable to sign short renewable contracts to avoid being locked in as the industry evolves
Sources:
Source: http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21615872-rise-electronic-marketplace-online-ads-reshaping-media-business-buy
Source: http://digiday.com/publishers/time-to-cut-the-ad-tech-tax/
Source: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Marketing-UK-Programmatic-Will-Norm-Once-Issues-of-Transparency-Mobile-Overcome/1011608
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2014/10/02/why-programmatic-ad-buying-is-currently-problematic/
Challenge: traditional media planning & data analytics
Planning and buying as we have known it - decision-making based on understanding media properties and the targeted audiences they attract - will be replaced by quant-based (and cookie-reliant) analysis of big data
how you manipulate that data and what questions you’re asking of that data require analytical skills and often technical skills not required before
The art of Brainstorming and looking at way to optimise budget replaced with analytics – some argue in this regard programmatic is more transparent
Skills shortage - It’s a relatively new area as with any new tech often a skills shortage
But there’s an awful lot of data there, and it’s a question of how you manipulate that data and what questions you’re asking of that data - See more at: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Marketing-UK-Programmatic-Will-Norm-Once-Issues-of-Transparency-Mobile-Overcome/1011608#sthash.cd37Fuok.dpuf
September 2011 report, "The Future of Digital Media Buying.“
The changing role of the media planner
Varick Media Management, a real-time advertising company in New York, and explains how she uses superfast algorithms to buy 20m-30m advertising “impressions” a day. Today one of her clients, an American bank, has asked her to find new customers. At first she guides the algorithm to buy as many impressions as possible near bank branches. Then she narrows her targets, choosing criteria that produce a better hit rate. For example, she finds that tablet users sign up more often than iPhone users, and afternoon seems to be a better time than morning. She instructs the algorithm to bid more for consumers that have recently visited the bank’s website, who may be more easily persuaded. In her office less than two miles from Wall Street, Ms Mici embodies the excitement and entrepreneurialism of an industry in the midst of momentous change.
Media Planners: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2165122/media-planners-programmatic-buying
Benny:
Although the UK is pretty much close second after the US in terms of the level of programmatic knowledge and expertise, there are still people out there both agency and client side (especially the latter) who have heard of programmatic but lack the in-depth knowledge to truly embrace it and make it work as hard as possible as part of their digital marketing mix.
This creates necessity for a lot of educational exercise and investment, otherwise a poorly prepared and trained client will steer well clear of any programmatic activity with his/her agency
Challenge: race to the bottom
Upmarket publishers have been cautious about making their premium ad space available for sale by computer because they think, probably rightly, that it will put pressure on prices.
Testing the market. created private exchanges which limit the number of Some, such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and The Economist, have advertisers who can bid for their ad space or buy it in advance, giving them more control over pricing.
Considered if you will be cannibalising premium inventory as advertisers go else where
Do you but a complete gate around all inventory or operate a dual strategy with low value inventory sold programmatic
What operational processes need to be in place to support this The ROI on such options also need to be considered
Impact on the ability to negotiate direct deals - There’s also concern that moving to programmatic will have an impact on direct deals - See more at: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Marketing-UK-Programmatic-Will-Norm-Once-Issues-of-Transparency-Mobile-Overcome/1011608#sthash.W3LgI3uH.dpuf
LIMITED supported FORMATS
Right now, programmatic buying best accommodates standard IAB display ad unit buys
Does support formats such as to video, mobile, or custom formats e.g. homepage take over
Some software being introduced called videoreach -
Identifying mobile audiences
Mobile browsing is taking over desk top browsing
Mobile experience is fragmented through browsers and apps
Cookies work inconsistently
Data driven by audience no guarantee this will translate on mobile devises
Re-targeting - the ability to target users based on sites they’ve visited previously for increased
frequency or sequential messaging.
Conversion Tracking the events that occur post impression (view-through) or click.
Conversions normally occur after a user has visited an advertiser’s site and can include actions such as filling out
a form, making a purchase, or downloading an app, file, or coupon
A mobile increases and the reliance on data driven audience selection this will be more complex on mobile
There are alternatives – Apple and android have special unique ID’s
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MEDIA channel vs creative ENGAGEMENT
While everybody in the industry talks about programmatic as the most efficient way of buying inventory, there's less talk around creative.
Not all creative is about direct response for brand builders a large percentage of ad spend its more about Award winning creative that captivates audiences and builds brand
As we move up the food chain and jam higher value/quality impressions, and now video, into the same platform, the lack of quality measurement becomes a big problem.
Typically the ROI on engaging creative can outweigh the cost.
unruly - platform addresses viewability of premium video impressions
CLICK FRAUD – present in days of search arguable is more incentivised with programmatic
Click fraud when a computer or script imitates a user click with the intention of creating a cost per click
With the rise of programmatic, the direct relationship between the advertiser and the publisher has disappeared potentially incentivising increased click fraud
The way the ecosystem works incentivised by cost per click So the biggest problem about fraud is that there’s no economic incentive to block it, as third parties get less media spend, the advertisers get less clicks, and everyone makes less money.
Anonymous publishers can go in and just put sites on the ad exchanges traffic they are driving to the site may not be driven by human / genuine traffic and could be for the sole purpose to extract money out of the ecosystem. - More common in larger markets such as US
In January 2005 when Lane's Gifts and Collectables took Google class action suit and 70 companies joined forces to say Google didn’t do enough to prevent it
We moved on since then and automatic click fraud can be traced, as it normally comes from the same IP address. Manual click fraud is harder to trace, especially as much manual click fraud could be construed as accidental
Source: http://www.exchangewire.com/blog/2014/04/10/how-much-of-a-problem-is-click-fraud/
challenges overview
Google recently announced a partnership with comScore to launch the concept of online data in order to make this metric comparable for both online with offline campaigns.
Some would argue the potential efficiencies outweigh the challenges and a number of the challenges
The table above summarises some of the key issues and some possible workarounds
Some argue inevitable efficiencies with the poetical for more specialised target
Whilst others are concerned about communisation & growing rapidly and without a unified strategic compass.