Fulfilling the Potential of Programmatic Marketing
To concisely and accurately provide an immediate
understanding of programmatic marketing, the definition created by the Internet
Advertising Bureau UK is a great introduction. In their “Programmatic
Handbook”, they state that “Programmatic trading is the use of automated
systems and processes to buy and sell inventory. This includes, but is not
limited to, trading that uses real time bidding auctions.” (IAB, 2014)
While programmatic marketing is a strong concept in theory,
the general consensus is that it hasn’t yet lived up to its potential. Issues
such as non-human traffic, ad fraud, brand safety and
viewability have all contributed to the system being viewed with a negative
lens thus far. Brand safety is another issue for companies, as their
advertising space can sometimes be purchased by marketers that don’t match
their morals. While these things are of genuine concern, some view programmatic
marketing as an opportunity for clients to change their relationships with
agencies for the better, with accurate decision making through data collection
allowing for agencies to obtain a fee closer correlating to the value that they
are providing
One major argument against programmatic marketing that needs
to be altered for it to be fully accepted is the cost. Along the supply chain,
significant amounts of advertising investment are taken. As stated in WARC,
2020, we often see “value erosion between advertisers and publishers,
typically 40c in the dollar and as high at 85c in the dollar”. Their advice in
addressing these challenges are to: map out a supply chain, manage
relationships and contracts, and take ownership and control of data.
To map out a supply chain, one should ask agency partners to
educate them on their media supply chain. The purpose, cost and value of each
chain link. One should also assess and consider the possibility of cutting out
the middle-man by making deals with publishers themselves.
The most immediate necessities for the fulfilment of
programmatic marketing’s potential is to first allow for marketers to more
easily develop a strong understanding of how it works. As well as this, issues
such as non-human traffic, ad fraud, brand safety and viewability need to be
addressed and minimised as much as possible. A marketer should also be able to
participate in this practice without their initial investment being diminished
so much within the supply chain.
Programmatic marketing is a hugely exciting idea and with
some realistic adjustments as briefly outlined here, it could become infinitely
more beneficial to marketers in the future.
#trading #marketing #advertising #supplychain #agencies
Author: Jamie Carty
REFERENCES
- WARC, 2021. What we know about programmatic.
- Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB), 2014. The Programmatic Handbook.
- WARC, 2020. What we know about marketing in real-time.
Author: Elizabeth Duffy
ReplyDeleteSpeaking on programmatic advertising being viewed through a negative lens. A classic example of that happened globally in 2017 when YouTube were critisised over government and brand adverts appearing on the same page as videos with inappropriate content, including by extremist groups. According to Summit, brands such as “Marks and Spencer and L'Oréal have decided to pull all programmatic display advertising from Google. The big question is whether this is due to concerns around brand safety or whether brands are taking an ethical stance because advertising is funding extremist groups.” (Trolle, 2017) Measures were taken to grant more control over which content they would appear beside however a similar incident happened again in 2020 after the changes. The Guardian reported “Some of the biggest companies in the world are funding climate misinformation by advertising on YouTube, according to a study from activist group Avaaz.” (Hern, 2020) The adverts were removed, and advertisers stopped buying ads on such videos. Digiday described this as “a more pragmatic response by the advertisers compared with what happened in 2017 when many of them completely suspended campaigns because of the presence of ads that monetized offensive videos.” I would support Unilever’s approach to the issue, as described by Digiday, “Unilever, for example, ensures that humans, either its own marketers or agency executives, help decide which videos on YouTube are blacklisted.” (Joseph, 2020)
References:
Trolle, D., 2017. Google’s YouTube ad problem: programmatic advertising | Summit. [online] Summit. Available at: [Accessed 8 April 2021].
Hern, A., 2020. YouTube ads of 100 top brands fund climate misinformation – study. [online] The Guardian. Available at: [Accessed 8 April 2021].
Joseph, S., 2020. The latest YouTube brand safety 'crisis' shows advertisers are taking a more nuanced approach - Digiday. [online] Digiday. Available at: [Accessed 8 April 2021].
Author Deirbhile
ReplyDeleteThe biggest risk for businesses with Programmatic Advertising is the risk to their brand safety, there is a big danger for advertisers overlooking this, the possibility of your ad being placed alongside a conflicting brand message or damaging website could affect the strength of your brand's image. It's easily forgotten about but Programmatic Advertisements don’t have an ethics code of conduct. While there is an understanding that AI-powered algorithms are in place to stop this, is it a risk worth taking if it could greatly affect your brand. While this might be the biggest risk when using Programmatic advertising they do have great benefits for businesses and can act as a solid method of reaching your target audience.
great read! I am all for programmatic advertising but as programmatic advertising grows its good to point out its limitations.
ReplyDelete