What is programmatic advertising?

Programmatic advertising is the process of using automated software to purchase digital advertising inventory.  Rather than purchasing ad space on a specific platform, programmatic uses software to automatically purchase the right ads on the right platforms for the right people.

How can a business or agency purchase programmatic advertising?

Businesses and agencies have two primary options for purchasing programmatic advertising- direct and through a vendor.

Self Serve

One way an advertiser can purchase programmatic advertising is through a self-serve ad platform.  A self serve platform allows an agency to upload ads, select audience parameters, and receive reporting for their campaign.

The strength of self-serve platforms is their low minimum purchases and their simplicity.  The weakness is the inflexibility with the following deliverables- supply sources (data and publishers), targeting (location, audience, contextual, brand protection, etc.), metrics, direct buys, OTT/CTV, private auctions, and 3rd party integration.

Direct

Another way an advertiser can purchase programmatic advertising is directly through a demand side platform (DSP).  A DSP allows an agency to purchase ads directly from the platform that is serving the ads while customizing the campaigns on a granular level.  Here are a few examples of how you can use direct DSP for your clients:

1.  Purchase inventory that is limited in availability and only through a direct buy.
2. Create granular audience segments by layering behaviors- age, sex, income, demographic, interests, buying propensity, contextual etc.
3. Utilize brand protection.  You can prevent your ads from running to an irrelevant or questionable audience: dating, adult oriented, children’s apps, alcohol, tobacco, violence, etc.
4. Allow the DSP to automatically optimize your campaigns to specific metrics via algorithmic or machine learning settings.
5. Manually optimize your campaigns or turn them on or off at any time.
6. Access all available digital display opportunities.  Not only can you run static ads or video ads, you can also run those same ads on streaming TV (OTT/CTV) without any additional complications.
7. Access to premium publishers.  Self-serve platforms limit their inventory due to the added cost of some premium publishers (Hulu, FoxNews, ESPN, etc.).  A direct buy allows you to access all available inventory in the marketplace.
8. Granular activity and metrics reporting.

The strength of a direct DSP buy is flexibility, technical ad and inventory management, and comprehensive distribution.  The weakness of a direct DSP buy is high minimums ($120k+ minimum spend annually), required credentialing, and contract lengths.

What about purchasing display advertising through a vendor, national publisher, media company, or advertising entity?

Purchasing through a vendor or national company can provide the same results that an advertiser would get through a self-serve platform.  These companies do not have the bandwidth to provide on-going optimization for smaller individual campaigns, their reporting is primarily high level, and the cost for a campaign is much higher than a self-serve or direct relationship.  When you add in the multiple layers of commissions that they need to pay internally it will always make more sense for an advertiser to utilize a self-serve or direct option.

I’ve heard a lot about Apple’s new privacy rules for their devices.  Does this limit my ability to run programmatic ads?

It does not.  Currently the only people who are not served programmatic ads are those people who have manually opted out to or who are restricting their tracking and targeting.  Even though a large percentage of device users are restricting an advertiser’s ability to target them, many of those users still use other devices that might allow tracking (desktop, connected tv, etc.).  The changes that have taken place in the past year have made it more important than ever for an advertiser to look at both 1st party data as well as 3rd party data (standard programmatic campaigns).

What is first party data and how can I access it?

First party data is data that is collected from consumers that is owned by the company itself.  Many first party data providers require their users to allow some sort of access to parameters including their location, behavior, interests, etc. in order for the user to access the company’s platform.  Some examples of 1st party data providers include Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google. First party data is the most valuable by far, and it allows advertisers to continue to target relevant audiences for a long time to come.

What is the best way for me to access first party programmatic inventory?

If an advertiser needs to access first party data we recommend Amazon DSP.  Amazon DSP is the fastest growing ad serving platform in the industry and their targeting is unrivaled.  An advertiser can deliver ads to people who have viewed specific products, searched for specific products, and even viewed similar products.  In addition to the standard 3rd party data providers and publishers available through other DSPs, Amazon also has valuable owned properties including amazon.com, IMDB, Twitch, and Amazon Prime Video.

Since Amazon has the most stringent requirements for access to their DSP (minimum buys, experience, etc.), many companies that offer programmatic do not offer Amazon inventory.  Not only is SimpleLogic experienced in Amazon’s ad buying process, we are also certified by Amazon DSP.

Why should my agency or business buy their programmatic advertising through Simplelogic?

SimpleLogic buys directly through multiple DSPs and we do not utilize a vendor.  Our team is extremely experienced in digital ad buying through platforms like Google Marketing Platform, Facebook Business Manager, Basis, Linkedin, The Trade Desk, and Amazon.  Our clients outperform industry averages for their campaigns and they are able to see results from our partnerships.

An added value that SimpleLogic provides to our clients is through cross-platform reporting.  A campaign is only valuable if the client is able to see reporting and conversions on their end.  In addition to the ad reporting provided to our clients, we also include snapshots of their Google Analytics traffic activity.  This allows for the client to adjust and monitor their ad campaigns as well as their overall brand messaging.

SimpleLogic also provides competitive commissions to our agency partners for programmatic ad buys.  We take out all the complications of digital advertising so that you can focus on those things that are within YOUR expertise.