Programmatic buying is a new approach to digital advertising. It takes marketing from a fragmented campaign-to-campaign criteria to an always-on paradigm covering the entire customer like cycle. It is an automated technology driven method of buying or selling ad placements. There are two main sub-categories within programmatic — real time bidding ( RTB ) or programmatic direct.
RTB can do ad placement through a public auction using open exchanges like OpenX, DoubleClick, FBX. The process of open RTB through open exchange route does not guarantee media placement. Bidding can be done through a private marketplace.
Programmatic direct is followed in case the inventory is guaranteed.
In India, programmatic buying has not been widely adopted. One key reason is the data needed to define a consumer. To decide whether RTB is media efficient, one must have a full picture of the consumer who sees the ad. The data emanates from clicks, demographics, behavioural stream, first party and third party data. There are gaps here. These days mobiles are predominant. There are opportunities to match the app users to ideal consumer profiles. However, the absence of cookies create challenges.
On open exchanges, there is quality inventory from large publishers. Thus there is uncertainty of transparency in placement. Buyers feel comfortable in direct buy.
Besides, programmatic requires rich media which is scarce.
Programmatic buying is today confined to banner ads. Video and custom rich media ad units are still sold through direct sales channels. There is more programmatic buying for desktops. Brand campaigns have yet to adopt true RTB. Mobile ecosystem suits RTB.
RTB auction take place in less than 100 milliseconds. And there are opportunities galore. Marketers can use programmatic buying for a variety of marketing effort — new customer acquisition, loyalty marketing, branding conversions etc. If the campaign is aims at performance, it is easier to see the effectiveness of programmatic buying. There could be a group exposed to programmatic buying and one that is not so exposed. In real time, it can be shown what effect the brand marketing has on buying intention, or awareness, or favourable attitude.
Some brand safety measures are necessary. There should be correct reporting. Each impression should be correct reporting. Each impression should be quality impression . It should be compliant. Ad should be served and displayed as intended. There should be correct geo-targetting. There should be correct placement. Brand marketers must have a list of black-listed sites to ensure that ads are not placed against inappropriare content/inventory.