Programmatic advertising has become a bit of a buzzword recently. While many people are just discovering its benefits, traditional advertising and media agencies have been using programmatic to buy and sell advertising for years.
We break down what programmatic advertising is and why everyone is talking about it right now.
Programmatic advertising refers to a way of buying and selling digital advertising space online. The process uses software that combines automated and algorithmic technology to place and optimise display ads online in real time without the need for manual placements.
Programmatic advertising goes back as far as 1996 when the internet’s very first ad server DoubleClick began offering automated options for placing banner ads online. In 2000, Google started cost-per-click advertising through the Google Display Network, which used segment targeting to place ads online.
Around 2007 real time bidding was introduced, marking the start of what we think of as modern programmatic advertising today. Since then, advancements in demographic targeting and more recently using AI has made programmatic advertising even more effective.
While this approach to buying display ads isn’t new, advancements in AI software are making programmatic platforms more accessible to the average user. Even smaller businesses can benefit from buying ads using programmatic platforms.
With programmatic advertising, businesses can set certain parameters (like audience type or shopping patterns) that determine where and when their display ads are placed giving options for better targeting.
Programmatic advertising goes beyond the abilities of other display platforms you may have used like the Google Display Network. It can place ads across a wide array of websites, apps, social media, digital billboards and even video games.
By using automative software, not only is the process faster, it’s also more effective than using a traditional buying approach as each ad is being optimised in real time.
In New Zealand, programmatic advertising makes it more cost effective to run ads across TradeMe, the New Zealand Herald and other high-traffic sites than buying the ad space directly.
When you think of display ads you probably think of website display banners. While digital advertising was quick to leverage a programmatic approach, they’re not the only type of ads that can be placed using this process. Out of home advertising has embraced programmatic buying too.
Programmatic out of home (OOH) refers to any outdoor advertising purchased using an automated system. This includes:
