Online advertisements are everywhere.
If you are on the internet even for just a few minutes, you’re bound to see at least some ads whether it is on a social media network, a search engine or on a website. Even watching the video on YouTube means you’ll see at least one ad.
The online ad market is expected to go beyond $600 billion by the end of this year.
This represents a huge amount of money. Nearly everyone from large global companies to small individual affiliates are using some form of online advertising. But what is programmatic advertising?
If you read on you’re going to find out:
● What programmatic advertising is
● Why it is useful to marketers and publishers
● What the future holds for this type of advertising
What is Programmatic Advertising
Simply put, programmatic advertising is the process of automated buying and selling of online ads.
So, in the old days if you want an ad put onto a website you have to contact the website owner. Then the emergence of ad networks began which heaped many advertisers and websites together but it still involved manual work.
Programmatic advertising solves this problem. Rather than spending hours negotiating to get your ads shown, programmatic advertising involves using real-time data to automate the buying and selling process and get your ads to your targeted demographic. Essentially it is done instantly so that your ads are shown to the right people in the right context.
Benefits for Programmatic Advertising
What are the advantages of using this form of buying and selling ads?
#1 You get real-time data
Everything moves so fast nowadays and with programmatic advertising you can see how your campaigns are performing as they happen. No waiting about for the end of week or end of month reports, you get access to that data right away.
This means you can tailor your campaigns right away and fine-tune them so that they target the right people.
If something isn’t working properly then you don’t have to sit on it for a few weeks, you can adjust it immediately based on the data that is generated through the buying and selling process.
#2 Better reach to target more people
We all know billions of people use the internet. Your ad is going to be seen by billions of people but neither should it – you want the ‘right’ people to see it e.g. those that are going to make a purchase of your product.
With programmatic advertising you can increase your reach. This form of advertising allows your ad to get out to the masses right away and with the abundance of data it generates you can track your campaign really well so your ads get seen by the people that you want it to reach.
#3 Increased transparency
Instead of just firing an advertisement out into the internet abyss, programmatic advertising allows you to target the right people but also the right websites as well.
For advertisers there is more transparency because you can see what websites your ad is being shown on. This allows you to see how much it is costing you to display on certain websites and adjust your campaign accordingly.
You’ll also be able to see the type of people that are seeing your ads, who clicks on it and other important data. Essentially programmatic advertising opens up the whole process to make marketing decisions more efficient.
#4 Different ad varieties
Ads aren’t just limited to banners or text – there are a range of different types out there and with programmatic buying and selling you can use them all.
This includes ad types such as video, native ads which integrate seamlessly with existing content, mobile ads as well as the traditional methods of online advertising. Even voice search is emerging too.
Programmatic Advertising and the future
Programmatic advertising is here and has been used for a while now but what does the future hold?
It is still a developing technology even if it is favoured by many over the traditional means of buying and selling online advertisements.
Revenue and ad spend with this method is going to keep growing and voice search advertising is likely to be the next breakthrough area not just of programmatic advertising but of online advertising in general.
The future is an exciting one and it is one of the fastest-growing areas of digital marketing. More individuals and businesses are going to move to this form of buying and selling ads in the future and if you haven’t dipped your toes in the programmatic advertising market yet, now is the time to do so.
