Programmatic advertising has been all the rage in the digital marketing world. The numbers speak for themselves — in 2020, global programmatic ad spend hit a whopping 129 billion U.S. dollars, with spending projected to surpass 150 billion in 2021.
You’ve most likely heard of it; maybe even endeavoured to read up on it. But if you’ve still yet to wrap your head around this buzzword, I can’t blame you — the technical jargon and complex technology can seem daunting to newcomers.
However, as online advertising gets increasingly competitive, programmatic advertising might be your business’s best bet in cutting through the noise online. If you are looking for an effective way to streamline your online advertising, it’s never too late to add programmatic advertising to your marketing toolkit.
What is Programmatic Advertising?
Put simply, programmatic advertising is the automated buying and selling of digital advertising space.
Gone are the days when ad deals were hammered out over quotations and back-and-forth negotiations. Think of it as a digital ad marketplace, where an ad exchange holds computerised auctions for advertisers to buy and publishers to sell coveted ad space. Each party uses a dedicated platform to carry out transactions — advertisers use Demand-Side Platforms (DSP), and publishers use Supply-Side Platforms (SSP).
By harnessing data and targeting methods, programmatic advertising provides both small and large businesses alike with a way to reach consumers more efficiently and accurately.
How Does Programmatic Advertising Work
Now comes the tricky part — how the sausage gets made. In a nutshell, here’s what happens in the programmatic advertising process:
- A user clicks on a URL.
- The publisher’s ad server checks if an ad is available; if not, it puts the ad space up for auction on the ad exchange (SSP).
- The ad exchange sends out a bid request, and advertisers place their bids (DSP).
- The highest bidder wins the ad space.
- The ad exchange sends the winning bid info to the publisher, which displays the ad on their website to the user.
- The user sees the targeted ad and (fingers crossed!) clicks on it.
Advantages of Programmatic Advertising
1. It Lowers Advertising Costs
When you automate the bidding process and modify aspects such as cost per thousand impressions (CPM) in real-time, you’ll be able to optimise your spending and save significant costs. On top of that, with the ability to distinctly target desired audiences, you are making better use of your ad budget, thus reducing waste on uninterested viewers and improving ROAS.
Take Google, for example — the search engine giant relied on programmatic advertising to promote their Google Search App. The results? They reached 30% more people three times more frequently and experienced 30% lower effective CPM.
2. It Enhances Productivity
Managing your advertising campaigns in-house can be overwhelming, to say the least. However, with programmatic advertising, you can streamline the time-intensive processes of ad space purchasing.
Compared to traditional advertising, it only requires routine maintenance rather than daily optimisation. By handling all the ad bidding and purchasing on your behalf, it allows you and your marketing team to focus on other high-priority tasks.
3. It Puts You in Control
Programmatic advertising gives you the freedom to pause and make adjustments to your ongoing campaigns, allowing you to monitor, test and improve results in real-time.
What’s more, instead of relying on publishers or third parties to manage your ad spend, your business now has complete transparency and control over fees. You’ll know exactly where and how your money is being spent.
Level Up Your Business With Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic advertising isn’t the future of marketing; it’s right here and now. At First Page Digital, we’ve helped businesses in Singapore and beyond plan and execute successful programmatic campaigns that speak to their audience and deliver maximum ROI.
Reach out to us today and let us help you get with the programme!
