What is Programmatic Advertising?

To answer the question to my previous post, "Why is my advertisement there?" The answer is: Programmatic Advertising? Heard of it? Probably. Understand it? I didn't. So I did a little digging.

Programmatic Advertising is an algorithm based automated auction platform that sells and buys advertisements and places them in the winning spaces online. Programmatic advertising isn't new, but it is growing every year. In a Forbes article, " Adweek recently reported that programmatic digital display ads now account for 80% of U.S. display spending — not bad for a platform we're constantly told is on the brink of extinction. "  Why is programmatic advertising going extinct? Surely you've heard about the YouTube crisis. Advertisements ending up next to terrorist enthusiasts, and YouTuber's like Pewdiepie, who most people are still on the fence about.

This kind of upheaval is not new, and is bound to happen with programmatic advertising growth. YouTube has been working on settling the nerves of its advertisers that have pulled from the platform, while others are just assuring clients that things are just fine, it's all part of the process. So why all of the "Call an end to Programmatic Buying!"? Well, as the old saying goes, "People fear what they don't understand." or something like that.

When a poll was taken to see how many marketers understood programmatic advertising, most people stared back blankly. The issue doesn't seem to be with the overall algorithm, but rather the people picking the data they are using to sell their advertisements via programmatic advertising.

According to an article in Digiday.com:

"The ongoing trend of brands taking more control over programmatic has driven the demand for such educational programs. Marketers don’t have enough ad tech expertise to train people themselves, so they are turning to tech vendors to fill the void with programmatic training. As a result, the likes of Adobe, Google and digital marketing company Quantcast are all increasingly investing in educational efforts to bring clients up to speed."

When a client doesn't understand what they are buying and marketers don't fully understand what they are selling, of course there are going to be discrepancies, and of course there are going to be mistakes in placement. Because of this, it is important to understand what you are selling if you are a marketer and important to know and understand what you are buying, if you are an advertiser.

References:
https://digiday.com/marketing/complexity-bad-ad-placements/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/06/01/the-death-of-op-eds-declaring-programmatic-advertising-dead-hopefully/#3a7773b64e02
https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/technology/how-can-brands-find-a-safe-place-to-advertise-online-10364