Advertisers Look For Greater Transparency In Programmatic Ad Buying
Time and again, “Transparency’ has been a cause of concern for advertisers in the programmatic ad buying. This has been a long time pending issue which still remains unresolved as advertisers try to uncover what happens to money spent on programmatic ads.
Ad spend is falling and advertisers are again seeking greater transparency into the ad-buying supply chain. Hidden fees, fraud, viewability, and brand safety are the growing concerns that need immediate attention.
Trade body ISBA studies reveal that nearly half (49%) of ad buys disappear before reaching publishers and 34% of this money is the disclosed fees agencies and ad tech vendors take for trading impressions. However, 15% cannot be attributed to what the report called an ‘unknown delta’ on the supply chain. The amount of money that reaches publishers is lower, as the report did not consider ad fraud and ad viewability.
As reported earlier, a noticeable amount of programmatic dollars doesn’t reach the publishers and it is getting increasingly harder to keep a track of where it goes. The trade body struggled for nine months to gather data from the ad tech vendors to make a report on this and when it received data is was unusable.
PwC collected information for the study was data on 267 million impressions traded between 15 advertisers, eight agencies, five demand-side platforms, six supply-side platforms, and 12 publishers from the Association of Online Publishers from Jan. 1 to 20. March. Of those impressions, only 31 million (12%) were actually analyzed by matching log-level and aggregated data across 290 different supply chains.
PwC reported that it was highly cumbersome and hard to collect data on each impression. Ad tech vendors were conservative in sharing data due non-disclosure agreements and data collected was in different formats making it difficult to trace an advertiser’s money to so many different publishers. The advertisers involved in the study were non-premium 40,525 sites on an average.
Generally, an advertiser or agency decides to buy impressions and pay for them on DSP while publishers use SSP to sell their inventory at advertisers. Data on impressions from these two platforms are matched up and PwC did the same. However, data could not give financial transparency for the advertisers and publishers There were still costs in the ‘unknown delta’ that remains unidentified on the report. For instance, hidden fees can be a combination of additional ad tech vendor fees, post-auction bid shading, trading deals, and other unknown factors.
As quoted Sam Tomlinson, marketing assurance partner at PwC in DigiDay,
“This is more because the programmatic ecosystem is built on legacy processes that are a mess.”
Graeme Adams, head of media at BT Group said,
“We desperately need to see a common set of standards adopted and more openness in this market, so that every penny spent is accounted for. If this happens, we’ll invest more in the channel; if not, we will cut back and reshape our trading approaches.”
To conduct such high and intense study is a big expense. For instance, It costs more than £1 million ($1.2 million) to collect and process the data from different sources in ISBA’s study. A lot of emphasis is given to attain log file data by marketers. If the ISBA report proves anything that the log file data can reveal everything about transparency and nothing at the same time.
Ruben Schreurs, managing partner at digital media consulting firm Digital Decisions responds to log file data and said,
“Using the overly sophisticated approach of trying to match log-file data in real-time is like buying the IBM Watson supercomputer to calculate 1+1.”
He added that advertisers should have a sensible and valuable approach by running a periodic review of their net spend on publishers and match it with publisher data cumulatively. This will help to get the right and required output to make value-driven decisions on how to optimize the value chain and avoid complicating technologies.
Nevertheless, the report findings can help the adtech industry and give the insight to enhance financial and data transparency as regulators on impressions as regulators dominate.
Steve Chester, director of media and advertising at ISBA said,
“If the ad industry can be seen to be demonstrating that we can create a more open and transparent market then it could avoid the necessity of being regulated.”
Verizon Media Expands DSP to Offer Premium Native Ad Inventory.
Verizon Media has announced the expansion of its demand-side platform bringing in premium, programmatic, and now its full native marketplace inventory, formats, targeting, and measurement into a single unit.
The DSP gives a unified solution to the advertisers to check on every aspect of their buys across all formats and inventory purchases- from planning, buying, and management to optimization.
Today, people are using more screens and devices than before. Therefore, it becomes challenging for advertisers to provide a personalized and unified experience across the media mix. This level of fragmentation eventually leads to using different tools for different formats and then measuring the success of each of them would be laborious. But now advertisers can have access to omnichannel inventories including mobile, digital out-of-home, CTV, video, and audio along with native advertising from a single dashboard.
According to Iván Markman, the chief business officer at Verizon Media,
The Verizon Media native [ad] experience was separate from the programmatic capabilities in our DSP…Now both are one, and this includes a lot more consistency [campaign] planning and measurement and attribution. Over the last few quarters, we’ve looked at bringing more transparency and insights to our DSP.
The expansion of DSP’s functionality provides exclusive access to native ad inventory from Verizon’s owned and operated properties like Tech Crunch, Yahoo, and Huffington Post. The robust native marketplace format and premium inventory along with the programmatic offering, supported by 1st party data will help advertisers navigate a cookie-less environment.
In an era when media agencies are on hiring freeze if not headcount cutbacks, it was essential for the company to improve the efficiency of the tools. Markman stated, “You can now do more with less.“He further added,
Sometimes you’d have seven different platforms for things like digital out of home and native then display. Many of our clients have unfortunately had to furlough some team members or lay off their workforces. This helps with performance.
Google Withhold Programmatic Data, Advertisers Pulls Back Ad Spend
Advertisers around the world are looking for more transparency and data into their programmatic buys from their ad tech vendors. However, one hold out is Google in the negotiation, a dominant player in the ad tech world.
Recently, a US-based retailer decided to not buy ads from the world’s largest online ad Digimarketplace Google Ad Exchange. They wanted granular log-level data about the bids won or lost by them over a festive period last year however Google refused. So, the advertiser spent dollars on the other programmatic platforms who were willing to share data and offer discounts.
As quoted by Digiday, the Head of Display at the U.S based retailer said,
“Google’s ad exchange didn’t make the list primarily because they’re not willing to give us any transparency or data around not only their take rates on our media sped but also anything we could already pull from our demand-side platform.”
Advertisers are unaware of how much money is Google making from the bids. Google shares aggregated information rather than impression-level data CPMs (Cost Per 1000 Impressions). Therefore, many advertisers are now looking for an alternative that gives them better CPMs and complete transparency over the data.
Some of the US-based advertisers are reducing, if not completely, stopping their spending on Google’s platform. Procter and Gamble’s marketers are one of them who are in the process of reducing the amount of money they spend on Google’s Ad Exchange, as explained by ad tech executives to DigiDay. He further expanded on the point, that it is unlikely that P&G will pull of the media dollars from Google’ s Ad Exchange. After all, Google holds power over auctions which means it can keep prices lower for advertisers and can perform better than other marketplaces.
For now, a handful of the larger programmatic advertisers are weighing their options on how much money to pull off from the Google marketplace. However, companies that have achieved better CPMs with other publishers have stopped buying ads completely from Google. On the other hand, some big programmatic spenders are pushing Google to share more granular data or else they will seek other ad exchanges.
“We’re seeing Google’s ad exchange become slightly less of the total pie,” said Jay Friedman, president at programmatic agency Goodway Group to DigiDay.
”I don’t have a percentage but it’s less but not significant.”, he further added.
However, it seems clear that Google would rather loose a few smart programmatic advertisers to protect the share of a multitude of other advertisers that buy Ads regardless of the price that they are paying.
Over the last decade, Google’s auction model has media buyers in a bind as on one hand, Google gave advertisers audience targeting specific data and a better chance of winning the Ads auction on its own platform rather than on the rival platform. Whereas, on the other hand, those benefits were only for those advertisers who used Google’s ad tech products to buy its inventory. Some advertisers stopped short over the setup but many believed that working on Google’s platform has more advantages and limited downsides.
The rival ad tech vendors, also known as Supply-side platforms soon turned the tide in their favor using header bidding to bid every impression. They started the first-price auction where the advertiser could bid exactly what he is willing to pay unlike in Google’s ad exchange where the price an advertiser pay is slightly higher than the bid they made.
Eventually, Google caved in and changed its policy in 2019 and introducing unified auction that would put Google in the level playing field with the rival platforms like Pubmatic and Rubicon Project that give advertisers access to granular data as per their need. Data from rival platforms is helping advertisers to chart the best course for a low-fee route to CPMs in this highly competitive market. In these auctions, there are chances of the same publisher inventory is made available through multiple ad tech vendors at the same time leading to advertisers paying more for inventory. To avoid this, advertisers are using the supply-path optimization technique to broker better programmatic deals, many of which are dependant on the data they receive from the vendors.
Programmatic Advertising Platforms in 2020: A Complete Guide
Adtech space is complex and many marketers are still unsure about programmatic advertising and its ecosystem. However, it is essential to understand, even in brief, basics of programmatic advertising and how it works. Eventually, it is the future of advertising.
As reported by Statista, programmatic ad spending worldwide was $106 billion in 2019. It is estimated to reach $127 billion in 2020 and further grow by $20 billion in 2021.
What is Programmatic Advertising?
It is also known as programmatic marketing or programmatic media. It can be described as automatic buying and optimizing digital campaigns through real-time auctions, where ads are bought at the same time when a visitor loads the website instead of buying directly from the publishers.
It allows you to target your audience. The artificial intelligence (AI) powered algorithms classifies users based on their demographic data, behavior, geographics, psychography, and other criteria to determine which ad to be shown to each user.
How does it work?
There are different components of the programmatic advertising ecosystem- Demand-side platform (DSP), Supply-side platform (SSP), data management platform(DMP), ad exchange, ad servers, and ad network.
The advertiser uses DSP to buy ad placements and DMP to utilize third-party data. Publishers use SSP to connect their inventory to the ad exchange and programmatic bids can be placed using AI. The auction takes place when the web is getting loaded and the highest bidding ad will appear when the web page is completely loaded. This includes ad slots for display, voice, mobile, video and others,
Now, we are clear on the concept of programmatic advertising, let’s look at the top 8 programmatic platforms of 2020 to help you make an informed choice about the best platform for your advertising.
Top Programmatic Platforms:
1.MediaMath:
MediaMath is a leading omnipresent programmatic marketing platform that offers end-to-end campaign management to the advertisers.
It is trusted by two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies and is partnered with many developers and agencies to improve business. MediaMath DMP helps marketers with the data sets from the first and third sources. In programmatic advertising, you are unable to view the placement of the ad until is it published. MediaMath assures brand safety and will refund money to the advertiser if the ad run next to offensive content.
The omnichannel DSP includes mobile, native, video, audio and Digital-out-of-home (DOOH) ads. Brain Insights and Brain OPtimization utilize predictive modeling to optimize the ad campaign.
2. TubeMogul
TubeMogul is a part of Adobe Advertising Cloud.
TubeMogul programmatic advertising software facilitates brands and agencies to plan, buy, measure and optimize their global advertising.
It specializes in video advertising and has developed the most comprehensive client training and award-winning customer service. They have helped clients to set up most sophisticated programmatic ads across the digital screen, television or digital out-of-home (DOOH) channels from a single platform. They also enable brands with access to premium ad inventory through a real-time bidding process.
In February 2016, it had launched the Non-Human Traffic Credit Program where advertisers will be compensated if traffic identified as non-humans by White Ops.
3.Smarty Ads:
Smarty ads provide a full-stack advertising platform that caters to brands, agencies, publishers and app developers. It offers the world’s best solutions for advertising and monetization. This ecosystem includes the demand-side platform (DSP), supply-side platform (SSP), Data management platform (DMP) and ad exchange. It also offers a White label solution that allows a fully customizable advertising platform to launch your own business.
It also provides ad toolbox, analytics, blockchain ad stack, a customer data platform and rich targeting capabilities which helps advertisers with ad inventory, data visualization, transparency, and consolidated customer data to manage the campaign effectively. The platform also enables advertisers to run display, video, native, or in-app ads on desktop and mobile devices.
Smarty Ads’ header bidding technology allows publishers to offer inventory to all demand partners at the same time. Publishers can run a pre-bid auction to sell inventory at a premium price and generate a higher yield. Smarty Ads In-app header bidding provides advanced bidding to the mobile ecosystem. It is beneficial to app developers to uncover the real value of their digital inventory.
4.Pubmatic:
Pubmatic is a programmatic digital advertising technology and solution provider to publishers, advertisers, app developers, and video publishers.
Advertisers have access to inventory powered by real-time insights through Pubmatic’’s private marketplace. eMarketer reports that PMP’s are expected to comprise the majority of programmatic spending by 2021. Pubmatic Openwrap makes it easier for buying and selling inventory cross channels allowing digital advertising, in particular, video advertising to achieve full potential.
Pubmatic has launched a fraud-free program to maintain transparency and will provide credit if any fraud is suspected. Using Real-Time Bidding (RTB) technologies, publishers can drive the highest yield for each impression. Pubmatic safeguards publishers’ audiences across ad formats and screens leveraging manual and automated processes.
5. Simpli.fi
Simpli.fi is a leading localized programmatic advertising platform that enables the purchase of highly-targeted impressions on the real-time bidding process.
It has a network of largest buyers of local advertising including local media groups, multi-location brands, and trade desks. Simpli.fi aids companies to localize ad targeting, maximize the performance of local campaigns and optimize audiences.
Simpli.fi’s geo-fence technology is the most advanced location-based mobile advertising technology based on specific geographic shapes. Simpli.fi’s performance is unmatched through unstructured data and programmatic infrastructure. Advertisers can enhance audience targeting using CRM data and can optimize further in real-time using search and contextual keywords, IP data, dayparting, frequency capping and more.
It has developed an ecosystem of DSP, SSP, and DMP among other technologies.
6. Adroll:
Adroll growth marketing platform helps a brand to find audiences, personalize, cross channel experiences that make customers come back and measure your impact on the customer journey.
It combines first-party data with third-party data to give detailed shoppers insight which will help advertisers to identify and attract the audience that loves their brand.
7. Choozle:
Choozle is a self-service digital advertising software platform built for marketers, publishers and agencies. It uses customer data to power programmatic advertising across mobile, video and display and other mediums from a single interface.
The self-serve tools allow advertisers to create hyper-targeted campaigns using first and third-party data. There is no minimum ad spent limit for any type of business. Choozle provides campaign set up, ad budget allocation, execution, and reporting.
8. Rubicon Project:
Rubicon Project created a new advertising model where it is automating the buying and selling of advertising. The automated advertising platform is used by leading publishers across the globe to transact with top brands enabling them to reach more than1 billion consumers.
How to choose the right programmatic ad platform?
There are many other DSPs’ except the above like Facebook ads, Adready, Centro, DoubleClick, Pulse point, AppNexus and many more. Given the vast options, how to select tools that are beneficial to your brand? There are few criteria to keep in mind while evaluating a programmatic ad platform.
1.Cost:
Pricing is a major deciding factor while considering a programmatic platform. There needs to be clarity on the minimum fee, upfront fee, training fee and the actual cost of media. Can the pricing be negotiated? Understand the cost structure and various fee structures.
2.Transparency:
It is an essential factor to consider as ad frauds are quite common. Therefore, ask about the safety measures implemented by the provider and show the inventory sources, placements and costs.
3.Technology:
Choose a programmatic advertising platform that provides technology and solutions suitable and customized for your campaign goals. The proprietary technology for every programmatic tool makes them different from others.
4.Ad targeting
Compare targeting options from each vendor before final selection. Does it provide private marketplaces? Does it use first party and third party data for brand safety? Does it have an advanced ad- target options and personalization capabilities?
5.Technical support:
What kind of technical support do they offer and how efficient it is?
Selecting the right platform is crucial, but it is not enough to execute a successful campaign. A planned programmatic strategy and implementation will help in accurate audience targeting and ultimately would yield desired results. Some of the popular brands have already achieved good results from the programmatic advertisement. Here are some popular programmatic advertising case studies which explain more about how this would be beneficial to your business.
Closing Words
The benefits of programmatic advertising are immense and certainly is the future of digital advertising. However, the big debate is about privacy wars that are presently going on. Brian O’Kelley, CEO of AppNexus said,
“48% of all digital advertising dollars accrue to just two companies – Facebook and Google”.
A response to this dominance is the technological consortiums like LiveRamp, App Nexus, Rocket fuel, MediaMath, and many others. With data privacy being a big concern for tech companies, these programmatic platforms are being less intrusive and invasive and moving towards people-based marketing.
If you are in the decision-making process to select any of the tools, do thorough research before diving in. Programmatic advertising is exciting and shows no signs of slowing down.