Programmatic
buying DECISIONING
VIEWABILITY
DMP
PROGRAMMATIC
Cookie
Targeting
Terms, Concepts, and the
DSP
FREQUENCY CAP
Retargeting
Future of Digital Advertising
Look-alike
modeling Contextual targeting
IMPRESSION
ATA
Private Ad Exchange/Marketplace
SSP Behavioral targeting
PROGRAMMATIC
BUYING
Behavioral
ADEXCHANGE
Site Buys RTB
THE DIGITAL LANDSCAPE
Programmatic – one of the latest buzzwords to
hit the ad tech landscape is generating a huge
amount of excitement in the industry.
While media, marketing and ad tech professionals
alike are championing programmatic buying,
there is still some confusion over what it really
means. As the landscape continues to evolve,
it becomes more and more important for
advertisers to understand how the latest buzz
impacts efficiencies and effectiveness. This is
increasingly important with programmatic buying.
This beginner’s guide outlines the fundamentals
of programmatic and the key terms associated
with the development of this automated process.
Defining Programmatic
Audience Buying 101
Utilizing Big Data
1
“
Programmatic buying is
playing an increasing role
”
as a brand-building, topof-funnel activity for our
global advertising clients.
— Kelly Clark
Chief Executive Officer
GroupM North America
DEFINING PROGRAMMATIC
The term “programmatic” typically refers to
the automated process of buying and selling of
digital media through software.
WHERE BRANDS & AGENCIES SAY THEY WILL INCREASE
PROGRAMMATIC SPENDING IN THE NEXT SIX MONTHS
58%
53%
54%
18%
Display
Mobile
Video
Social
10%
Search
54%
TV
*Forbes
By removing tedious, manual labor, programmatic
technology makes ad buying cheaper, more
efficient and more reliable. That is why more and
more advertisers and publishers are buying and
selling media through programmatic channels
instead of open exchanges.
3
BIDDING WITH RTB
Before programmatic technology spread
throughout the digital marketplace, publishers
made their inventory available through ad
exchanges and real-time bidding (RTB), which
allowed for greater transparency and more
reasonable market value prices.
PUBLISHER
PUBLISHER
ADVERTISER
SSP
DSP
PUBLISHER
ADVERTISER
ADVERTISER
Supply-side platforms (SSPs)
allowed publishers to optimize
inventory in real-time, creating
virtual pipes into exchanges.
Demand-side platforms (DSPs)
allowed advertisers to acquire
inventory by providing access
to inventory in a biddable
environment.
As platform technology matured, programmatic
evolved to distinguish itself from traditional ad
exchange buying. Buyers and sellers were able
to negotiate quality and quantity of publisher
inventory, open up new channels of digital
messaging and employ highly customizable
targeting through anonymous consumer data.
4
AUDIENCE BUYING 101
RTB introduced the idea of one-to-one
addressability for serving ads. This led to a new
development in the ecosystem: direct audience
targeting.
Publishers and third-parties alike could now
make demographic, browsing, purchasing, and
behavioral data available for targeting purposes.
With innovative tools and more precise
targeting tactics, RTB empowered advertisers
and publishers to accurately pinpoint specific
segments of consumers.
Contextual Targeting
Audience Buying
Content as a proxy
for audience
Audience
without proxy
$
$
$$
Target
$
$
$
$
$
$
Outside Target
5
UTILIZING BIG DATA
With the amount of data now available,
sophisticated advertisers can look beyond
traditional click-based metrics and pre-defined
audience segments.
Data begins with a cookie – a file that is notpersonally identifiable stored on your computer
to inform how users interact with ads and how
campaigns are running with audiences. Cookies
are the foundation behind a personalized online
experience.
This anonymous data enables highly
customizable audience targeting through the
use of data management platforms (DMPs),
which compile campaign and audience data
into one centralized location and ultimately help
optimize media decisioning.
6
“
More than anything else,
data provides leverage in a
programmatic media buying
world. The more anonymous
”
data you have about a user,
the more efficient you can be
about your buying.
— Brian Lesser
Global CEO
Xaxis
SO NOW WHAT?
As programmatic continues to evolve,
advertisers will seek out competitive advantages
in gaining media programmatically. And as
consumers have increasingly more choices in the
content messages they view, they will choose
messaging that is unique, relevant and timely.
Fortunately, Xaxis has the dynamic combination
of innovation, scale and skill to take brand
messages and make them not only relevant, but
welcome.
Marketers can cut through the industry noise
to reach specific consumers and consumers are
delivered messages tailored just for them.
Xaxis propels digital media campaigns towards
success. Xaxis makes advertising welcome.
“
Ultimately, all advertising will be
digital and all digital advertising
will be traded programmatically.
”
— Brian Lesser
8
GLOSSARY
A
Ad exchange: A technology platform that enables advertisers and
publishers to buy and sell media inventory, such as display, video and mobile.
Ad network: Brings together inventory and audiences to enable advertisers
to buy online ad impressions.
Ad server: A computer server dedicated to storing digital advertisements
that are then displayed on websites. Ad servers can be operated by
publishers, or by a neutral third party to track impressions, clicks, and
conversions.
Ad tracking: A method used to check the number of hits or clicks an ad
receives. A useful tool for discovering where the most revenue comes from,
and how to better personalize ads to reach more customers.
Attribution: A methodology by which credit is assigned for conversion
activities driven by media.
Audience buying: The use of data and technology to reach target
consumers regardless of context.
B
Behavioral targeting: The use of data and analytics to tailor digital ads
based on a consumer’s online behavior.
C
Contextual targeting: The use of data and technology to target a specific
individual based on the context of the site.
Cookie: A browser-specific anonymous persistent identifier used online to
track certain information about a user’s web behavior and attributes.
9
D
Decisioning: The process by which an advertiser employs automated
systems to determine the creative execution, the target audiences, and
specific publishers during a media campaign.
DMP (data management platform): A data warehouse that collects,
organizes and houses data pertaining to campaign performance, client data,
and audience attributes.
DSP (demand-side platform): The technology used by advertisers and
agencies to buy digital ads in real-time through programmatic buying.
F
First-party data: Data that is collected directly from a consumer.
Frequency cap: The maximum number of ad impressions an advertiser or
agency is willing to serve to an individual user to ensure optimal exposure to
messaging.
I
Impression: The single instance of an ad delivered to a user on a webpage.
L
Look-alike modeling: A technique in which high-value audiences are
used as a seed within an algorithm to create prospective audiences most
likely to behave in the same manner based on similar attribute patterns.
O
Open exchange: An open market system in which any seller can make
digital inventory available for purchase by any buyer.
P
Private ad exchange/Marketplace: A biddable environment in which a
publisher can limit access to inventory to certain advertisers and set pricing
rules.
Programmatic: The technology used to implement an automated set of
ad rules to efficiently target the most valuable customers and prospects with
personalized ads using anonymous data.
10
Programmatic buying: An automated method of buying digital
advertising in which supply and demand partners make decisions on a perimpression basis and adhere to business rules as provided by the operators of
each platform.
R
Retargeting: A programmatic marketing technique in which users who
have visited a website are delivered messages based on that user’s previous
site interactions.
RTB (real-time bidding): A method used within an ad exchange by which
individual impressions are bought at the time a user visits a site.
S
Second-party data: Data that comes from a direct agreement with a
publisher.
Site buys: Media acquisition by agencies and advertisers through a direct
relationship with a single publisher, which typically include the best inventory
as well as customizable offerings.
SSP (supply-side platform): An automation technology that is used
to optimize publisher yield and deliver advertising inventory directly to a
publisher as well as to automated ad exchanges.
T
Third-party data: Data that is collected from a source that doesn’t have a
direct relationship with the consumer.
V
Viewability: A measure of whether or not an ad that has been served can
be seen by a user.
NOTES
11
ABOUT US
Xaxis is a global digital media platform that
programmatically connects advertisers and publishers
to audiences across all addressable channels. Xaxis
combines proprietary technology, unique data assets and
exclusive media relationships with the brightest team of
audience analysts, data scientists and software engineers.
Advertisers working with Xaxis achieve higher ROI from
digital marketing campaigns. Publishers deliver relevant
content and advertising to new and valuable audiences.
Xaxis works with over 2,700 clients across 33 markets in
North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.
For more information, visit www.xaxis.com.
For more information:
Matthew Sweeney
SVP, Sales
[email protected]
www.xaxis.com
12
Programmatic
buying DECISIONING
PROGRAMMATIC
Behavioral
Targeting
DSP
FREQUENCY CAP
Retargeting
Look-alike
modeling Contextual targeting
IMPRESSION
ATA
Private Ad Exchange/Marketplace
SSP Behavioral targeting
Cookie
VIEWABILITY
DMP
ADEXCHANGE
Site Buys RTB