Retargeter

Programmatic 101: 3 Things You Didn’t Know About Programmatic Premium

Clearing the Air: What is Programmatic Premium

Seemingly an oxymoron, programmatic premium comes with a lot of baggage. Programmatic simply refers to the use of technology to streamline the process of buying and selling advertising. Historically, the programmatic approach has only been used to move remnant inventory. Adding the word premium adds a whole host of concerns from the publishers side of the table. Mass advertising, low value marketing is the normal approach to programmatic, but it does not have to be.

Premium content can enjoy all of the same programmatic benefits, provided these specific trades are given the same value-level as direct sale advertising. Premium content equals premium advertising, in the programmatic premium value proposition.

3 reasons programmatic premium can’t afford to be overlooked

Even with all of the industry controversy over the definition and functional process of programmatic premium, it still sits poised to revolutionize digital advertising. Here are 3 reasons why:

1. Leveraging impression-level decision making and the associated analytics can increase advertising efficiency by as much as 20%.

In traditional advertising, a banner ad is static. Every person that views the site sees the same ad, regardless of their interests. Programmatic advertising allows for more direct consumer retargeting. Each customer sees the ad that most closely meets their interests. For example, a customer that drives a pick-up truck would see advertisements for the newest model, while someone who drives a luxury sedan would see that, instead. By creating a dynamic advertising environment, marketers are able to continue to entice consumers, without inundating them with ads.

2. 71% of publishers already trade ads programmatically.

Real-time-bidding (RTB) allows publishers to fill in the gaps in existing advertising campaigns, without a lot of time spent on oversight. Fifty-five percent of buyers purchase both premium and remnant content. Not all display spaces are available through RTB, but those that are tend to have a reduced price. Buyers can directly affect price by bidding based on their internal value proposition. A recent study by Digiday and OpenX shows programmatic inventory sales on the rise, making it a critical player in future digital advertising.

3. Many publishers already offer a programmatic selling solution, and 70% of those without intend to add an automated sales platform within the next year.

With more than one-third of publishers already offering both premium and remnant ad space through an RTB system, those interested in premium ad spots must start buying through the same platforms. The old mantra of direct sale has started to become obsolete. Yes, the personal touch still has a role to play in terms of quality control and relationship building, but audience targeting improves the ROI for each advertisement, making automated sales and placement an increasingly attractive option.

Adding Programmatic Premium to Your Budget

As more buyers switch to programmatic premium advertising, they may see a drop in total dollars committed to their budget. Lower cost per ad space and broader, more targeted, market reach will increase the return on each dollar invested. Publishers and advertisers have already seen a dramatic improvement using gap fillers through the programmatic approach, and now premium content has the potential to again show the same gains. No one can afford to ignore the growth offered through the streamlined approach of automated marketing.