Why is programmatic so pervasive and powerful?

They used to say that there was no silver bullet approach when it came to accurately targeting audiences. That was until programmatic advertising came onto the scene.

With its ability to pinpoint very specific audiences, optimise campaign performance in real-time, and deliver personalised, data-driven messages at scale, it is revolutionising the ways in which brands can connect with their consumers.

Of course, as with every media tool, programmatic advertising is only as good as the way in which it is deployed.

Finding a place for your ads is a complex science, requiring algorithms, software and artificial intelligence to make bids for online ad space within the millisecond. Once you’ve managed to secure the placement—the who and the when, it then comes down to the what.

And this is where content for programmatic advertising is key—with its effectiveness relying heavily on utilising insights you can glean from your own consumer data, cross referenced with digital traffic analyses. Once you’ve cracked the code and can reach the right people, at the right time, with the right content, your communication spend will achieve a far higher efficiency and ROI than any other traditional media form.

Programmatic advertising has changed dramatically over the last few years.

Initially it was considered as an ‘add on’ to existing campaigns and deployed purely as a digital display or relegated to placements that were the ‘left-overs’ with limited or no premium space or formats. But now available inventory spans across so many more channels and formats allowing programmatic traders to buy almost anything digitally; DOOH (Digital-Out-of-Home), Audio/Radio, Video/TV, Native, social, rich media, and of course standard display.

Global trends around marketing expenditure speak volumes as to the power and effectiveness of programmatic. The programmatic category is seeing exponential year-on-year growth and this trend is certainly reflected through our agency too, seeing the proportions of media spend allocated to programmatic increasing rapidly.

And it’s no wonder. Marketers can see exactly what sites their ads are being used on, what kinds of audiences are seeing their ads, and what they are getting in return on their investment.