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.