Programmatic marketing has been earmarked as the future of online advertising. In layman’s terms, it is a way of automatically advertising to a select audience, who can be defined through a variety of demographics. Ads can be shown in real-time, at certain times of the day and for pre-defined lengths of time, with the overall goal being, according to State of Digital, “highly effective ads, delivered to the right people at the right time.”
However, the realm of programmatic marketing can be confusing to outsiders. Here’s a quick jargon-busting guide, outlining what 10 common terms really mean and the role they play in terms of native advertising in the UK.
Ad inventory
Simply the amount of space a publisher has to dedicate to advertising.
Impression
Each time an ad or piece of native advertising content is viewed by a web user, this counts as an impression. A metric decides how long a ‘view’ needs to be to qualify. Impressions may be bought from publishers by media buyers: they are the basic currency of online advertising and are usually priced as ‘Cost per Thousand’.
Programmatic RTB (real-time bidding)
This works in a similar way to Google AdWords and its auction model. Buyers compete against each other over individual ad impressions, as they appear to users, based on their criteria. The highest bidder wins and their ad appears to the user via an ad server.
Programmatic direct
Where buyers agree deals with sellers beforehand, but then choose their impressions using programmatic technology – a mixture between the traditional model and programmatic audience targeting.
First party data
This is information about the user collected by the advertiser, or a publisher who then shares the data. This data is effective in audience targeting as it is accurate, having been compiled by website owners.
Third party data
Information indirectly compiled from numerous sources – usually other websites. The accuracy of this data can vary, given the different methods for collection.
DMP (data management platform)
This is a central system designed to cope with the vast amounts of data generated through programmatic buying.
SSP (supply-side platform)
Publishers use this to adjust their prices, based on data which is constantly shifting as users browse the internet.
DSP (demand side platform)
The planning side of things, where buyers can adjust, tweak and optimise their digital media plans.
Hashing
This refers to when a person’s anonymity is protected as any information they may be identified by is converted into numbers and letters.
So, there you go – hopefully the world of programmatic marketing seems a lot less confusing now! You can view a more in-depth glossary here, but it’s best to familiarise yourself with the basics first.