Programmatic Still Works, Here’s Why

The programmatic industry is at a crossroads. In 2020, privacy regulations such as the CCPA and limitations on third-party data surrounding cookies has left many marketers with questions about how to effectively utilize programmatic while understanding abandoning programmatic completely would be a mistake. 

Programmatic still works; it just needs a renewed perspective. Quality data leading to engaged audiences, more capabilities in audience segmentation, and efficient methods to measure your success are still huge benefits to any programmatic marketing program. 

Programmatic Expands Past Display Ads

A common misconception of programmatic is that it is simply display ads, but its capabilities extend much further. 

“In my eyes, programmatic advertising is a catch-all for anything that is mechanized buying of media. It is all-encompassing but essentially it is using data to make decisions about the buys you are making and how you iterate through those buys to optimize and enhance and get the best performance out of them,” says Brian Kroll, VP Strategic Accounts at Adtaxi.

This includes more mediums than just display ads, such as Connected TV, digital audio, video, and more. Programmatic is an efficient buying method for a wide range of advertising channels, all of which can positively impact your media reach. 

It’s imperative to take an omnichannel approach to your ad buying strategy — simply going back to display every time will eventually see diminished returns. But with a holistic approach, you can create effective content for reaching new users and engaging new audiences. 

Quality Lies Within Your Data

While data privacy remains one of the top concerns in programmatic, this medium simply needs a refocus on its high-quality audience and targeting capabilities. With data tied to cookies and third-party providers being limited, publishers will be pushed to become more innovative with how and when they reach consumers throughout the shopping journey.

Other types of data will become integral in programmatic buying decisions and reach expansion. Factors such as contextual, intent, and weather data will likely become important players in the targeting process. Transparency may also become the new normal, where publishers offer content to users in exchange for consent to utilize their data. Finding workarounds will ultimately be the key to securing quality data. 

With great data and utilizing sophisticated analytics within programmatic offerings and platforms, brands can offer advanced targeting and deepen their audience segmentation to expand their reach to hyper-relevant consumers. 

Metrics to Measure Success

A final advantage to programmatic involves a central location for your ad buying, thus creating a centralized data library for your campaign success. Gone are the days of going to each specific publisher, purchasing an ad package, and seeing how each campaign rolls out and tracking success individually. 

Better yet, using predictive analytics and machine learning, you can utilize the data from your past campaigns and third-party data to deliver your campaigns and make success more likely. In terms of publisher, audience, and engagement, your campaign can be deployed in the best circumstances and meet its goals. These engagement-based metrics will improve your ROI, with buyers seeing up to a 90% reduction in CPCV compared to other social media video ads.  

With better targeting, more channels for delivery, and enhanced analytics to inform your future campaigns, programmatic is still relevant and even essential. Especially in the times of COVID-19, when consumers are flocking to digital channels, programmatic will provide an ROI for your campaigns. Don’t fall for the immediacy coming from some experts that are fearing programmatic’s decline; instead, look at the ways the current environment is creating a better programmatic landscape. 

It’s still absolutely necessary and critical for brands to invest in digital ads on every channel.

For more on the best way to use programmatic advertising to help your brand excel in a crowded market, check out our webinar, Programmatic Capabilities Across Platforms.