Let’s be real: Understanding programmatic may feel like a superhuman task. But this buzzword isn’t going away any time soon, and it’s worth spending a few moments to understand how It can impact your brand’s ad strategy.
Programmatic advertising provides an automated way for multi-platform reach and real-time bidding capabilities. As Kenneth Kulbok of LinkedIn Programmatic explains, “Put very simply, programmatic is buying digital advertising space automatically, with computers using data to decide which ads to buy and how much to pay for them, often in real time.”
Programmatic allows your business to buy and sell online ads in real-time using an automated bidding system. This automated system matters hugely to you and your brand because, instead of relying on vague analytics reports, vanity metrics and human error to generate target audience profiles, it uses data-driven strategies to identify and reach your target audience with hyper-targeted ads. This means your time, effort and budget are always optimized to advertise to the right audience at the right time!
The Past, Present and Future of Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic advertising began in 1993, when Global Network Navigator sold the first clickable online banner ad to law firm Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe. In 1994, Wired (known then as Hotwired) saw the potential of selling online real estate and simultaneously published groundbreaking banner ads for 12 different brands. These ads were the first of their kind and, despite offering companies zero metrics or analysis and operating on flat-rate budgets, managed to generate an astounding 40-50% click-through rate.
By 1996, ad servers were popping up to meet the surge in demand for online banner ads. And by 1998 the first ad networks were formed. These ad networks offered businesses a new and effective way to drive online traffic directly to company websites.
Today, programmatic advertising has grown into the most effective way to interact with audiences and run successful ad campaigns. Programmatic ads can reach a shocking 98% of the internet, including the Google platform, which uses its own, Google-specific form of programmatic.
According to the 2020 IAB Programmatic+Data Center report on programmatic in the digital media landscape, “Programmatic advertising has been on a meteoric rise and is expected to reach $98B in ad spend by 2021, which will account for 68% of digital media advertising…Across devices, mobile is projected to account for over 83% of programmatic digital display ad spend.”
This year’s programmatic trends also indicate a heavy focus on truly understanding your brand’s target audience and publishing focused, inspiring content that make customers feel seen, heard and valued. Which are things we can help ascertain.
Amp and Programmatic
Programmatic is here to stay, and it has the ability to revolutionize your business’s reach and conversions. LEAP Amp combines multiple capabilities, including personalized strategy, media targeting and research analysis, with real-time programmatic strategies to allow your brand to provide an in-depth understanding of consumer needs and behaviors and reach and resonate with your target audience.
At LEAP Amp, we create and run programmatic display ads that are on-brand, on-trend. We develop scroll-stopping programmatic video ads that will have your audience looking for that "learn more" button.
We specialize in creating programmatic display and video ads that utilize powerful images, animations and GIFs to make sure your content perfectly matches your audience and marketing goals.
So while programmatic may be new to you, it’s something we’ve been utilizing since our Day 1. Let us help you reach your target audience at the right place at the right time.