buzzword“Can you accurately define programmatic media buying off the top of your head?”, asks MediaMath in its White Paper: Programmatic Media Buying 101, revealing at the same time that according to research by the Boston Consulting Group the majority of marketers confessed their understanding of programmatic was very poor, poor or average.

Considering such evidence, there is obviously a need for clarity here, which is why we decided to delve into the term “programmatic”.  Besides that fact, eMarketer predicted 83% of all display advertising will be purchased programmatically by 2017 and it is forecasted that $37 billion of global ad spend will go to programmatic by 2019.

Actually, the term “programmatic” is being used to describe an entire paradigm shift in the way digital media and advertising are being traded, since buying is done in an automated way through digital platforms such as demand-side-platforms (DPS), trading desks and exchanges, replacing the manual requests for proposals, negotiations and purchase orders. It’s efficient for audience targeting, segmentation and the execution of premium ad buys.

Programmatic isn’t a “set-it-and-forget-it” technology, MediaMath emphasizes, besides pointing out that:

1. Programmatic is data-driven: Programmatic buying provides the ability to drive your marketing efforts with data. Using the right data on your current or prospective customers enables better audience targeting that can lead to higher rates of conversion.

2. Programmatic can enable real-time advertising: The ability to transact on an ad buy within milliseconds enables some real-time advertising to occur, increasing your chances of hitting the right customer at the right time with the right tactics.

3. Programmatic involves some degree of automation: You can automate some of the functions with the right technology and people in place, but you must continually test and optimize the campaigns to get optimal results.

“It’s in these three ways that programmatic marketing unlocks the ability to add personalization and performance at scale to your digital advertising strategy so you can reach consumers you know are interested in your products and services, and who are ready to make an imminent purchase”, the expert says, highlighting that it is crucial to ask the right questions to enable programmatic:

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Programmatic clearly helps in finding the best digital-first marketing strategy, which explains why it is globally a hot trend. As MediaMath’s Programmatic Trend Predictions confirms, the technology behind programmatic media buying will continue to evolve, since the ways in which you can employ it have become easier and easier.

ProgrammaticTrends GlobalPerspectiveBy MediaBUZZ