Thursday 6 December 2018

Frequently asked questions from Media Traders on Programmatic


1. Why should we deploy campaigns programmatically, when we get all data (e.g. user data, viewability, etc.) using 3rd party/Sizmek tags?

Answer – Programmatic buying & 3rd party tracking are 2 separate activities and provide different benefits to a marketer. DBM and/or other Demand Side Platforms (DSP) are used to buy display inventory in an automated way.

3rd party tracking tools like Sizmek are used as a independent verification for display campaigns and help track users/devices and enhance the targeting for subsequent campaigns. Tagging tools need to be deployed with buying platforms (DSP) to use the customer data.

Programmatic buying is the best/and most cost efficient way to buy media across online inventory. These platforms provide various targeting features are plugged into multiple online exchanges. Tagging mechanisms like Sizmek will need to be deployed on campaign URLs to collect user data. So both mechanisms work hand in hand.


2. I can still get audience insights if I don't use DBM. Why do I go programmatic then?

Audience insights for campaigns are one part. There is a buying platform needed to make media buys using these insights. A DSP is a great tool to make programmatic buys and provides benefits of time and money.


3. I can still access publisher inventory using GDN / AdX. Why premium programmatic with publishers?

GDN and AdX inventory on TIL will be remnant (low SOV) inventory after the premium inventory has been consumed. With Premium programmatic buyers can access viewable/ATF ad spaces as set rates. Providing access to rich audiences and campaign insights.

4. DBM does not give de-duplicated reach?

Frequency cap for campaigns can be set. Also DC campaign manager tagging can be deployed to reduce repeat impressions

5. We look at GDN mainly from a performance angle. How can we use publisher programmatic offerings as a substitute?

Buy PGs to grow top funnel users, open auction to re-market to them and drive conversion.


6. Is there any conflict with the Direct sales team if I give you business.
No conflict. Publishers are sorted in India as well. Buying programmatically is the future.

7. Can audiences collected in roadblocks and/or audience targeted campaigns be used on other platforms?
Yes, the cookie and device id’s collected from tags on roadblocks/audience buys can be used to re-target campaigns.

8. Can publishers host creatives and integrate adfraud and viewability measures on publisher side?
Yes creatives can be hosted at our end. Viewability and Ad-fraud controls are usually deployed on the buy side.  We can deploy the same at an additional fee.

9. Why should we work with DBM as they charge a platform fee, App Nexus does not charge the same?

DBM has the most sophisticated targeting parameters as well as access to the most number of exchanges.

10. We already have all the data we need from our tags/sizmek etc on the campaign insights and viewability and various other parameters, then why should we do programmatic campaign?

DBM & Sizmek are platforms with different capabilities. DBM is a demand side platform (DSP) from Google, whereas sizmek is an adserving/tracking platform. Use of collected data from sizemek (cookies/device ids) will only enhance the targeting possibility of buying media programmatic via DBM.
DBM has access to more than 80 exchanges, which makes it superior in terms of reach, third party data and targeting our premium audience.


11. What extra things do we get by using DBM ?

You can consolidate all your media buys be it open auction or deals. It will help you to reduce duplicated reach. Hence campaign effectiveness more.

12. If your tech is at par or the insights you provide are at par of what we already have, do you provide us cost benefit?

Depends on the volume & commitment of business.

13. Can we serve native ads programmatic?

Yes.

 14. Even though you say there is no price difference between a Direct & Programmatic RB, we still have to pay a DBM fee to execute the campaign programmatically, can we get a better price from you to do this via PG?

Yes, depends on the volume & commitment of business.

15. Can we execute fixed integration's programmatically?

If you are referring to Road blocks, then yes. Else, please elaborate fixed integration's!

16. Do you allow for custom Moat reporting? Is Moat analytics allowed for Display Banners as well?

All top verification vendors are integrated within your DSP and you can pull these reports on your own.


17. Can we only deploy ad units with high viewability(ATF only) for our Media Plan?

Yes, this can be done.

18. What is the advantage of doing PG deals with the publisher when we can also do PG deals with Google (including multiple publishers) via DBM. Is there a cost benefit in doing so?
Answer –

Point 1 –Access Premium inventory with 100% SOV and targeting controls from sell side can be configured for these buys.

Cost benefits depends on the volume and commitment of business.




Friday 31 August 2018

Google Brings the Next Generation of Online to Offline Attribution

Google Brings the Next Generation of Online to Offline Attribution. Google is enabling a more accurate attribution to ad sales for the companies who advertise by linking online ads with offline purchases. Conversion rate (Online+ offline) will speak for for the success of Store Sales Measurement feature which Google will offer. I think its a win win situation for both Advertisers as well as consumers. By the time someone thinks about it Google already 70 percent of US credit and debit cards transactions through third-party partnerships. Heard about something similar going on in DE by some DSP and a giant retails chain but I think it would have been stopped due to fear of GDPR etc. Individual items that a consumer purchases will not be shared but the data will be available on a merchant level which will be a bigger proof of concept for bigger advertisers who have been raising question about efficiency of digital medium.It will also put a full stop to advertisers queries that I just accept the CTR and hope a certain percent of the people who visit my website will end up buying anything offline?

Source:- https://bit.ly/2LJ6bEE

Friday 17 August 2018

Bid caching or Cached Bid. Is it good or bad for publishers?

With the introduction of Header bidding programmatic advertising industry has completely disrupted. Its still relatively new to the world and all publishers are trying to find out the sweet spot between maximized revenue and good user experience. Publishers have seen the improved yield as a result of Header bidding. Cached bid is a considered as one of the optimization techniques by various SSP's. On record biggest SSP's like PubMatic, OpenX & Rubicon etc say that they do not use this technique at all. Bid caching reuses a bid you have submitted in one auction for future auctions. This benefits an exchange as it increases the chance  that they will win multiple auctions in a particular session. It also increase publishers yield.

As it is considered as black hat technique. But no wonder any thing is possible in the ever changing Adtech world. And exchanges might be doing it. But are publishers aware of this? Are publishers being paid higher CPM's for bids won by SSP's using this technique. I'm not aware of any publisher being informed about this tactic. The expectation of partners is that they seek explicit approval before making a fundamental change to decisioning in the supply chain. I am not sure if any legitimate SSP doing this. Also its quite difficult to deal with multiple bid responses (at scale) within 200 milliseconds without caching a load of additional bids that you may (or may not!) want to add into the auction would be madness. Also I think DSP's know what auction they are bidding for. Also I think most auctions have unique auction ID's. So buyer can find this easily and highlight it to court.

Cached bid is not considered good for buyers as they might end up paying a lot more money. It might cause brand safety issue. Quality related to viewability etc might pop up. Performance of buyers will be low on these web pages. Hence an advertiser might not consider a particular publisher for all of their future campaigns.

I am calling it a black a black hat technique but it may be white hat for a lot of publishers and exchanges like Index Exchange. Index Exchange has seen sky rocketing performance since launch of Header bidding. It was gaming the auction. All my colleagues on the publisher side were asking how come Index is offering such higher CPM's. Index uses to be a small ad network know as Casale Media. It also become a preferred partner for Google's Header Bidding product called as Google EBDA. Now it has disclosed in it own blog post about bid caching

Bid Caching is a threat to the industry. Its leads to

❌ Transparency ❌ Real Time promise ❌ Pre bid optimisation and brand safety filters ❌ Frequency cap




Wednesday 11 July 2018

What is GDPR and How Will It Impact Online Advertising


Developed by the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into force on May 25, 2018. This new set of regulations are designed to protect and empower the data privacy of all EU citizens. Addressing the consumer's concerns about data privacy and security, GDPR improves how much control an individual has over his/her personal data. Under GDPR, businesses are required to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, even if it doesn’t primarily target Europeans. If a business tracks the behaviour or manages data of an EU resident, it is required to be compliant with GDPR. These regulations are majorly going to impact the online advertising ecosystem. Some of the prominent sections of the bill that relate to digital marketers and PPC'ers are:

      Personal data of a user can only be used after an express consent; and companies won't be able to hide these requests within legal terms
      The “Right to Forgotten” and “Right of Data Portability” comes handy for a consumer; he/she can easily opt out of their data being used
      Safe and secure administrative record
      Reporting any regulatory breach

Online advertising is an open and vibrant space consisting of digital publishers, advertisers, their partners, and consumers. Advertisers create relevant and engaging advertisement to reach out to the consumer, who in turn helps independent publishers monetise their content and creativity. This further allows publishers to offer the content to billions of consumers, free of charge. The consumer at the front end remains unaware about what goes behind the scenes. The targeted and relevant advertisement that's been driving the digital marketplace is enabled through the collection and use of personal data. It becomes important that the personal data that is being retrieved from a consumer is used in a safe and transparent way, so that the user has a firm control over his/her data. This is the  concern that is being addressed by the EU with GDPR.

How GDPR will Impact Online Advertising

Prior to GDPR, advertisers and publishers have been targeting consumers by using their personal information derived by mining, or understanding their online behaviour. This requires involvement of dozens of vendors. Today, after the development of GDPR, there's been a contraction of the number of vendors that a publisher and an advertiser are actually allowed to be using. Some other noticeable impacts of GDPR on online advertising are:

      New Opportunities in Native Marketing: Native advertising uses paid ads that are in sync with the look, feel and function of the editorial flow of the page. Native ads are often seen on social media feeds; majorly on Facebook and Twitter.
      Thoughtful Targeting and Publishing of Content: Quality lead generation and putting in more thought to publish native content will be the aim of marketers and salesperson.
      More Visibility to Content Recommendation Platforms: GDPR will benefit the content recommendation platforms, like Taboola, TripleLift and Nativo, to name a few. Businesses that want to target a niche audience that's beyond their capabilities, can rely on the above mentioned platforms to help them get good results.
      Boom in the Influencer Marketing: After GDPR, user-generated advertising will see a significant rise in the online market. The trust of today's shoppers and advertisers on the consumer-centric content compels them to make a purchase. This sounds more cost-effective for advertisers, thus avoiding the noise that multiple intermediaries otherwise generate.

While GDPR might seem adversarial, it is the path forward for the much-needed consumer-centric advertising that does not revolve around poor quality tracking and irrelevant ads. Moreover, GDPR will give an individual the control over his personal data that should have always been there.

Tuesday 3 July 2018

How Audience Guaranteed deals work via DoubleClick Bid Manager aka DBM

Here are the steps illustrating the ways buyer audience targeting is applied and forecasted for PG deals:
  1. The publisher sends the proposal for buyer’s acceptance.
  2. The buyer hits “Propose Changes” in their UI, and clicks into the line items in the campaign. Here, a new section for “Audience list” is displayed, where they can choose the lists they’d liketo apply to the line item.
  3. Once done, the buyer “Sends Proposal” back to the publisher
  4. The publisher will see the proposal as “In Review”. When the publisher clicks into the line items, they will see “Buyer has targeted/excluded audience lists” in the targeting section  but will not be able to see any information about the lists that were applied by the buyer.
  5. The publisher can now run a forecast to determine how much inventory they have for the buyer’s targeting.
    • DFP has real time access to the buyer audience lists (both during forecasting and serving). So, you can run a forecast to determine how much inventory the deal has for the buyer’s targeting and book the impressions according to the availability (for forecasting, DFP takes into account historical data and existing overlapping reservations for the future time frame of the campaign).
  6. Then, the publisher selects ‘Request Acceptance’ to finalize the proposal terms with the buyer.
  7. The buyer selects ‘Accept’ (in their UI) on the proposal.
  8. The proposal in the DFP UI moves to the ‘Finalized’ state, and the corresponding DFP order and line items will be created in DFP’s ‘Delivery’ tab.
You can refer to these articles (article article) which give a comprehensive insight around the audience targeting in PG.

Sunday 11 March 2018

Netflix the leader in OTT space

Some interesting data from Netflix here. Apparently after 6 months, 70% of all viewers watch Netflix on TV. I was expecting viewership on tablet devices to be a lot higher, surprised that it's only at 5% and mobile at a measly 10%. A little more surprised by the fact that 25% of viewers signed up via TV, given how clunky the sign-up process via TVs is. Makes sense therefore that most sign-ups either happen via desktop or mobile.  It has to help that Netflix has created a fantastic viewing experience via Apple TV and other devices like the PlayStation. Viewing it via Chromecast is a fantastic and seamless experience as well.  Compare it to how Prime Video is incredibly clunky, lacks integration with streaming devices - it's no wonder that Netflix is doing so well.  On the whole - I'd say my streaming habits would be 95% TV and 5% tablet, tablet only while traveling.


Saturday 13 January 2018

HEADER BIDDING ADVANTAGES FOR BUYERS

HEADER BIDDING is an integration on the publisher’s page that exposes each impression to programmatic buyers before calling the publisher’s ad server.

This means advertisers can dynamically compete for more of a publisher’s inventory in real-time and can see 100% of their stack.

Highly valuable inventory can be accessed through Private Marketplaces and Real-time Guaranteed.

What is the Unlocked Value?

Before header bidding, exchanges were a traditional tag in the publisher stack, and media buyers competed for remnant inventory. With header bidding, buyers now have access to all inventory.

Higher Viewability

• We’ve seen an increase of 53% in viewability across our marketplace after header bidding integrations

• Incremental impressions, previously reserved for premium placements, are now available to programmatic buyers

• Creatives render faster on the page because the header bidding call is made as soon as the page load begins

Increased Forecasting Accuracy

 Budgets for particular audience segments shift from quarter to quarter
• With increased visibility across 100% of a publisher’s inventory, we are able to see all audience segments and impressions throughout the calendar year, giving planning teams better insights

Higher Quality Inventory

• Publishers can allow RTB buyers to compete for impressions typically reserved for direct-sold campaigns.

Increased Global Inventory

• Global inventory has increased 214% across our ecosystem since the introduction of header bidding