VIEQUES, PR —\u00a0So-called “programmatic” advertising – techniques for refining and automating advertising trading – grew up around real-time bidding, the instantaneous transactions that seem anathema to traditional upfront ad sales.<\/p>\n
But, as the\u00a0technology has matured, it has also begun to allow for old-fashioned-style upfront buys – with all the added efficiency of programmatic. A panel convened by Beet.TV discussed the topic:<\/p>\n
“You can merge programmatic and guaranteed,” MediaMath’s Cox said. “Programmatic is neither real-time nor bidded.\u00a0You can make a forward commitment on a guarantee on a specific volume, specific value and flight date and hit it.”<\/p>\n
Videology’s Castree agreed, saying: “In the US last year, 99% of video sold last year was on a guaranteed, futures basis.\u00a0Fifty-eight percent\u00a0of inventory through our platform last year was clients bringing their own upfront deals.”<\/p>\n
But the\u00a0arrival of upfront ad deals also makes some wonder if they are losing the unique advantage programmatic brings.<\/p>\n
What was a great decision 24 hours ago might be a poor decision now,” said Target’s Reiter, calling for\u00a0flexibility. “When I hear ‘guaranteed’, somewhere in there must be some loss of agility.”\u00a0GroupM’s Kowan said:\u00a0Maintaining that agility is absolutely critical.”<\/p>\n
MediaMath’s Cox said his company strikes the balance by having embraced header tags, allowing real-time data to support guaranteed transactions by having eliminated exchanges.<\/p>\n
Separately, GroupM’s Kowan said programmatic is merely a toolset, not a strategy, and does little to change the role that agencies play for brands overall.<\/p>\n
And the panel discussed how, with the basics of programmatic now in place, advertisers will soon get to benefit from more – developments Kowan said include “attribution based on in-store sales, and exposure time and session depth, personalisation”.<\/p>\n