I’m sharing this partly in response to the recent headline that “60 percent of programmatic spend is wasted.” Undoubtedly there are campaigns out there where this is true; in fact, the percentage is probably greater in some cases. However, for a well-run campaign, this should never be the case.
Leaving aside ad misplacement, which I’ve already discussed at length in a previous article, let’s focus on the alleged inefficiency of the ever more complex supply chain of programmatic.
The process is not straightforward, but a good agency will make sure there is only so much complexity as is required to achieve the added benefits of programmatic: lower CPM, precise targeting, flexible management and a rich supply of data. Where there is complexity, a good agency ought to be able to explain it to their client and to account for its necessity.
In this article, I would like to show you how a typical spend is converted into media inventory. I hope this will be a useful insight into an area of advertising that has for too long been opaque.
I also hope it will provide some balance to an ongoing media narrative about the wastefulness of programmatic, which, for all of its issues, offers advertisers so much more than direct media buying ever could.
A typical programmatic campaign
Do keep in mind that programmatic campaigns are extremely variable, depending on the objectives of the client and the management style of the agency. There can’t really be a “typical” spend, but the example we have chosen is “normal” to the extent that there is nothing extreme in terms of the decisions that have been made by the agency.
Read the full article here: http://marketingland.com/programmatic-spend-go-211559
