The Learning Center

Programmatic ads are becoming a popular topic, but do you know what they are? And do you realize how much your business could be benefiting from them? This article will explain both the basics of what you need to know about programmatic ads and how they can save you both time and money.

What Are Programmatic Ads?

The best way to describe programmatic ads is to say that it is the process of automating the decision-making process of buying digital ad space. It’s using a computer to buy your ad space for you to target the audience you want to target—the ideal audience who is most likely to convert to a sale. All you have to do is tell the computer your campaign goals and key performance indicators (KPIs), and it will do the rest of the work for you. Programmatic ads include real-time bidding but are not limited to just that method. They also allow you to buy guaranteed impressions from specific publishers, referred to as “programmatic direct.”

How Do They Work?

Programmatic ads use artificial intelligence technology to determine the best people to target your ads with. Using data and algorithms to think, this intelligence will make predictions and evolve those predictions based on what does and doesn’t work. Most web pages have a space on them reserved for digital ads. To get these spaces, businesses have to bid on that space and hope for the best. Programmatic ads will generate according to what it knows about a person when they land on a web page. If the computer thinks that person is a good candidate for the ad, it will display it on their screen.

How Programmatic Ads Can Increase ROI

With so many possible combinations out there of targeting, a human brain can hardly tell which combination will be the one that will most likely make a sale. That’s why many advertising budgets end up getting blown. The person behind the ad buying is doing so on a trial and error basis and ends up wasting money that could have been better spent on quality impressions.

That’s what programmatic ads fix. Their artificial intelligence is smart enough to only pay for the effective ads. While the people may have all the data, it’s too much for them to process. That’s why calculators were invented. Programmatic ads are the ads’ calculators. The best way to get a stronger ROI on your advertising money is to pour those dollars into the mind of artificial intelligence that can send your ads to those most likely to become a sale. That means you won’t have to waste your money advertising to someone who won’t think even twice about your ad. Of course, people are still needed in the ad process. As of yet, we can’t make computers do the planning and campaign strategy for us.

Should You Be Buying Into This New Advertising Method?

Everyone is saying that programmatic ads are changing digital display advertising and are the future of advertising. Because of its benefits on time and ROI, they’re probably right. Programmatic ads will play a big role in how ads are targeted. But don’t do it just because everyone else is. Try it because of the benefits you will see in your advertising. Programmatic ads are continually self-improving. And by saving you time, you can focus more of your energy on other aspects of your campaign. Plus, you are able to create a message specific to your audience without having to stick to generalizations. Programmatic ads really could become the norm for advertising.

For now, it’s just online ads that are being put out programmatically. But with the new year, we just might see more aspects of advertising being enhanced with artificial intelligence. Only time will tell.