The programmatic model is all about efficiency — getting the right message to the right people at the right time while simultaneously reducing advertising costs. Given the ease with which companies can manage their own programmatic practice, it can prove difficult to justify paying a premium in order to have an agency do it for them.
That said, companies looking to bring programmatic in-house also require the right expertise, which might translate to additional staff. Whatever their choice, company C-suites need to remember that all advertising, including programmatic, needs a human touch.
The Blame Game: Transparency In Programmatic
A recent report from Forrester and Index Exchange has put the spotlight on publishers’ attitudes towards transparency issues. They say they’re at a significant disadvantage compared to their counterparts on the demand side. According to the report, publishers feel that the demand side is moving quickly and isn’t waiting for the sell side to catch up.
It’s all led to a “vicious circle of suspicion and distrust,” the report notes, which isn’t serving the best interests of either side. Distrust in the programmatic space isn’t being limited to the interactions between these two either. It’s also beginning to permeate relationships between agencies and brands, a phenomenon that’s propelling the current “in-house trend.” A publisher is quoted in the study saying it’s incumbent on advertisers to “make the market more comfortable.”
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Private Marketplaces: The Death Knell For Publishers?
Private marketplaces, while created with the best of intentions, are still in some ways a work in progress, says Evolve Media’s Brian Fitzgerald in a recent article for TechCrunch.
Open exchanges create a “bottom-line approach to evaluating and buying media,” he says, leaving little room for considerations such as ad environment or positive brand association. Private marketplaces were created to leverage the efficiency of programmatic buying in a closed environment wherein sellers proffer more premium ad placements and better creative frequency control. The problem, says Fitzgerald, is that these private marketplaces enable buyers to get a sneak peek at higher-quality inventory while publishers are left in the lurch with no guarantee of payment against that inventory.
Ultimately, what’s needed, argues Fitzgerald, is “a market that rewards publishers for creating great content, rich environments and market-leading solutions.”