Next up in our ad tech analogies series: The Black Shoes Analogy, which explains the benefit of buying from a DSP in real-time.

Put yourself in these shoes (pun intended): You're looking to buy a pair of black dress shoes online and need to find the best value.

You could go to every single online retailer one at a time to see what they offer, compare prices, and then weigh your options.

Or, you could go to eBay, search for what you want, see all the options that are available to you and what they cost, and determine what you're willing to bid for each item. If you're the highest bidder? You've got a new pair of shoes. If not, you're still searching for shoes, but you can at least control whether you should bid higher or lower based on supply and demand.

This is similar to how bidding on ad inventory works – except that for ad inventory, the time in which the auction occurs is instantaneous and in real-time.

Next week we'll dive into The Coupon Code Analogy, which explains how Deal IDs facilitate private marketplaces.

Interested in other Centro resources that will help you dominate the digital media space? Reach out to [email protected].

"Marketers can now target audiences based on page-level demographic data, predicted viewability and brand protection parameters on ad-tech provider Centro's demand-side platform (DSP) -- enhancements made possible by Centro's long-term deals with comScore and DoubleVerify."

Read more in MediaPost.

Centro Provides Marketers with Easy-to-Use Programmatic Advertising Software with Robust Viewability, Demographic and Brand Safety Audience Targeting Options

 

Chicago – June 14, 2017 – Centro (centro.net), a provider of enterprise-class software for digital advertising, today announced the addition of more targeting capabilities within its platform, powered by longstanding partners comScore (www.comscore.com) and DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com). In Centro DSP, named a top DSP by software ratings site G2 Crowd, marketers have new options to easily find audiences based on page-level demographics, predicted viewability, or brand protection parameters. Centro is the cross-channel digital advertising solution of choice for marketers of any size that want robust features in an easy-to-use and accessible platform. For a demo, visit: centro.net/products/dsp-programmatic-advertising.

 

Programmatic advertising is becoming a marketing requisite for a wide variety of organizations, and this requires adoption and learning of powerful tools for reaching and engaging audiences in real-time across the web. However, premium-grade technology for programmatic advertising are normally only available to a limited set of large marketers that can commit hundreds of thousands in ad spend per month. For marketers that want to use demand-side platforms that are competitive with the technology used by their larger peers, Centro offers a solution with sophisticated capabilities and diverse partner integrations, yet is simple to use and adapt.

 

“When using Centro’s technology, customers are assured that we continue to evaluate and add the most useful and relevant digital marketing tools for their business,” said Katie Risch, SVP of software client solutions at Centro. “We’ve continued to hone and develop Centro DSP to access innovative partners and rich data without compromising on the user experience.”

 

Here are additional details on new targeting features on Centro DSP:

• Audience composition (via comScore) – enables users to target web pages with a high composition of their target audience demographic, leveraging the same industry-leading panel that powers the comScore Media Metrix suite; this can be used as a cost-efficient alternative or supplement to cookie-based demographic audience targeting.
• Enhanced predicted viewability (via comScore and DoubleVerify) – enables users to target inventory pre-bid based on predicted viewability; this is enhanced by data about page URL and ad size.
• Brand safety and contextual targeting (via DoubleVerify) – predetermines if impressions (URL or App ID and ad placement) that the advertiser is bidding on meets its brand safety expectations so that it does not pursue audiences on content or sites that would be blocked. Combined with contextual targeting segments, advertisers can increase reach with brand protections.
• Fraud protection (via DoubleVerify) – avoids sites which are fraudulent or have heavy bot fraud traffic.

 

New comScore targeting capabilities add to its existing pre-bid segments already available in Centro DSP, such as brand safety, invalid traffic, keyword targeting or avoidance, contextual categories, and content language.

 

One of the industry’s most accessible programmatic ad platforms, Centro DSP provides advertisers with capabilities to engage consumers on every media channel, ad format and device type. It provides media professionals of all skill levels with a flexible interface and intuitive design, and is supported by a dedicated customer success team. Centro DSP is also available as an integrated tool in Centro Platform, a software solution for agencies that unifies digital media planning, buying and optimization across publisher-direct and programmatic advertising.

 

About Centro

Centro (centro.net) is a provider of enterprise-class software for digital advertising organizations. Its technology platform centralizes, organizes and automates all digital media campaigns across all channels, accessing both guaranteed and biddable inventory, to achieve any objective. Our holistic approach gives marketers a single system of record to fulfill their research, planning, buying, optimization, reporting and reconciliation needs. Headquartered in Chicago with 32 offices in North America, Centro has received numerous accolades for its commitment to employees and workplace culture.

 

# # #

 

Contact:

Anthony Loredo

[email protected]

646-462-4888

Next up in our ad tech analogies series: The Concert Ticket Analogy, which explains the difference between preferred deals, private marketplaces, and the open marketplace.

For the purposes of this analogy, let's pretend I have tickets to a Rolling Stones concert and, it turns out, I'm not able to go and I need to figure out a way to sell my tickets.

The first person I ask before anyone else is my friend at work, and I ask if she wants to buy the tickets from me at their fixed rate value. I'm giving her the privilege of a first look or first right to refuse to buy, and I'm offering the tickets for the amount I paid. If she wants to buy them? Great, we're done, and we just negotiated a preferred deal. If she doesn't? I need to reach out to other people and find another way to monetize these tickets.

So, I send an email to the company's all-employee distribution list – which functions like a private marketplace, because it's a private environment of select people (or, in programmatic terms, select buyers and sellers). I ask who wants to buy the tickets. First-come, first-serve, and I'll give them to the highest bidder. If someone offers to buy them? Great, sold. If not, then I try again to monetize through another avenue.

I could post the tickets on sites like StubHub, Craigslist, or eBay – which are open to all buyers. This is like an open marketplace, because it allows a larger pool of users to access it and it's more likely to be sold this way.

Next week we'll dive into The Black Shoe Analogy, which explains the benefit of buying from a DSP in real-time.

Interested in other Centro resources that will help you dominate the digital media space? Reach out to [email protected].

"Many DSPs now offer to shoulder the burden of setting up private marketplace deals for their clients. Recently Centro, which services smaller agencies and brands, joined that group and can tap into 1,000 private marketplace deals it set up with 150 publishers."

Read more in AdExchanger.

Next up in our ad tech analogies series: The Nordstrom analogy, which explains the daisy chain/waterfall process of monetizing inventory.

In programmatic, the daisy chain/waterfall process is a technique publishers use to sell and make the most money out of their inventory. Publishers work to exhaust as series of demand sources to make sure their inventory ultimately gets sold.

Centro Brand Exchange, for example, is first in the daisy chain/waterfall and has first look at the inventory it sells. Meaning anything the seller doesn't sell directly will go to Centro Brand Exchange to be sold before it goes anywhere else.

This is similar to what happens in retail. Think about Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack. When Nordstrom doesn't sell out of its clothing inventory or the clothes they sell change every season and Nordstrom needs to get rid of it, the inventory will go to Nordstrom Rack to be sold. If it doesn't get sold at Nordstrom Rack? Then it might go to Marshalls, or T.J. Maxx – and so on and so forth.

It doesn't matter if it's clothing or ad inventory: As it gets farther from the source, it tends to reduce in quality, because it's been picked over and passed on, leaving the undesirable – and usually cheaper – inventory on the table. It's something to keep in mind when buying programmatically.

Next week we'll dive into the concert ticket analogy, which explains the difference between preferred deals, private marketplaces, and the open marketplace.

Interested in other Centro resources that will help you dominate the digital media space? Reach out to [email protected].

At Centro, we know that keeping up with the trade pubs and latest trends can be tough and time consuming. To make that easier, we've compiled all the articles, reports, and other bits of awesomeness you may have missed, but should definitely read. Enjoy our latest list below!

2017 Internet Trends Report
Mary Meeker's annual Internet Trends report explores where the industry sits right now, along with solid projections on where the growth opportunities exist. The report includes a look at the continued disruption of media — with an emphasis on how digital is evolving, the growth of online advertising, the impact of interactive games beyond just gaming, and much more over the course of 355 slides (up from 213 last year).

The Disappearing Computer
After 26 years of writing nearly every week about personal technology, Walt Mossberg's final column dives into how far technology has come, along with a handful of predictions on what we can expect in the future. His main prediction is ambient computing, where all the technology that has (literally) been in our faces will become not just a seemingly natural extension of our lives, but won't even be noticeable. Related: Check out Steven Johnson's book How We Got to Now to learn how past innovations became inconspicuous.

Marketers are Skeptical of Google's New Attribution Tool
Google has rolled out a new free tool called Google Attribution, in an attempt to make attribution across Google Analytics, AdWords, and DoubleClick more accessible to marketers, though many marketing executives are cautious about the lack of "separation from church and state."

Hulu's Newfront Announcements
In addition to the much-anticipated launch of Hulu's live TV services, the company announced a slew of other new and in-development offerings like 360 video ads, shoppable interactive ads, and partnerships with Samba TV and Nielsen. Related: Shortly after Newfronts, the IAB released new research, The Changing TV Experience Study, and an updated Video Landscape Report.

Mobile-First to Mobile-Always: Create the Right Customer Experience
How do we better meet customer needs in an increasingly mobile-focused world, shifting from 'mobile-first' to 'mobile-always'?

What's Next for Bots on Facebook Messenger
Facebook's VP of messaging products shares his team's focus to make Facebook Messenger reinvent how people interact with businesses and services — which could range from customer support to more streamlined and personalized transactions.

Instagram Direct Messages Expands Support
While it is one-third the size of Facebook Messenger, Instagram's Direct messaging feature added support for external web links and the ability to send photos and video in their original aspect ratios. Watch this space for more developments and potential monetization opportunities.

15-Second Ads Coming to Amazon's Alexa
VoiceLabs will place audio ads inside Skills — third-party Alexa apps — offering 6-15 second audio ads to consumers following a news update or an audio stream.

Facebook, Snapchat Power Augmented Reality Well Past VR
With the addition of new features and the growing popularity of Snapchat Lenses, Facebook Stories, and Instagram Stories, augmented reality is expected to grow 30% this year (outpacing VR adoption in 2017).

The Advantage Chicago Has Over Silicon Valley
Could Chicago be the next Silicon Valley? On the heels of a KPMG report citing Chicago as a contender to be an international hub for innovation, this article makes a case for the Windy City.

June’s DIAL is also available as a PDF. Download here!

It's no secret that programmatic has exploded in recent years – and while it's opened up opportunity in the industry, it also means we're inundated with unfamiliar jargon, fancy new technologies, too many resources and platforms to count, and new ways of doing business. It's easy to feel overwhelmed and no one would blame you if you found it hard to keep up.

But, with 2017 set to be another benchmark year in programmatic media, it's become increasingly important to understand the tools we're using in the industry. To help with that, we've created a new series on our blog that's meant to break down this crazy, cluttered industry we call digital media into bite-sized and easy to understand analogies.

First up: the mall analogy, which explains the relationship between DSPs and ad exchanges.

How could DSPs and exchanges possibly relate to a shopping mall? Let's talk programmatic: a DSP is the mall, and the ad exchanges are the stores within the mall. Just like you'd go to the mall to buy clothes from a bunch of stores that stock different inventory, you'd go to a DSP to access ad inventory from a bunch of exchanges at the same time.

Let's get even more specific: Think of an ad exchange as Gap. Gap can be found in the mall, or multiple malls, or at its standalone brick-and-mortar store. That's exactly how you should picture exchanges working. Exchanges can integrate with a few DSPs or with every single DSP on the market. Meaning some exchanges are widely accessible or more accessible than others – just like a clothing store. And some exchanges are specialty and focus on specific types of inventory – just like stores in the mall.

Think of it this way: You can get a lot of the same items at different stores. Going to the mall to buy a white T-shirt? You can buy it at Gap, or you could get it at Sears, or Nordstrom. The shirts might differ in quality and price, but they're all white T-shirts. And that rings true of exchanges, too. Not all exchanges offer the same quality of inventory or the same price, but they sell similar things.

Next week we'll dive into the Nordstrom analogy, which explains the waterfall process of monetizing inventory. In the meantime, interested in other Centro resources that will help you dominate the digital media space? Reach out to [email protected].

"Ad tech is rife with shady characters. Until now, questionable behavior has frequently gone unchallenged. That's about to change."

Read more in Advertising Age from Centro's Ian Trider about how ads.txt can fight ad fraud.