For such a relatively simple concept — matching the right message with the right audience at the right time — the world of digital advertising often seems overly complex. No sooner does a conversation about programmatic begin than people begin employing terms and acronyms with little regard to whether newcomers understand any of it. Here is a handy set of commonly used terms you need to know:
- Buyer: An advertiser or agency that is looking to purchase ad space.
- Seller: The publisher or owner of a web site that has ad space to sell.
- Programmatic: As defined by Winterberry, programmatic is automation technology through which media buyers and sellers align organizational processes in support of ongoing, channel-agnostic customer engagement (and allowing for the continuous optimization of that effort as business strategies evolve).
- DSP: A DSP, or Demand Side Platform, is the technology behind programmatic. The DSP facilitates the buying of display advertising auctions, matching audience data with inventory from multiple media sites to put ads in front of target consumers at the right times. The DSP uses sophisticated targeting and optimization algorithms to establish the value of a given impression and place a bid automatically. MediaMath is considered to be the first DSP, a term it coined when the company began in 2007.
- SSP: The flip side of the Demand Side Platform, SSPs — standing for Sell Side Platforms — supply publishers with technology to help optimize their advertising revenues by using one vendor to work with multiple demand-side channels, including Ad Networks, Ad Exchanges and DSPs.
- RTB: Stands for real-time bidding. RTB places a valuation and bids on individual impressions through the Internet in real-time. The transactions take place on online media exchange platforms.
- Online Media Exchanges/Ad Exchanges: These are the virtual marketplaces that connect sellers (the website publishers) and buyers (advertisers). In an Ad Exchange, a buyer or bidder specifies the media they want and how much they’re willing to pay, while the sellers specifies the inventory available and sets a minimum bid price for that inventory. These exchanges work with both Ad Networks and with DSPs.
- Ad Network: Think of a network as a middleman that connects advertisers with publishers. These Ad Networks often use a proprietary technology to place display advertising across various sources of publisher inventory, buying that ad space in bulk. Ad Networks work directly with publishers and with Ad Exchanges.
- Online Data Providers: Third party companies (such as Nielsen, Experian, LiveRamp and others) that help advertisers and their agencies identify target consumers and the behaviors that go along with them. MediaMath, through its OPEN portal, seamlessly connects buyers with over 250 partners in the OPEN partner marketplace.
- Data Exchanges: An online auction marketplace that enables advertisers to acquire the data from Online Data Providers.
- Transparency: The goal of true programmatic advertising is to ensure there is no discrepancy as to where ad spend goes. Transparency provides buyers with a complete understanding as to how much each impression is worth and where those impressions are placed online.
Review these terms and expand your programmatic knowledge by visiting the New Marketing Institute website or signing up for their Level 1 Certification: Introduction to Digital Media.
This blog post is the second in a series for marketers that are curious about programmatic technology and would like to educate themselves on the value it can provide.
Keep up with this series by following the Building Block Series tag on the blog.
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