What You Need to Know About Programmatic Advertising

In the past, real-life human beings were solely responsible for buying and placing ads on media platforms. If that sounds incredibly inefficient to you, it’s because it was. Humans are prone to mistakes, forget things, call in sick, show up hungover, etc. Compared to machines, humans are slow and a lot less capable of handling ad buys at scale.

To make up for our shortcomings, advertisers have increasingly turned to programmatic advertising technologies to facilitate the process of buying and placing ads. By 2023, U.S. advertisers will dedicate more than 91 percent of their total digital display spending to programmatic ad buys, according to eMarketer.

U.S. programmatic digital display advertising spending

(in billions and % of total digital display ad spending)

 

With the ability to scale and automate complex tasks, programmatic technologies are already a dominant force in digital marketing. And, programmatic will only become more valuable as agencies and tech companies introduce ways to make the process even more efficient. To make sure your brand can take full advantage of the opportunity, here’s an introduction to programmatic advertising and what it can do for you.

What exactly does programmatic advertising mean?

Programmatic advertising is the practice of using technology to automate the buying and selling of ad impressions on media platforms. These impressions could be for digital display banners, native advertising, online video ads and a myriad of other ad types.

What is the primary function of programmatic technology?

In terms of the ad buying process, the main function of programmatic technology is to automate the bidding process of auctions that occur in real time when users visit webpages and websites serve ads. These real-time auctions allow advertisers to buy ad impressions and publishers to sell advertising space at scale.

How does programmatic technology automate bidding?

In a programmatic setting, publishers serve ads dynamically based on the individual user visiting a webpage or app, thereby limiting impression waste by focusing on the right users in the right place at the right time. To do this, publishers use real-time auctions to determine which ad shows each time a user visits one of their webpages or app screens.

For example, let’s say you visit a webpage. When you click on the URL, the browser sends information about you (e.g., demographic information and online behaviors) and the webpage (e.g., main page topics) to a series of platforms that handle the buying and selling of ad impressions.

Upon receiving the information, these platforms initiate an auction to determine what ads you’ll see on the page. The auction’s buyers are brand advertisers and their media/tech partners who set targeting criteria to determine how much they’re willing to pay to get their ad in front of specific audiences.

Using a process called “real-time bidding,” these platforms can handle this auction – along with billions of others each day – in the milliseconds between the time you land on the page and when all the content loads.

Why is programmatic ad buying a good thing for advertisers?

The biggest reason is what we just alluded to – programmatic ad buying allows advertisers to target ads based on specific consumers rather than having to buy set inventory directly from publishers. This type of ad buying allows your brand to focus more on who you’re serving the ad to, than where the ad displays.

Programmatic ad buying allows brands to focus on who they’re servings ads to, rather than where they’re serving the ad. Click To Tweet

Another benefit to advertisers who partner with a programmatic agency like Mindstream Media Group? We have certified programmatic traders working in tandem with platform AI to monitor and optimize campaigns, combining human strategy and ad technology to achieve the most efficient results.

Who are the major players in programmatic advertising?

Remember how we mentioned there are a series of platforms that handle the buying and selling of ad impressions? Well, that series includes a fairly intricate roster of platforms and vendors to make sure the right ads from the right brands get in front of the most relevant consumers. To give you a closer look at the logistics of programmatic advertising, here’s a brief overview of the major players:

Brands

The companies that are looking to reach target audiences with their advertising messages.

Media agencies

The vendor partners that connect brands with programmatic platforms and develop campaign strategies.

Demand-side platforms (DSPs)

The platforms that help advertisers and agencies analyze available inventory and adjust bidding strategies in real-time.

Ad exchanges

The platforms that handle the buying and selling of programmatic ads (i.e., where the real-time auctions take place).

Supply-side platforms (SSPs)

These platforms help publishers identify audience segments, manage price points and facilitate sales across ad exchanges.

Publishers

The companies that sell ad impressions on the websites, platforms and apps they own.

Audiences

The people who view the ads on publishers’ websites and apps.

Programmatic-Overview

If your brand is already leveraging programmatic advertising, check out this blog on how to make sure you’re getting the most out of your campaigns. If you haven’t started running programmatic campaigns yet, contact Mindstream Media Group to learn how our innovative display solution can help fast-forward your business.

Editor’s note:  This post was originally published in April 2019 and has been updated for freshness and accuracy.

What You Need to Know About Native Advertising

Let’s talk about a massive advertising opportunity that has been flying under the radar for a lot of advertisers. It’s not that advertisers have ignored this opportunity, it’s more that they don’t really understand it. The opportunity we’re talking about is native advertising – a misunderstood format with serious potential for brands.

In 2021, U.S. advertisers will spend over $57 billion on native ads, which represents almost two-thirds of all digital display spending. In other words, it’s a pretty big deal. Still, even in the marketing and advertising worlds, not everyone is 100 percent sure what native advertising even means or what types of ads fall under its umbrella.

Some of that uncertainty lies in the nomenclature. When someone says “TV commercial” or “paid search ad” it’s fairly simple to figure out what they mean. But “native advertising” isn’t as intuitive. So, let’s take some time to peel back the layers of this [native advertising] onion and help marketers like you understand how to incorporate native advertising into your Q4 2021 and 2022 media strategy.

What is native advertising?

Let’s start with a softball question: what is native advertising? Here’s a simple definition from our friends at eMarketer:

“Digital display ads that follow the form, feel and function of the content of the media on which they appear, be it a webpage or an app.”

The key to native advertising is its non-disruptive nature. Ads don’t really look like ads; they integrate so smoothly with the page content and design they feel natural or “native.”

What do native ads look like?

Native ads come in several formats and on a variety of channels and platforms. Here’s a look at some of the more popular native ad formats.

In-feed ads

In-feed ads are paid social media posts that display in users’ feeds along with organic posts, usually with the denotation “Promoted” near the top of the post.

Native advertising - In-feed ads

Sponsored content

Sponsored content includes ads for online articles, blog posts and other content pieces that show up in the sponsored content section on publisher sites (typically below an article from that publisher).

Native advertising - Sponsored content

In-app reward videos

In-app reward videos appear in mobile apps and reward users for watching (e.g., Pandora videos that offer extended periods of uninterrupted listening after users watch them).

In app reward videos

How can I use native ads in my digital media strategy?

For creative advertisers, native ads offer plenty of opportunities to drive results throughout the consumer buying journey. The key is focusing on your target audiences’ needs, demonstrating how you provide value to those audiences and building purposeful campaigns. After you lock in those three components, it’s a lot easier to decide which formats to use.

Focusing on your target audience

Before you start building your campaign, make sure you have a clear idea of the types of consumers you’re trying to reach. Conduct in-depth research into your target audience to figure out their needs and wants, what media channels they frequent and how they prefer to interact with brands.

Demonstrating your value

Once you understand your audiences, identify how your products and services address their needs. Your ad messaging should center on that value proposition in a way that resonates with specific consumers.

Building campaigns with a purpose

Ask yourself “what specific results do I want native advertising campaigns to drive for my brand?” Make sure your team understands what you’re trying to accomplish and the metrics you plan to measure success against.

What does the future have in store for native advertising?

2021 is already a huge year for native advertising. Despite slower growth in 2020 due to the pandemic, native ad spending grew by over two billion dollars in 2020 and has increased by over 22 billion since 2018.

U.S. native digital display ad spending

 

Mobile channels, programmatic platforms and social networks are the main drivers behind this increase. And, since there’s a lot of overlap between the channels, there are plenty of opportunities to run campaigns that incorporate all three.

Native ad formats like video and sponsored articles are becoming more popular as well, which has taken a chunk out of social media’s share of the ad spend. But social ads will still account for around three-quarters of native ad spend in the foreseeable future.

Percentage of native ad spending

 

There’s also a lot of growth happening in native advertising. Ad tech companies are building out the infrastructure necessary to handle large-scale programmatic native advertising campaigns that have:

  • The ability to test multiple creative messages
  • More sophisticated audience targeting
  • Better tracking and measuring capabilities

For brands, this means the already warm waters of native advertising should heat up even more with increased engagement and higher conversions. If your brand is interested in diving in, contact Mindstream Media Group to learn how our native advertising solutions can help Fast-Forward Your Business.

Editor’s note:  This post was originally published in March 2019 and has been updated for freshness and accuracy.

Harness the Power of TikTok for Your Brand

Thanks to its engaging and interactive environment, TikTok is the perfect platform for brands to connect with consumers in an entertaining way. The short-form video app allows users to create 15 to 60-second videos with filters, musical overlays, effects, text and stickers. The ability to create videos up to 3 minutes in length is now in the process of being rolled out platform-wide to give users even more flexibility to express themselves creatively. Since COVID-19 hit in early 2020, users have been creating new trends and tactics to engage with each other weekly. With the continuous rise of the platform’s popularity and user base, brands can interact with users by producing organic videos, creating paid advertisements or partnering with influencers.

How it Works

To post organically, brands must first create a TikTok profile. The account will then be verified by a platform rep. Making your own videos and creating easy trends to engage users is highly encouraged. The best piece of advice? “Don’t make ads, make TikToks.” The majority of users go onto the app to find funny and engaging content. TikTokers crave inspiration and love discovering new things. In fact, 67 percent believe that the platform gives them ideas about new brands and products.

Videos, influencers and ads are displayed on the platform’s main feed, or “For You” page (FYP). The FYP curates videos created in the last 90 days giving them a chance to be seen by many users or even go viral. Because trends change weekly on TikTok’s fast-moving platform, businesses should upload content that is up-to-date and encourages user interaction and creativity. An informal approach to advertising as opposed to the media-focused approach typically used on other platforms, such as Facebook tends to work best.

Why Use TikTok?

TikTok is the fastest-growing social platform and a newfound place in which advertisers can get noticed. Paid advertising on TikTok is a great option for businesses who are wanting to expand their brand awareness within the platform. Organically, the platform has excelled, and now with a multitude of advertising options available, it has become a place for consumer brand discovery and a wealth of unplanned purchases—much to the delight of advertisers. Users associate products with TikTok because the platform makes it easy for organic posts to go viral. For example, in the “TikTok made me buy it” trend users share an item they first saw used on TikTok, which leads other users to go out of their way to find and buy the product.

Audiences

With nearly 79 million U.S. users, the platform is highly popular among younger audiences, specifically Gen Z (born 1997 – 2015) and Millennials (born 1981 – 1996). In fact, these two generations account for approximately 83 percent of the TikTok users in the U.S. As ‘trendsetters’ within the platform they tend to create new content regularly. Creatively speaking, the platform is flooded with new trends weekly which has helped contribute to its rise in popularity.

Advertisers can choose to target based on demographics such as age or gender, and geographic location by state or DMA. Interest targeting based on the videos a user may be interested in seeing is also available. Behavioral targeting focuses on how the user recently interacted with videos and creators within the platform.

Custom audience features are available for clients who are interested in targeting consumers who have already engaged with their business. To use these, clients must upload a list with a minimum audience size of 1,000 that matches with app users. The lookalike audience feature can then be used to help advertisers find new audiences with similar interests as their current customers.

How Advertisers Can Leverage TikTok

Advertisers can choose from the following objectives for their paid TikTok campaigns:

  • Awareness/Reach
  • Consideration/Traffic
  • Conversions
  • Video Views
  • App Installs

Campaigns can be optimized for impressions, clicks, video views or conversions. We recommend that clients start with the brand awareness objective to help align future ads with their audience. TikTok does have an option to incorporate a pixel on the client’s site, which can help optimize campaign ad delivery, build out marketing audiences and measure ad performance. With iOS 14, the platform is following similar approaches as Facebook, primarily by establishing a 7-day click-through. TikTok will also support measurement and optimization based on SKAdNetwork API. Below are the advertising opportunities currently available:

  1. Top View
    • National buy.
    • Ads appear when a user first opens the app.
  2. In-feed Native Video
    • 5-15 second video ads that show up on the “For You” page.
    • In-feed video is still the only format bought in the self-serve ads manager platform. Minimum campaign spend is just $25 per day.
  3. Hashtag Challenge
    • National buy.
    • Sponsored hashtags encourage user-generated content, engage users and attract influencers.
    • Minimum budget of $130K.
  4. Brand Takeover & Top View Takeover
    • National buy.
    • Brands can choose an image, GIF or video ad to dominate a specific topic for the day.
  5. Boosted TikToks
    • Promote organic posts.
  6. Branded Effect
    • Lenses that users can try out for themselves.
    • Lenses are created by the in-house TikTok creative team.

Brands can allow users to download videos from their ad campaigns if there is a special promotion they are offering to users through the video. Brands also have the ability to turn off user commenting and may disable the video download feature if they do not want users saving brand videos for their own personal use.

Ads in Action

With TikTok’s ability to reach younger audiences and geo-target at the DMA level, the platform aligns with the current Gold’s Gym media strategy. An initial test of the platform is now underway to determine if awareness from TikTok can drive incremental memberships and free passes.

 

   

Creative Best Practices

Creative uploaded to TikTok should be vertical video format with music and/or voiceovers. To amplify the user and brand experience, video assets should look native and fit the ad specs ratio 9:16. There are also text and video editing options within the native app.

Brands and users alike are encouraged to be authentic, showing your truest, most genuine self. Going hand-in-hand with authenticity is showing your human side. TikTok users would much rather see the face(s) behind a brand as opposed to all products, all the time. Let your personality shine through and show the people and emotions behind your brand.

To encourage interaction and engagement with users, ask questions, invite them to create their own videos using your brand and make sure to keep the conversation going.

Pay attention to trends, challenges and hashtags. Find new trends on your Discovery page and create your own content with a unique spin to catch users’ attention.

While trend awareness and participation are a must, TikTok is also a place for brands to get creative to test playful, lighthearted content that may not fit on other social channels. TikTok is a great platform to test new content and gauge your followers’ reactions.

Sometimes it’s not about creating great advertising; instead, it’s about creating great entertainment. Tell a story, keep it joyful and have fun.

Top Takeaways

  • Sound and visuals are key when uploading content to TikTok.
  • There are nearly 79 million TikTok users in the U.S.
  • Trends are important, but brands also need to get creative and add their own spin to get noticed.
  • Don’t make ads, make TikToks—engaging content that gets users eager to interact.

Not sure if TikTok is the right platform for your brand or need help getting started? Contact us to discuss the potential for tapping into audiences that align with your marketing objectives and social media strategy.

Prime Day 2021

My favorite season is upon us and while shoppers prepare to snag the best deals, retailers are preparing for their biggest year yet. Amazon’s 48-hour Prime Day event kicks off on June 21 and sales from the promotion are expected to approach $12 billion worldwide. While annual growth will be slower again this year, Prime Day 2021 will still smash last year’s sales record by nearly $2 billion.

Prime Day Sales Worldwide

eMarketer laid out their outlook:

  • In 2021, U.S. ecommerce sales across all retailers during the Prime Day sales event will grow by 17.3% year over year to $12.18 billion, per our estimates. That’s an increase of almost $2 billion in spending compared with 2020.
  • We expect Amazon’s share of U.S. ecommerce sales during Prime Day to stay almost the same this year as last year, despite competition from other retailers.
  • U.S. ecommerce sales on Amazon will account for 60.0% ($7.31 billion) of all U.S. retail ecommerce sales during Prime Day 2021, compared with 59.4% ($6.17 billion) during Prime Day 2020.

What’s Different

As if 2020 and 2021 weren’t upside down already, Prime Day is moving up in the retail calendar from traditional mid-July timing to late-June which is likely to find shoppers in a summer state of mind. As a result, forecasts are estimating higher sales in summer apparel and gear for outdoor activities. However, it could also prompt an earlier start to the back-to-school shopping season with forward-thinking college students and parents getting a jump start on supplies shopping.

While the focus of Prime Day sales might be on an apparel and outdoor goods, “revenge shopping” is likely to enter the equation as well. The newly coined term has been used to describe a rush of post-pandemic discretionary spending and could result in a boost to luxury brands and nonessential product categories. Although the pandemic is still a factor, the impact this year will be from the release of pent-up demand for products not purchased as a result of lockdowns and restrictions.

Amazon is also giving small businesses on the platform a boost by offering additional exclusive promotions. Prime members can now purchase from over 300,000 small business sellers worldwide and get a $10 credit from Amazon to use during Prime Day.

Amazon Domination

A whopping 60.4 percent of U.S. households were Prime users in 2020. After a 15.7 percent increase in membership last year, subscriptions are expected to grow just 4.8 percent in 2021 bringing the total to 81.4 million households.

What’s noteworthy here is the increase in the younger demographic flocking to the ease and allure of Prime membership. According to an April 2021 survey conducted by Insider Intelligence and Bizrate Insights, 79 percent of U.S. consumers ages 18 to 34 said they were Prime members or someone in their household was a Prime member, compared with 69 percent of consumers ages 35 to 54 and 61 percent of consumers 55 and over.

Although competing retailers like Walmart and Target will have deals of their own during the Prime Day window, Amazon will continue to dominate sales. In fact, the ecommerce giant is expected to rake in $7.31 billion or about 60 percent of all U.S. retail ecommerce sales during the Prime Day event.

One thing is clear, Prime Day offers tremendous opportunities for brands and consumers alike. In addition to its ecommerce platform, Amazon has also secured its stronghold in the advertising landscape and is the third-largest ad seller in the country. At Mindstream Media Group, our Amazon Certified Programmatic Traders help clients maximize return on ad spend with programmatic display, audio and video ads placed through the Amazon DSP. Click here to learn more about the platform and how we can help.


Contributed by Meagan Cox, Senior Media Planner. As much a strategic thinker as a certainty to make you laugh, Meagan knows the ins and outs of digital and traditional media, is consistently contributing to client growth and can transform an otherwise business-as-usual discussion into a joyous occasion by adding in her own unique brand of humor.