In every field, every industry, and in almost every way, the world keeps moving more towards automated processes.
For publishers filling online ad space, the introduction of automation has presented an efficiency previously not available. It better optimizes ad space, with more stable placements, less wasted inventory, and higher guaranteed return on that inventory.
Hands-On Ad Buying
Prior to automation, publishers would see a great deal of their ad inventory go to waste. In essence, it took more time for them to fill less ad space.
Before the introduction of automation, ad buying was a human-based process.
For any single ad placement, a buyer and salesperson had to come together, discuss, negotiate, and agree on a deal. This included manually filled-out RFPs and insertion orders.
Manual paperwork and human negotiations, as you could imagine, took up a lot of time for both ad buyers and sellers.
In Comes Programmatic
Programmatic ad buying is the process of automated ad buying, where it is not human beings in contact with one another, but software.
Now, human interaction with ad buying happens almost entirely before the process begins. Human ad buyers and sellers essentially lay the infrastructure for the process, and automation does the rest.
The waters get a bit murky when considering the process of programmatic ad buying, however. While most understand its benefits, not everyone truly understands how the process actually works.
So then, how does the process work?
As you’ll see (in a forthcoming post), there have been advancements just within the programmatic process itself. To understand those advancements, however, it’s important to know how the traditional process plays out.
