Programmatic Buying: Demystifying the Private Marketplace (PMP)

Transcription

1 Programmatic Buying: Demystifying the Private Marketplace (PMP) August 2015 VIEWPOINTS

2 Programmatic Buying: Demystifying the Private Marketplace (PMP) Alex Andreyev Vishal Taneja Alejandro Correa 1

3 Contents 3 Introduction 3 What is a PMP? 4 Benefits of PMPs 5 When to use a PMP 6 Considerations when leveraging PMPs 7 Conclusion 2

4 Introduction Advertising technology has dramatically changed the relationship between the media buyer and the content owner. It is now possible to launch and manage entire digital media campaigns across all channels and on the best placements with minimal negotiation and human interaction. Media buying methods have advantages and disadvantages. Direct buys offer great control and insights, but buys can be expensive and require lead time. Programmatic is quick to execute and cost effective, but there may be a lack of transparency. The private marketplace, or PMP, offers benefits from both. Currently, most publishers offer PMPs and content owners aggressively promote them to buyers. emarketer estimates that programmatic will be 63% of total digital display ad spending in the U.S. by 2016, with private marketplaces expected to make up 28% of that spend. 1 What is a PMP? A PMP is a publisher-owned exchange with unreserved inventory available to a select group of advertisers by invitation only. The PMP usually requires human interaction between buyers and sellers and the buy is executed programmatically (i.e. via a DSP). In regards to the publisher waterfall, which will be addressed later in this Viewpoint, PMPs sit between automated guarantees that are reserved, fixed-price buys executed through programmatic toolsets and open-auction buys that are open to a broader market. We leverage programmatic terms as defined by the IAB and consider both unreserved, fixed-rate buys and invitation-only auctions as PMPs. 2 While PMPs and programmatic buying have been heavily discussed over the past years, technical capabilities and publisher expertise are still in their infancy and lack standardization. As publishers develop more complex inventory strategies, waterfall or otherwise, programmatic executions often overlap with open marketplace and vary across PMP deals

5 Example of a Typical Publisher Waterfall Benefits of PMPs For the advertiser From the advertiser s perspective, the benefits of PMPs are a combination of both direct/automated guaranteed and open auction methods. These benefits include buying control, inventory access, speed of optimization and transparency. PMPs blend the buying controls of direct buys and audience-based open auctions by enabling the advertiser to manage the environment of placements with full transparency and audiencebased targeting precision. The programmatic platform also allows the process of decisioning creative messages to the individual to be more fluid than direct buys. The PMP s elevated position in the publisher s waterfall allows the advertiser to access inventory that might not be available in an open exchange or not available in sufficient quantities. A PMP allows advertisers to make immediate modifications to the targeting criteria to increase campaign performance. This is an enormous improvement over the direct buy approach, which would likely have less granular targeting and would require days and significant resources to implement changes to the targeting criteria. For the publisher Publishers organize the multiple buy types to optimize the monetization of media inventory. One of the most widespread strategies is the waterfall. The waterfall is based on a set of rules that 4

6 prioritizes the order that inventory is assigned in order to maximize revenue in a market where supply outweighs demand. In an ideal scenario, the publisher would sell all inventory within direct/automated guaranteed thereby reserving all inventory at the highest price. Since the demand of reserved inventory does not meet the supply, remaining inventory was shifted to ad networks and open exchanges. The prices commanded in networks and open exchanges have been a steep decline from reserved inventory. The incorporation of the PMP into the waterfall allows invited advertisers to access unreserved inventory before it flows into the open markets. Publishers are able to command higher price premiums (through price floors), which can arguably be more valuable to advertisers with the added layer of data. This effectively reduces the volume of inventory sold in the open market at remnant prices. Publishers can also capitalize on PMPs by requiring advertisers to lock in larger, longer-term contracts for direct and/or PMP purchased activity as a price of entry. Example: A publisher has a PMP with a few advertisers bidding on impressions. In order to allow the transaction to occur, the advertisers have to pay above a minimum price, which varies by advertiser. Ideally for the publisher, one advertiser would outbid the others above the minimum price. If the impression is auctioned and the advertisers fail to meet the minimum price, the publisher would sell the impression on an open exchange to a buyer that wouldn t necessarily know the premium of the environment and likely only be willing to bid a fraction of the price. When to use a PMP? You may want to consider adding a PMP to your strategy if the following criteria apply. When business-critical publisher environments have scarce inventory or are blocked entirely within the open exchanges available to the advertiser. There is a business need to overlay data-informed audience targeting in order to tailor ad messages to the individual within critical publisher environments that are currently purchased via a direct buy. High importance is placed on controlling the environment that the ads run (vs. open exchange), which would include maintaining parameters and transparency for direct buys. o Parameters could include transacting on viewability, which would be easier in a PMP vs. the open market, because the publisher has greater control and can adjust the price to reflect a viewable metric for an advertiser. o Most applicable for brand advertisers. 5

7 Considerations when leveraging PMPs When evaluating a PMP, consider the following points to determine if a specific publisher has the right offering for your strategy. What is the publisher s role within the campaign strategy? o The publisher s role within an advertiser s strategy will determine if or which type of PMP agreement is appropriate (e.g. With fixed rate/preferred deals for partners activity is intended to be evergreen vs. invitation-only auction deals, which might be opportunistic only). How is the publisher s current waterfall structured? o Understanding the publisher s waterfall is important to assessing the value of a PMP offering (e.g. evaluating the pricing models and costs in relationship to the priority status vs. the open markets and direct buys). What are the current PMP offerings? o Not all publishers have the same offerings. If the current offerings are closely aligned with the advertiser s objectives, setting up a new PMP deal for the advertiser can happen quickly. If there is a need to create a model that better suits the advertiser s PMP strategy, it will take more time and resources to implement a custom PMP. How many other advertisers have entered into the PMP (both active and non-active)? o The number of advertisers within a publisher s PMP can range from a handful to hundreds. With fewer active advertisers, less competition should result in more effective pricing and high win rates. What are the PMP agreement parameters? o Elements would include: bidding price floors, fix pricing, minimum-spend commitments. How much inventory is/would be available in this PMP and will it deliver significant scale to the advertiser s target audience? o If there is low inventory volume in relation to the advertiser s needs, the resources in setting up and maintaining an agreement might not be justified by the ROI. How much inventory is available on the open exchange? o If there is sufficient scale within the open exchange available at highly discounted prices, establishing a PMP relationship with a partner might not be necessary or cost effective. The advertiser s agency needs to have the capabilities and technology platforms to enable programmatic activity. 6

8 Conclusion The need for a PMP is tied closely to the difference in advertiser needs and publisher targeting capabilities as they vary between the programmatic-accessible inventory and the inventory available through direct publisher buys. PMPs can be a valuable part of a brand s digital media strategy. It is important to determine the role for a PMP in the advertising mix. We encourage advertisers to test, evaluate and optimize with agency partners in order to develop the right strategy. 7

9 Programmatic Buying: Demystifying the Private Marketplace (PMP) Written by Alex Andreyev, Vishal Taneja and Alejandro Correa Published by For the latest industry news, trends and happenings, follow us on Twitter For more information, please contact: Rachel Serton