Weekly Roundup: Media Buyers’ Goals 2019, Programmatic Ad Prices, Google CMP, and More
Media Buyers — What Are They Up To (In 2019)?
Last week, we’ve started rounding up the goals and priorities of potential media buyers so that you can steer the ship towards the right direction.
Let’s continue to spin the wheel.
– Private MarketPlaces > Open Exchanges
Obviously, buyers prefer to go with the known sellers (invite-only auctions) and we all know the reasons — Reduced ad fraud and better ROI. On the other hand, publishers will get premium ad rates for their impressions.
This year PMPs experienced more than expected growth and latest Digiday research says that the trend will likely to continue.
62 percent of the 280 media buyers plan to increase spending on PMPs.
– Digiday.
In fact, eMarketer’s survey predicted that Private Marketplaces will outshine RTB next year. Considering the current ad fraud reports and transparency concerns, we believe PMPs will likely to lead.
Takeaway:
Is it better to capitalize on the trend? Well, PMPs will attract more media buyers in the upcoming years. However, RTB 3.0, aimed to hit the market next year might have a say in it. So, if you want to adapt PMPs just for the upticking numbers, don’t do it.
Do it for the long term results, not short-term gains.
– Increasing Video Ad Spend
Video, a continually growing format promises to hit a home run next year. As per the Digiday’s research 86 percent of 282 media buyers expect to increase the video ad spend on mobile and 65 percent to increase the same on desktop.
While we all have to agree that the video ads are engaging and drive conversions for buyers, publishers should look beyond CPMs. Placing irrelevant video ads on all your pages will end up costing you readers and revenue.
Takeaway:
61% of the people believe videos on social media is fake and this makes publisher inventories more attractive for buyers. So, contextually-matching video ads which don’t hamper readers in any way will bring you the best.
Again, running videos doesn’t essentially get you more revenue.
– Scrutinizing the Supply Chain
SPO has been an option so far. From 2019, it’s an essential step performed by the major DSPs. We’re not saying that all the demand-side platforms will weed out the poorly-performing publishers immediately. But, when you know some of the biggest programmatic media buyers are rethinking the way they use DSPs, it’s time to get your head straight.
Advertisers like GlaxoSmithKline, BT, and Deutsche Telekom are seriously evaluating the demand-side platforms they use by looking at the technology, auction mechanics, and of course, the supply.
If you still think, advertisers will likely to go with what agencies prefer, we advise you to scrap the thought out of your head.
Takeaway:
Does this mean a majority will do the evaluation process? No, at least not in 2019. We want everyone to be on the safer side. If you use myriads of SSPs, examine and see whether all of them are contributing to your bottom line. Stay with the authentic ones to keep attracting more buyers programmatically.
Programmatic Vs Ad Prices
It’s true. Programmatic advertising concern the publishers in many forms — Adtech taxes, data leakage, obscurity, complexity. But most of all, publishers are worried about the ad prices. As per the source, publishers said ‘ad prices are getting dampened as the result of automated buying’.
Here’s how we look at the survey.
Let’s start with the adoption of programmatic among the buyers. Media buyers got into the buzzword mainly because of the scale it promised with the wider reach.
Everyone knows that there is a lot that needs to be solved when they stepped in. Still, the reach is massive and the ROI is decent enough to draw in $48 billion (in the US) this year. The problem is with the fraudsters and business transparency.
As an industry, we’ve always faced the concerns and built solutions.
Examples?
Ads.txt, in fact, diminished domain spoofing (the major ad fraud problem), PMPs promising more visibility into the sellers, SPO helping advertisers to weed out the bad actors, etc.
Unlike walled gardens, we need time to adopt standards and a significant number of participants to prove the worth of any technology. After all, Facebook, Google, Amazon, have all their own disadvantages.
Takeaway:
“Programmatic Ad Inventory Shouldn’t be Viewed as the Remnant Inventory”
– Michael Dugan, CTO, Hearst Magazines.
Build a scalable data strategy, attract the right audience, and embrace the technology, you would be earning more through programmatic channels than direct deals. Still not convinced, here’s a guide.
It’s not the price of your inventory that’s getting reduced, it’s the value of it. Focus on the value and how you can improve it.
What IAB Tach Lab Wants You To Know
OM SDK
Speaking of the adtech industry, IAB announced that the OM SDK, which helps to replace multiple SDKs from the vendors with a single SDK hits 2 billion devices.
With the current version of OM SDK, app publisher can deliver ad viewability data, video events, and other progressions to the advertisers.
“With in-app advertising viewability and verification simplified and made more consistent, brands can confidently and more easily buy mobile app inventory”
– Dennis Buchheim, Senior Vice President and General Manager, IAB Tech Lab.
VAST 4.1
Last week, IAB Tech Lab Video Summit in New York captured how video ads are evolving and what publishers need to do.
Most importantly, a majority of the publisher still run with VAST 2.0 and the consortium wants you to upgrade. As the ecosystem was reluctant to upgrade previous versions of VAST, IAB Tech Lab devised VAST 4.1 with all we need.
From macros and API improvements to unique IDs, the latest version has it all. We push you to start exploring the specification and update it.
Want to know more about VAST 4.1, head over to the specifications.
Google and Consent Management Framework Update
Google missed its self-imposed deadline to implement the IAB Consent Framework. We all know the story and how it has released an interim solution pass consent to run targeted ads. As reported by AdExchanger, the company has worked out a deal with major programmatic platforms including AppNexus, Rubicon Project, and Criteo to pass consent.
As per the latest update from Digiday, Google seems to accelerate the process of implementation. Last week, a formal meeting held in London to discuss the roadblocks in Google’s CMP has ended well.
What’s the update?
– After the long push from publishers, everyone agreed to improve the granularity of the CMP. So, a measurement partner and a delivery partner won’t be shown under the same purpose.
– A number of purposes (12 in total) have been finalized along with the data processing operations to be performed when the consent is given.
– How the location data should be handled and treated has been jointly agreed by the committee (Recently, CNIL sued a french adtech company regarding how it mishandled location data of its users and this might have necessitated the location data agreement )
Next up, the language used to convey will be discussed and finalized.
It’s a step and there’s a lot has to be done. As always, we’ll keep you updated.
Moments That Matter
Facebook’s mobile ad network, Facebook Audience Network (FAN) will support Open Auction (header bidding for applications, but powered by Google).
Hulu, a streaming service provider is launching a Private Marketplace on Jan 1, 2019.
This roundup is originally published on headerbidding.co, a blog to learn ad tech news and insights.
