The DMP and Programmatic

The use and utilization of data within programmatic is one of the strongest underlying trends in the market. Advertisers, agencies and publishers all continue to take greater control over 1st party, 2nd party and 3rd party data through the use of data management platforms (DMP) and business intelligence (BI) suites. Recent research produced by ExchangeWire on the adoption of DMP technology states “DMP use was most commonly reported in APAC (61%), followed by EMEA (51%) and the US (50%)” (ExchangeWire, Sept 2015) thus inspired me to put together a basic guide to cover key definitions and typical marketplace data structures.

Let’s start at the beginning… The Data Management Platform plugs directly into your SSPs to allow for audience activation within programmatic. The core functionality of the DMP within the context of programmatic sales is; (1) to create pre-packaged audience segments for use in standard and tactical PMPs, (2) create custom audiences in response to briefs for custom PMPs, (3) create bespoke audiences for the creation of Private Data Marketplaces, and (4) analyze performance and produce post-campaign insights for clients.

Private Marketplaces - Standard packages

Standard or “always on” packages are a series of PMP packages which are surfaced on a continual basis within your SSP. Standard packages could relate to content verticals, audiences, or a combination of the two. The benefit of standard packages is to ensure continual and consistent presence within the SSPs, which are regularly used by agencies and agency trading desks to plan and activate programmatic and direct campaigns. Creating a consistent presence means that there is a greater opportunity that a campaign will be booked in the short-term, and that awareness of your packages, audience capabilities and general pricing points will increase over the long-term. The most important consideration with standard packages is scale. The packages should be large enough to facilitate multiple campaigns at the same time as these PMP’s will be visible to all available buyers within the SSP.

Private Marketplaces - Tactical packages

Tactical packages are PMP packages which are surfaced tactically due to event response, seasonality, holidays and anticipated peaks in demand. Examples of tactical packages would include; “Christmas Shoppers”, “Mother’s Day Gift Buyer”, “Boxing Day - Gadgets”, “Australia Day Takeover”, “Back to School Shoppers” etc. The benefits of tactical packages include product and package differentiation (pricing premiums), market disruption, and demand generation through naturally heightened interest and package promotion. Maintain a calendar which incorporates events, holidays, peak season dates etc. in order to build appropriate and execute packages around these tactics. Planning schedules are usually completed a few months before activation so it is recommended that you promote these packages well in advance of expected launch.

Private Marketplaces - Custom packages

Custom packages are packages that are created specifically for a brand, agency, or campaign. Custom packages are often created specifically in response to a brand or agency ongoing need to reach a certain audience/inventory type. Benefits to custom packages include stronger relationships between publishers and agencies/brands, an opportunity to bring together multiple sales channels (e.g. editorial content and advertising) on a brand’s behalf, and an ongoing investment into a segment which produces a high degree of strategic advantage and/or performance for a brand. When creating custom packages for buyers, try to be proactive as well as reactive. Creating custom packages for top clients to help create a holistic media solution. For example, creating a custom package to re-target a user which has engaged with editorial content relating to the brand either on owned and operated properties, or syndicated through as native content. Another benefit of custom packages is the opportunity to potentially charge a higher CPM.

Private Data Marketplace (PDM)

A private data marketplace (PDM) offers a publisher the opportunity to separate their data (1st party, 2nd party, 3rd party) from their inventory, and to sell that data as a stand-alone proposition to a brand or agency. The benefits of PDMs include new potential revenue streams detached from inventory sales, a more diversified product set, and closer relationships with agencies and brands seeking to capitalize on data and theoretically lower non-monetized data leakage through buy-side tactics. Be confident when pricing data. Proprietary Audience Segments are transparent, accurate and unique, making it incredibly valuable to buyers within the market. Speak to brands directly and attempt to package data assets around a specific brand use case.

Programmatic and Data are the most discussed subjects in Ad/Mar-tech to date, which might be be perceived as very convoluted and complex development. I hope this article simplifies and elaborates on typical marketplace data structures and scenarios.

A decade on, the auction plumbing beneath these packages changed: header bidding replaced the waterfall — the Prebid infrastructure reference covers the layer these structures now transact through.

Happy Bidding!