What is programmatic advertising?

Programmatic advertising means ad placements are bought automatically, one impression at a time. Here is how it works and why it matters to you as an advertiser.

Programmatic advertising is a way of buying ad placements automatically. Instead of booking a fixed slot in a newspaper for a week, each impression is bought on its own, at the very moment a reader opens the page.

It sounds technical, and it is. But for you as an advertiser the point is simple: you pay to reach the right people, not to rent a surface.

How a purchase works

When someone opens an article on a news site, there are ad placements on the page that need to be filled. The site offers the placements through an ad system, and buyers bid on that specific impression. The winner gets to show their ad. All of it happens while the page loads.

The buyer decides in advance what is worth paying for: which sites, which areas, which times and which formats. The system handles the rest.

What you actually control

• Where the ad appears: which sites and which parts of them.
• Geography: the whole country or only the municipalities where you do business.
• Format: display, native, video or digital screens outdoors.
• Budget and pace: how much is spent per day and when.

Why it beats booking a fixed slot

A fixed slot is shown to everyone who happens to pass by. Programmatic buying filters out what is not relevant. If you sell in western Sweden, you do not need to pay for readers in the far north.

The other reason is that the campaign can be changed while it runs. What does not deliver is replaced, and the budget is moved to where it does some good. A campaign that is left untouched loses ground over time.

What to ask your agency

• Which sites will the ads actually appear on?
• How do I see for myself how the campaign is doing while it runs?
• What goes to the ad placements and what goes to the agency?

If you do not get straight answers to those three questions, keep looking.