The Beginner’s Guide To Programmatic Advertising

Programmatic advertising is how marketers plan, purchase, and manage digital campaigns. By using automated technology and real-time data, various brands can deliver more relevant and personalised messages to the right audience at the right time. If you have a brand or business and are looking to improve performance across channels from display to video and mobile, programmatic buying offers powerful tools to grow reach and ROI.

This beginner’s guide will break down the basics of programmatic, explain essential terminology, and show you how to integrate it into your broader digital marketing strategy with confidence.

Table of Contents

What is Programmatic Advertising?

Marketing composition

Programmatic advertising is a technology driven method of purchasing and placing digital ads automatically, using software and algorithms. Unlike traditional advertising, which often involves manual negotiations and human-based decision-making, programmatic advertising uses artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and real-time bidding (RTB) to streamline and optimise the ad-buying process.

However, programmatic advertising allows advertisers to deliver highly targeted messages to specific audiences at scale. By analysing vast amounts of data, such as user behaviour, browsing history, demographics, and location, programmatic platforms can determine the best time, place, and format to serve an ad to each user.

What are Programmatic Advertising Platforms and Tools?

Whether you are launching programmatic ads for brand awareness, retargeting, or conversion, these tools streamline the programmatic buying process and help maximise ROI.

1. Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs)

A Demand-Side Platform is a tool used by advertisers and agencies to purchase ad inventory across multiple websites and apps. DSPs allow for real-time bidding and data-driven audience targeting. Some popular DSPs include:

This is integrated with Google’s ecosystem and is ideal for large-scale campaigns.
It offers powerful analytics, cross-channel capabilities, and extensive inventory access.
It is known for advanced targeting features and transparency in programmatic buying.
Best for targeting shoppers within the Amazon ecosystem and beyond.

2. Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs)

SSPs are used by publishers to manage, sell, and optimise their available ad space. These platforms work with DSPs to ensure that programmatic ads are displayed to the most relevant audience at the best possible price. Some popular SSPs include:

Magnite (formerly Rubicon Project)
PubMatic
Index Exchange
OpenX

3. Ad Exchanges

Ad exchanges are digital marketplaces where DSPs and SSPs interact. They help with real-time auctions, allowing programmatic advertising to happen instantly and efficiently. Some the examples of ad exchanges are

Google AdX
AppNexus (now part of Xandr)
MoPub (focused on mobile ads)

4. Data Management Platforms (DMPs)

DMPs collect and organize audience data from various sources to enhance targeting capabilities in programmatic advertising. They are essential for creating detailed customer profiles and driving personalized digital marketing campaigns. Some of the popular DMPs are

Oracle BlueKai
Salesforce DMP (formerly Krux)

How and Why is Programmatic Advertising Successful?

Programmatic advertising automates the process of buying digital ad space using algorithms and artificial intelligence. Rather than relying on manual negotiations or fixed prices, it uses real-time bidding (RTB) to purchase ad impressions in milliseconds. Here’s how it works in practice:

Automation Through AI and Algorithms

Programmatic platforms use machine learning to assess user data and check the best ad placement opportunities automatically.

Data-Driven Targeting

These platforms draw from extensive data sets, including user behaviour, demographics, and location, to deliver highly relevant ads to specific audiences.

Real-Time Optimization

Once a campaign is running, AI continuously monitors performance and makes adjustments, such as changing bids, shifting budgets, or refining targeting, to maximize effectiveness.

Cross-Channel Delivery

Advertisers can reach audiences across websites, mobile apps, video content, social media, and connected TV from a single programmatic platform.

Why Programmatic Advertising Is Successful

Programmatic advertising has grown rapidly in popularity and effectiveness due to several key advantages:

Efficiency

It saves time by automating processes that were once manual and labor-intensive, allowing marketers to launch and manage campaigns more quickly.

Precision and Relevance

With access to real-time user data, ads are served to the most relevant audiences, reducing wasted impressions and improving engagement.

Scalability

Programmatic technology allows for the rapid deployment of campaigns across multiple platforms and markets, reaching wide audiences without additional manual effort.

Improved Return on Investment (ROI)

Real-time adjustments and precise targeting help optimize ad spend, which ensures that every dollar works harder to drive results.

Transparent and Measurable Outcomes

Every aspect of a programmatic campaign is trackable, from impressions and clicks to conversions and customer behavior. This level of insight allows for continuous refinement and greater accountability.

How to Succeed with Programmatic Advertising

Now that the advantages of programmatic advertising are clear, it is time to explore how you can use it effectively to elevate your digital marketing campaigns. To get the best results from programmatic ads, you need a blend of strategic planning, informed decision-making, and continuous optimization.

1. Understand the Programmatic Advertising Landscape

Before knowing more about programmatic buying, take time to research the ecosystem. Like any other field, programmatic advertising comes with its own terminology and technologies: DSPs, SSPs, DMPs, RTB, and more.

By understanding how the ecosystem works and how your competitors approach their programmatic ads, you can better position your own efforts. By learning the key terms and concepts will give you the confidence to make smarter decisions and stay ahead in a competitive space.

Take advantage of glossaries and industry resources that explain essential programmatic advertising terms so you can navigate platforms and campaigns with ease.

2. Set Clear Programmatic Advertising Goals

Success in digital marketing always starts with clear, measurable objectives, and programmatic advertising is no exception. Use performance data and audience insights to identify what you want your programmatic ads to achieve. Here are a few examples of goals to consider:

Increase brand authority in your niche
Drive engagement with your mobile app
Promote specific products or services
Grow your SMS or email subscriber list
Foster trust and encourage repeat purchases
Boost overall online sales

Knowing these goals from the start will guide your programmatic buying strategy, helping you prioritise targeting, channels, and creative decisions to maximise ROI.

3. Balance Automation with Human Expertise

Although programmatic advertising relies on automation and AI, human oversight remains essential. Some platforms offer fully or partially managed services, while others provide self-serve programmatic buying platforms.

To get the most from your campaigns, marketers must work alongside the technology. Use human judgment to optimise your bidding strategies, tweak creatives, and monitor audience engagement.

Finding the right balance between automation and human input will help you fine-tune your programmatic ads and deliver stronger results.

4. Protect Your Brand from Unsafe Content

One of the risks of programmatic advertising is that your ads may appear on websites that publish fake news, misinformation, or inappropriate content. AI-driven ad placements can be efficient, but they also open the door to potential reputational risks. To protect your brand:

Regularly update your demand-side blacklist to block low-quality or harmful sites
Use category exclusions to avoid sensitive content
Consider a whitelist strategy for higher control over where your programmatic ads appear
Ensure any agency partners take content safety and quality seriously

While whitelisting may limit reach and increase costs, it ensures your brand avoids being associated with misleading or offensive material, critical for maintaining credibility.

5. Guard Against Programmatic Ad Fraud

Ad fraud continues to be a significant issue. In 2023, approximately 22% of paid ad budgets were lost to fraudulent activity, especially in mobile and Connected TV (CTV) environments.

To minimize fraud in programmatic advertising:

Avoid focusing solely on reach rather, you should prioritize traffic quality
Know the unusually cheap bids or suspiciously high impressions
Use platforms that offer fraud detection and transparency tools
Ensure your ads comply with privacy standards to avoid misuse of consumer data

Example of Programmatic Advertising

Investing in fraud prevention not only protects your brand but also improves the effectiveness and trustworthiness of your digital marketing campaigns. What are good examples of programmatic advertising

IHG

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) the global hospitality company behind brands such as Holiday Inn and Intercontinental turned to programmatic advertising to reduce its dependency on third-party booking platforms like Expedia and Booking.com.

The Challenge

In the travel sector, third-party booking sites typically charge commissions between 15% and 24%, significantly affecting hotel profit margins. To address this, IHG sought to drive more direct bookings through its own digital channels.

The Strategy

IHG launched targeted programmatic ads that promoted direct booking incentives, including a “book direct price” offer. These ads were designed to reach users actively searching for accommodations and to encourage them to bypass intermediary platforms.

The Results

Former COO Matt Luscombe described the campaign as a “major success” in an interview with Marketing Week:

“Through advanced targeting capabilities in programmatic advertising, we are able to reach a broader audience actively searching for accommodations and deliver our direct booking message.”

He emphasized that traditional display banner ads had minimal impact beyond surge marketing, whereas programmatic buying provided precise, data-driven targeting that delivered real results.

Industry Impact

IHG’s success not only increased direct bookings but also sparked a broader industry shift. Other major hotel brands, including Hilton and Marriott, began to adopt similar digital marketing strategies centered around programmatic buying.

Audi

For the launch of a new customizable vehicle, Audi set out to create a campaign that include its brand philosophy: Vorsprung durch Technik (“Advancement through Technology”). The goal was to personalise the consumer journey at scale using the power of programmatic advertising.

Working closely with Google and using tools like Display & Video 360, Audi unified its customer data, moving away from fragmented, siloed insights. This integrated approach allowed the marketing team to strategically target valuable customer touchpoints across channels using programmatic buying.

To increase personalisation, users were invited to design their ideal vehicle online from over 6,000 configuration options. These custom builds were then transformed into dynamic, personalised programmatic ads, resulting in a performance that far exceeded standard campaigns.

Results

The campaign delivered exceptional performance:

2x efficiency compared to non-personalized ads
4x higher conversion rate than traditional ad placements

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The Beginner’s Guide To Programmatic Advertising FAQs

Is programmatic advertising a good career choice?

Yes, pursuing a career in programmatic advertising can be a smart and rewarding decision. It offers dynamic opportunities, strong demand for skilled professionals, and competitive salaries. What is a disadvantage of programmatic advertising?

Does Google offer programmatic advertising services?

Yes, Google offers powerful programmatic advertising solutions through platforms like Google Ad Manager and Display & Video 360. These tools enable advertisers to conduct real-time, data-driven programmatic buying across multiple formats, including display, video, mobile, and more, helping brands maximise reach and performance through automation and targeting.

What is a disadvantage of programmatic advertising?

One key disadvantage of programmatic advertising is the lack of control over ad placement. Since the buying process is automated, marketers may not always have full visibility into where their programmatic ads are displayed.