While programmatic ad buying has been part of the radio landscape for years it still is misunderstood and confusing for many in the industry. Turns out many marketers also know very little about how the process works and what it costs – Ad Age calls programmatic “one of the ultimate black boxes of marketing.”
Collaborating with a small army of contributors and partners, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has rolled out the first guide to help CMOs streamline the programmatic media buying process. The goal is to remove waste and inefficiencies and maximize ROI.
The ANA says the recommendations in “The CMO’s Guide to Programmatic Transparency” could generate $8-16 billion globally in savings each year that could be reinvested to help drive business and economic growth.
“It has been estimated that for every dollar spent in programmatic channels, less than half goes to showing digital ads,” the guide states. “It has been estimated that 40 to 65 percent of every dollar spent programmatically goes to the publisher; the balance is spent on the services, technology, and data that power programmatic buying. Without visibility into all the cost drivers of a programmatic campaign, advertisers lack the data to make informed decisions on the value of each technology and service offering.”
The step by step guide offers a raft of practical suggestions to shine a light into the programmatic black box, such as breaking down bills from suppliers to better understand what the specific line items are, contacting suppliers to find out what line items that aren’t broken out are for, getting access to this data on a regular basis, and establishing a process for tracking progress.
“Most companies are paying more than they have to for their media supply chain,” said ANA CEO Bob Liodice. “This is due to factors such as the rapid development of programmatic ad buying, a lack of transparency, the overlap of many providers and services, and the complexity of the process itself. This guide will help marketers overcome those obstacles and significantly reduce their programmatic costs.”
The guide is separate from an ongoing ANA study of the programmatic media buying system focused on how advertisers can eliminate waste throughout the programmatic marketplace and supply chain. That probe is being conducted by PwC, Kroll, and TAG TrustNet and is expected in 2023. ANA says the two initiatives are complementary projects that are part of a continuing effort by the ANA to explain, simplify, and improve programmatic advertising for marketers.
Comments