Creating advantages: The outlook on programmatic buying

Programmatic buying is gradually becoming more mature in a variety of markets. Simon Halstead, VP of Exchange and Supply International at Yahoo, has accordingly made observations on global trends. According to Halstead, programmatic buying is growing in every region around the world, especially in Video, and with a special focus on OTT/CTV across the APAC and US regions. In the EMEA region, DOOH has emerged strongly and drawn widespread attention, while investment is continuing for Native and digital advertisements. In Australia, Halstead sees a very strong demand for Video advertisements. As for India, the market has a strong reliance on a combination of display and Video on mobile devices.

Programmatic buying has also been impacted by global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and disruptions to global manufacturing supply chains, all of which have accelerated developments in digital transformation and programmatic buying.

The Maturation of Programmatic Buying: Adoption of PGD and PMP Strategies

The programmatic development of digital advertising across the globe varies from region to region. Since programmatic buying started earlier in EMEA than APAC, EMEA has seen greater maturity in programmatic buyers compared with APAC. With an accumulation of time and experience, advertisers and agencies in EMEA who have adopted programmatic buying are accustomed to working with multiple DSPs and Exchanges at the same time, especially in the adoption of PGD and PMP strategies. In these relatively more mature markets, we are able to see that advertisers and agencies have started to invest more in PGD and PMP. Not only are they able to apply Exchanges or publisher first party data from the supply end of the stream so that they can enjoy higher priority in bidding rights, or even designate their positions and day parting to replace conventional IO buying, they are also able to have more direct partnerships with Exchanges or publishers.

Education and Training to Build the Ability to Engage in Programmatic Buying Unassisted

In the past, advertisers and agencies had to rely on the assistance of programmatic advertising platforms if they wanted to engage in programmatic buying. As the market matured, advertisers and agencies started receiving more education and training related to programmatic buying, such as the Yahoo Academy Learning Center: DSP Webinar regularly held in Taiwan. Such training involves traders sharing their optimized skills and case studies so that advertisers and agencies can become more familiar with the operation and utilization of programmatic buying. According to Halstead's observations, advertisers and agencies will build their own internal programmatic advertisement operating teams in a mature market, who will utilize tools, operate platforms, and deliver advertisements to their target audience. In contrast, in an immature market, advertisers and agencies would rely on the assistance of programmatic advertisement platforms.

For instance, social media management has been developing in Taiwan for quite some time now. In the early days, advertisers used to outsource social media management, but as advertisers accumulated experience and the market gradually became more mature, nowadays many brand advertisers would choose to build a social media team within their marketing departments and directly handle all of their social media marketing activities.

Therefore, by participating in different kinds of education and training, advertisers and agencies can familiarize themselves with the tools and applications of programmatic buying as well as leveraging the strengths of DSP and Exchange to market their brands. Through this process, the programmatic buying market becomes more mature and sophisticated.

First Party Data and Audience Scenario Comparison Tools are Necessary to Navigate a Cookieless World

Soon, advertisers and agencies will be unable to advertise through third-party cookies. Thus, in response to this upcoming cookieless world, cooperation with the supply end of the stream is needed more than ever to lock down target consumers. In comparison, the importance of publisher's possession of first party data will be demonstrated to a greater extent. Furthermore, audience scenario comparison tools will also be useful in determining and locking down audiences.

Yahoo collaborates with many publishers and connects a wide range of first party data. Yahoo Exchange constantly responds to the changes in the advertisement market by proposing multiple solutions for advertisers. At the same time, it also compiles  hundreds of audience scenario models by using machine learning to analyze user behaviors on websites in order to help advertisers and agencies to more precisely focus on a target audience.

Early Deployment to Prepare for a Cookieless World

As we move into a cookieless world, Halstead has proposed that “it is important to take time to prepare,”and accordingly Yahoo will provide multiple addressable solutions. These include the privacy-friendly ConnectID, which is based on email information; the Contextual Model, which uses the browsing behavior of consumers as its analytical basis and utilizes various real-time signals to identify consumers; and Next-Gen Audience, which categorizes over 400 audience combinations via machine learning. Through multiple addressable solutions, Yahoo is dedicated to helping advertisers minimize the impact of a cookieless world and help advertisers precisely target their audiences.

Yahoo Tackles the Challenges of Digital Marketing in Collaboration with Publishers through Continuous Optimization

In the face of dramatic changes to the digital marketing market, Halstead encourages advertisers and agencies who use programmatic buying to understand the addressable solutions provided by Yahoo, as well as how Yahoo can help them achieve their marketing goals. Moreover, the use of ConnectID may help publishers to boost their identification of target audiences.

Halstead also emphasizes the importance of watching the emerging trends in this industry. Yahoo continuously optimizes itself by endlessly researching, developing, and testing new solutions. “It is worth understanding that addressability of today will change in the future, and buyers and sellers need to be able to deploy multiple solutions to meet their goals.”

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