Buying Programmatic Audio – Definitions and Best Practices

The growth of digital audio represents a historic opportunity for advertisers to benefit from the same advantages with programmatic audio that they already enjoy in other media.

It is also a chance to diversify their investments in promising formats (digital radio, podcast, gaming, music streaming).

Targeting with Programmatic Audio

Targeting audiences with programmatic audio is similar to other conventional online channels. This means you can use the same audience targeting parameters as with traditional online campaigns. By cross-referencing sophisticated analytical data, the audio ads address listeners according to their activity (e.g. a reading list), location, and profile (e.g. age, demographic, geo, hobbies, weather, schedule).

Programmatic Audio – How It Works

The IAB defines the term “programmatic” as the automated buying and selling of inventory

The inventory sold through programmatic solutions can be separated into three types of buying: Open Market (OMP), Private Marketplaces (PMP), and Programmatic Guaranteed:

1. The Open Market (OMP) is a buying and selling method in which media owners can offer their advertising inventory to buyers, often through real-time auctions. Options are available for the publisher to disclose their name transparently or to act anonymously.
2. In Private Marketplaces (PMP), you hand-pick your target audience from a qualified user base and bid on the impressions that are right for your campaign. This allows you to agree on a minimum CPM (the minimum the publisher will expect you to pay for that inventory). The actual price of an impression, however, will depend on fluctuations in supply and demand. Preferred Deals can be set up to increase the chances for certain buyers to purchase the inventory.
3. Programmatic Guaranteed is where the buyer has direct access to the publisher’s inventory, with fixed prices and reserved inventory (the buyer buys the inventory directly from the publisher). This is the closest programmatic gets to direct buys.

Buying Programmatic Audio – the Role of the DSP

To buy digital audio advertising programmatically, you need to go through a DSP (Demand Side Platform). The DSP will then give you access to a diversified audio inventory, allowing you to reach your targets regardless of the listening medium (web radio, podcast, streaming, video games).

Bluebox is Targetspot’s ad-serving technology. This proprietary solution integrates with leading DSP’s to deliver the right ad to the right audience at the best possible time and place.

Programmatic Audio Benefits

We have already identified the many advantages of programmatic audio, including exposure to fast-growing audio media with engaged targets as well as resistance to ad blockers.

For media buyers looking to invest in digital audio to take advantage of its exponential growth, the key benefits of programmatic buying in digital audio are:

• ROI: audience data can be used by buyers and sellers to adjust or increase the value of audio inventory;
• Efficiency: maximum campaign reach through specific targeting to reduce operational costs;
• Real-time: ability to optimise campaigns in real time according to a variety of specific parameters, day after day, through dynamic creatives;
• Global audiences: access to high-quality, seamlessly negotiated global campaigns and audiences;
• Data intelligence:  leveraging data to continuously improve the effectiveness and performance of audio campaigns.