Commentary

Okay, So I'm No Programmatic Genius, How About You?

It’s a good thing Tyler Loechner edits Real-Time Daily, and not me. That’s because he understands programmatic ad technology better than I do. And he can prove it. Actually, he just did. The two of us just completed a “Programmatic Quiz” hosted by video SSP Altitude Digital, and Tyler scored an 86, while I only got a 78. In fairness, I thought some of the questions were kind of subjective and could have been interpreted in different ways. In even more fairness, most of the ones I got wrong weren’t the ones that required interpretation, but simple knowledge about things like the meaning of “fill rates” or what are standard formats for mobile ads, etc.

That said, neither Tyler or I are probably the kind of professional you’d want to entrust your programmatic trading dollars to. But that’s okay, because we’re not traders, we just cover this stuff. If you want to see how knowledgeable you are on the subject of programmatic, try the quiz for yourself.

Meanwhile, we’ve asked the folks at Altitude Digital to share what the final average scores are when the effort has run its course for a while. Stay tuned.

On a related subject of industry knowledge, we asked Altitude Digital Founder Jeremy Ostermiller if he would throw some of his organization’s behind our on-again, off-again effort to jump start a new industry wiki to define -- and constantly redefine -- ad technology jargon. And if enough people get behind that idea maybe we can create a resource where everyone in the industry can go, get smarter, and do better on future programmatic quizzes. Even trade editors.

If you’d like to be part of an industry wiki initiative, feel free to comment here or contact me directly at joe@mediapost.com.
5 comments about "Okay, So I'm No Programmatic Genius, How About You?".
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  1. James Hering from The Richards Group, September 26, 2014 at 5:14 p.m.

    "new industry wiki to define -- and constantly redefine -- ad technology jargon" = Gold. Just do it...

  2. Seth Ulinski from Independent Analyst and Consultant, September 26, 2014 at 5:51 p.m.

    Joe, not an easy quiz but managed to sweat out an "A" somehow. Completely agree some of the questions were subjective (and poorly-written, grammatically and from a survey programming standpoint). That said, still a very cool idea and didn't cost anything. Thanks for sharing!

  3. Forrest Whaling from Altitude Digital, September 29, 2014 at 12:15 p.m.

    Thank you Joe Mandese and Seth Ulinski for the feedback. We have improved some of the quiz questions and programming based on user feedback. We encourage you to give it another shot (be sure to clear your cache). We hope it will be a helpful and fun resource for everyone. Feel free to reach out to me directly with other suggestions.

  4. Jeff Fraser from Marketing Magazine, September 29, 2014 at 8:27 p.m.

    Don't fret Joe, it looks like there was an issue with the fill rate question anyway. Fill rate is the percentage of a buyer's order that is successfully filled out, i.e. ( # of ads served / # of ads requested ), which wasn't one of the options... so I think we all got that one wrong!

    By the way Joe -- have you seen the IAB's wiki? I'm not sure if it's publicly editable or not, but they've got a big pile of definitions already. http://www.iab.net/wiki/index.php/Category:Glossary (Not one for fill rate though...)

  5. Forrest Whaling from Altitude Digital, September 30, 2014 at 12:18 a.m.

    Thanks for the feedback Jeff! I think you'll be pleased with the new layout and updated questions we launched just a few hours ago. We've even addressed the fill rate question you mentioned. I agree - the IAB is a great resource. I believe you'll find it cited in a few of the explanation sources on the answers page. Good luck!

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