• by Tyler Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_tyler, September 10, 2013

DataXu, a programmatic marketing company, today announced that DataXu for Guaranteed Media is now globally available. The solution brings programmatic technology to the guaranteed space -- to the 80% of money being spent on non-biddable digital impressions. Mukund Ramachandran, DataXu's general manager, brands, tells RTM Daily that the guaranteed media solution is different from a private exchange or "programmatic direct" solution because it adds tools to use after a deal is complete.

Ramachandran stresses the importance of improving the 80% by using the principles of programmatic rather than focusing solely on the 20%. But first he explains DataXu for Guaranteed Media and why it's different from programmatic direct and private exchanges. He also tries to figure out how the many markets within the programmatic ecosystem -- exchanged-based trading, RTB, direct deals, private marketplaces, etc. -- stack up with one another.

RTM Daily: What exactly is DataXu for Guaranteed Media?

Mukund Ramachandran: Roughly 80% of the market's money is spent direct with publishers, and the other 20% will most likely be exchange traded, biddable inventory. So that first part (the 80%) is obviously the guaranteed media. And you buy this media for a lot of reasons: they come from big, well-known publishers, they have great contextual relevance to your brand, they are proven performers and have been for a long period of time.

So DataXu for Guaranteed Media basically introduces programmatic marketing technology to that space. Essentially what it means is that it gives you the ability to deliver the right creative to each consumer on the direct buy. It basically applies all of the principles of programmatic positioning -- algorithms, real-time positioning, etc. -- into the direct media.

RTMD: Is that different from programmatic direct? If so, how?

Ramachandran: There's a little bit of confusion around that stuff. One of the notions in the industry is private exchanges/marketplaces. That happens via a bidder, an exchanged-based buying model. That typically is also confused with programmatic direct.

The reason we wanted to call it guaranteed media is because…we come as a solution on top of [guaranteed] buys. So the reason we didn't use the label "programmatic direct" is to make sure the distinction of what we are offering is clear so that people don't confuse this with private exchanges.

What we're trying to say here is that [we can be used on top of direct buys] that are completely locked and secured. This offers programmatic positioning after that direct transaction.

RTMD: So, going back to the 80/20 figure, this specific offering from DataXu is dealing entirely within the 80%?

Ramachandran: Yes. There's no reason you can't apply the principles of programmatic marketing to that 80%. If you can improve performance there, you're really talking about some game-changing developments in our space. It's one thing to say that we are going to make that 20% better and better and better, and we are, but how about making that 80% better?

RTMD: What exactly are these "programmatic principles" you keep mentioning?

Ramachandran: It's all about the notion of consumers and tech marketing. You can use algorithms and real-time positioning to deliver the right creative to the right person at the time of impression delivery.

Say you are guaranteed 100 ad impressions on a Website. You can give 10 different creatives that will be delivered to consumers [based on real-time decisioning]. So it's not DCO (dynamic creative optimization), but now you're using the principles of programmatic within a direct buy.

RTMD: Within the 20% space, there are a lot of options. Exchange-based, RTB, direct, private, programmatic direct, etc. And now programmatic options are even available outside of that 20% -- in the world of direct buys. Do you have any sense of how all of this stacks up? 

Ramachandran: It's hard to tell. We have heard from the industry that (within the 20% universe) about 10%, and probably growing to 20% next year, will be transacted on a programmatic direct basis or private exchanges. So 90% comes from open exchanges.

RTMD: Thank you for your time.