Commentary

Niche Hunting In A Macro Indsutry

Earlier this month, RTM Dailyreported that Kantar Media had added digital ad networks, exchanges, and other ad tech vendors to its SRDS.com database, giving marketers and agencies the ability to compare before choosing partners.

In the time since, Kantar Media gave me a trial look at their database. I'm going to walk you through what I do in real-time. Everything typed below is more or less my stream of consciousness and what I'm learning as I poke around the database.

The first thing I noticed is that the database has "mobile" and "tablet" as two separate sub-categories. This is in line with what reports throughout 2013 seemed to confirm -- which is that "mobile/smartphone" and "tablet" should not always be lumped together. It looks like marketers are truly treating them as separate devices, even when it comes to programmatic campaigns.

Searching for video ad platforms that can do RTB on mobile devices, all the usual suspects pop up. So I decided to try to be a little more specific -- after all, it shouldn't take the SRDS database to know about the top names.

I searched for a network that uses RTB and is relevant to a "family" audience. Just one result popped up -- Adtegrity. Apparently, it's a Michigan-based ad network of family-friendly sites, and it uses RTB to deliver ads.

Typing in other specific keywords -- such as automotive, tablet, and social  -- and I'm able to find niche services that offer RTB.

I've learned that there are a handful of options outside of the big-named ad nets and tech vendors out there, mostly for niche markets. Given the industry's shift toward programmatic media-buying, it wouldn't surprise me to see more exchanges, networks, or tech vendors specializing in ultra-specific verticals spring up in the coming months or years.

With all of the options out there, anything that helps a marketer -- or me -- sift through it all and understand what's really available is good for everyone.

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