• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, May 20, 2015

Programmatic has premium inventory in its sights. Take The New York Times, which could soon sell a homepage takeover through programmatic channels. Josh Cohen, Programmatic Product Manager at The New York Times, made the prediction at the OMMA Programmatic Display conference, on Wednesday. To be clear, the Gray Lady has yet to use programmatic to sell a homepage takeover. “Direct sales … is still the majority of what we do,” said Cohen. Yet, “Overall, we’re looking to increase [ad sales] generally.” At least one ad partner says programmatic can help The Times with that. “Programmatic doesn’t have to depress the money that publishers get from advertisers,” said Kathy O’Dowd, Global Director of Programmatic Marketplace & Channel Development at Netflix. “There are ways to protect the bottom line.”