More media planning and buying agencies are building their own programmatic capabilities. This development is driven by brands looking for more transparency into their current programmatic buys,
most notably into fees, strategies, viewability, and ad fraud.
At the same time, it’s become much easier to buy programmatically. DSPs are arming agencies with powerful buying and
targeting technologies that are more intuitive to use, especially for media professionals accustomed to user-interfaces and search engine marketers. DSPs also offer an abundance of free training
and ongoing support. But while understanding the fine details of running programmatic media is pivotal to start an in-house practice, it’s not enough for it to thrive.
There are three questions agencies should ask before starting their own programmatic media practice.
How will programmatic costs be covered? Agencies may fail to realize
how expensive it can be to support a programmatic team. Labor is obviously the largest added cost. While there may be qualified staff within every agency, new hires will be needed to
handle the added work. Without them, agencies risk burning out staff members who have pre-existing responsibilities, which can lead to attrition and added hiring costs.
Tech fees
are typically small but can quickly build up. These include fees to use the DSP, third-party data providers, data onboarding, contextual add-ons and fraud-prevention tools. Rationalizing these
added costs to clients may also be difficult if they are used to working with trading desks, whose model obfuscates fees. Before investing in a programmatic team, agencies need to consider how
costs will be covered or else a team will become more trouble (and less profitable) than it’s worth.
What is the process for running programmatic media? Agencies scrambling
to set up programmatic buys should slow down and take the time to document all the nuances of their entire process. A well-documented process is the primary evidence that a team is capable of running
programmatic buys, instilling trust within the agency and externally with clients and new prospects. It also provides training guidelines on how to operate buys and how to speak about
programmatic in a consistent manner.
How will the agency integrate with programmatic media? The competitive advantage of an in-house team comes from the ability to
leverage the full resources of the agency. Media strategists have access to client information and targeting insights that can flow more quickly and seamlessly to an internal programmatic
team. This includes publisher-specific strategies and optimizations, brand safety parameters, relevant current events related to the brand and its stakeholders, and brand communications not
shared publicly. Analytics teams also have access to robust information about a brand’s site, audience, and creative, which can refine programmatic targets.
In turn,
programmatically sourced information can provide media strategists with new opportunities. Many DSPs can quantify audience sizes and the related impressions and cost. This can be used to
inform targeting strategies on other buys and content/creative development. Placement reports can uncover top performing categories and sites that may not have been considered. Integrating
programmatic media into the full operations of the agency creates a buy that is part of a more complete media story -- much more powerful than any isolated programmatic buy.
Media agencies are
right to build out programmatic capabilities, given how much budget will be flowing to these channels, and how many channels will become automated. If they don’t, they will very
quickly become irrelevant. Agencies just need to make sure they are taking the right precautions to do it properly.
Editor's Note: This post was first published earlier this year.