• by Fiona Salmon , January 11, 2016

For too long the digital ad industry has been focused on “premium publishers,” when what it really needs to focus on is “premium inventory.”

We need to be upfront: Premium publishers do not necessarily deliver premium ad inventory for every single impression. Some ads impressions have poor viewability, are served within irrelevant or even brand-damaging content, or are displayed to totally irrelevant users. That’s not premium.

Likewise, what a marketing manager may not initially perceive as a “premium publisher” -- maybe because it’s a niche site, or composed largely of user-generated content -- could well be delivering premium inventory. If a publisher serves ads that are 100% viewable to qualified users within relevant, brand-safe content that the consumer likes, trusts and enjoys, that’s the stuff of premium inventory.

Look for a codified definition of “premium” in relation to ad inventory, and you’ll find a vast range of views on what it should contain. Not one of these definitions actually specifies metrics quantifying the qualities that make ad inventory “premium.”

Programmatic is changing that, however. Purchasing decisions are starting to focus on the actual performance of ad inventory, rather than emotional perceptions of the quality of the media title the ad impression is displayed upon.

Along with huge advertisers like Procter & Gamble and American Express specifically stating that they want the majority of their budget to be spent programmatically, others such as GroupM and Unilever are specifying performance criteria for every single ad impression. In consequence, programmatic ad systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated, detailing ad formats’ actual past performance to offer far more choices in terms of campaign performance criteria. The result is a quantification of the most valuable ad impressions — hence, defining what is “premium.”

Whilst this drive for more performance selection criteria is refining digital ad strategies, it is also adding complexity to the programmatic marketplace. When considering the targeting of ads, marketers can choose from numerous providers of various data sets to reach a single audience: there’s the audience’s demographic data, behavior, mobile location, search terms, and many more. Then there’s the choice of specific ad impression criteria becoming available. Marketers are beginning to choose ad impressions based on likelihood of being viewed, as well as defining precisely when, where on a webpage and alongside which editorial the ads will be displayed. And that’s just a few of the options.

This added complexity comes while marketers are already crying out for simplification of the programmatic marketplace. Programmatic isn’t just new, it’s “technology,” which can intimidate some marketers who often focus on creative ideas and the reputation of media titles to achieve advertising ends. However, as budget-setters become more aware of performance issues like viewability, it’s impossible for marketers to ignore the capabilities programmatic offers to deliver improved -- even guaranteed -- performance.

The period of confusion and complexity will come to an end relatively soon, just as it has with other tech, such as Web design, image editing and social media. Programmatic will be simplified while at the same time becoming more sophisticated. The received wisdom that ad impressions are “premium” merely because they display on particular websites will be displaced. Instead of “premium” being a self-defined quality of ad sales teams, it will be defined by performance data  -- and consequently, market value.