Understanding the Different Types of Programmatic Deals

Programmatic advertising is a complex and ever-evolving field, and it can be difficult to keep up with the different types of deals available. To help decode some of the complexity, here's a brief overview of the six main types of programmatic agreements.

Preferred Deals

are agreements between a publisher and a specific buyer for a fixed price CPM, which is usually focused on the audience. In exchange, publishers grant the purchaser priority and exclusive access to the inventory before making it available to everyone else and then opening an auction.

Programmatic Guarantee consists of buying impressions with a guaranteed delivery (reserved traffic) or an expense (fixed price) using a programmatic platform and an offer identifier. In these deals, the buyer knows exactly what audience and content they want, and can apply additional audience segmentation (using DMP or CDP), filters, and frequency limits during the campaign. Programmatic guarantee is sometimes referred to as “the best of both worlds” because it takes advantage of the efficiencies of automation, guarantees prices to publishers, and allows buyers to choose the audience and impressions to bid on.

Offer Identifier

is shared with some buyers, allowing them to purchase the identified inventory programmatically through a DSP.

This is a great opportunity for publishers to monetize inventory, but you might run out of money if you don't take advantage of every type of programmatic offering.

Real-Time Bidding (RTB)

is a technology that allows programmatic buying and selling of digital ad impressions through instant auctions, facilitated by bulletin boards or demand and sales platforms. These types of programmatic offers are the result of advertisers' demand for a more predictable offer within the exchange space.

Private Marketplaces (PMP)

are similar to one-to-one relationships in offers with a programmatic guarantee, but the advertiser is not required to bid at the negotiated price.

This is an increasingly popular option for brands seeking control and transparency in light of GDPR and other brand security scandals. Each type of programmatic agreement has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it's important to understand them all in order to identify the inventory and data that each buyer needs to meet their objectives. By taking advantage of each type of offer, publishers can achieve and maintain high CPMs and processing rates.