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, buyers know 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.

Private Marketplace (PMP)

is similar to regular multimedia content purchases, but automated in Google Ad Manager or any other ad server used to create offers with a programmatic guarantee.

Each of these types of offers has its advantages and disadvantages, with the arrival of GDPR and other brand safety scandals leading brands to increasingly seek control and transparency. This type of offer involves an advertiser and publisher negotiating the price (CPM) and volume (impressions) that the former can bid on.

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 supply platforms. RTB allows buyers to bid on individual impressions in real-time, allowing them to target specific audiences more effectively.

The best way to achieve and maintain high CPMs and fill rates is to take advantage of each type of offer to identify the inventory and data that each buyer needs to meet their objectives. By understanding the different types of programmatic deals available, advertisers can make more informed decisions about how best to reach their target audiences.