Programmatic advertising, as defined by the Display Trading Council, is the use of automation in buying and selling of media. Programmatic advertising can apply to anything from display ads to showing ads on digital channels and television. The automation aspect makes the transactions transparent, efficient and more effective. Programmatic advertising contributed US$25.48 billion to the digital ads market in 2016 as compared to $17.5 billion in 2015, according to eMarketer. By 2019, it is expected to reach US$45.72 billion.
So, it is clear that there is a huge potential in programmatic advertising but how is it different from traditional ad buying?
Today’s consumers expect marketing messages to be tailored to their needs. Once you have a full view of your customers, the next step is to reach them at the right moment with the right message as Programmatic advertising gives businesses a chance to work on real-time data which can be used to provide dynamic advertising according to the audience.

Alright, so what are the benefits of programmatic advertising?

Programmatic advertising has multiple benefits in digital advertising and digital marketing, first and foremost it allows businesses and marketers to make data-driven decisions rather than using past data and do guess-work based on that. Programmatic advertising uses machine learning techniques to provide brand safety, better targeting, streamlined campaign management, easy access to ad inventories, better viewability and much much more.

Programmatic advertising is not the future of marketing as it is already here. But there is a lot more that brands and businesses can achieve and save lots of money, and it has not reached its full potential yet.