How Does a Programmatic Advertising Platform Work? 

Programmatic advertising platforms utilise automated technology to enable real-time buying and selling of ad inventory. Are you looking to target specific audience groups with your campaign ads? Programmatic advertising platforms provide a highly efficient solution to making an impact on your target audiences thanks to their insightful streamlined data and advanced algorithms. 

Here at Drovo, we use sophisticated geotargeting and programmatic technology to serve your audiences with contextually relevant street-level digital ads and rocket launch outdoor audiences’ brand awareness.

Let’s venture a bit deeper into how a programmatic advertising platform works.

What Is Programmatic Advertising?

Programmatic advertising is a data-first programmatic method of targeting specific audiences with ads. It is ideal for advertisers who want to scale up their ads and reach out and connect with their target audiences with more precision. According to a survey by Statista, global programmatic ad spending is set to grow to 724.84 billion USD in 2026 (£571 billion). So, it’s important that businesses know how programmatic advertising works and how to leverage it to get more from their ad campaigns.

Want to put the most relevant ads in front of the right audiences at the right time in 2024? Then programmatic is definitely the right route for you to go down.

But what about the ‘right place’ part? This is where we provide the solution at Drovo. We use programmatic advertising technology to ensure our on-vehicle screen campaigns reach your target audience in the right areas of London. Connecting with Out-of-Home audiences in the capital is made much easier when you embrace the latest advertising technologies.

With Drovo’s on-vehicle campaigns, you can simultaneously target ads to the mobile devices of on-street audiences, thus hitting them with both online and offline advertising. Our shadowfencing feature helps brands send a complementary display ad to audiences’ mobiles when our branded vehicles pass by.

What Is an Ad Exchange? 

A modern-day ad exchange is a digital marketplace that facilitates programmatic ad buying and operates using real-time bidding technology. Its purpose is to connect advertisers and agencies with media publishers. 

One major benefit of using an ad exchange on a programmatic advertising platform for advertisers is that it provides them with access to a broad range of ad networks under a single interface. Ad exchanges on programmatic platforms provide a wealth of ideal places for advertisers to feature their ads.

Types of Ad Exchanges for Programmatic Advertising Platforms

Programmatic advertising platforms typically work across 3 different types of ad exchanges. 

1. Open Ad Exchange

An open ad exchange is a virtual marketplace where any advertisers can compete and bid on inventory put on by publishers in real-time. The publishers’ details are purposely withheld from advertisers on an open ad exchange, whereas their details are shown to advertisers in private marketplace (PMP) exchanges.

2. Private Marketplace (PMP) Exchange

Private Marketplace (PMP) ad buying exchanges allow publishers to have more control and set up invite-only exchanges for a select few advertisers to bid on ad inventory. Publishers also have the power to prevent and block third parties and ad networks from participating in the exchange. 

You often find that premium and better-quality ads are available on private marketplace ad exchanges.

3. Programmatic Guaranteed

In a programmatic deal, a publisher provides advertisers with special access to ad inventory with both parties setting the minimum bid parameters before the auction begins.

Programmatic guaranteed is a more direct approach to ad buying, and guaranteed deals typically rely on strong relationships between publishers and advertisers.

What Is a DSP 

A programmatic DSP is a type of automated software platform that enables advertisers to purchase advertising. On DSPs, advertisers are able to bid on different ad networks and buy from a range of third-party publishers’ inventories.  

What Is an SSP? 

Supply-side Platforms (SSPs) are automated ad selling platforms that assist publishers in coordinating the selling of their ad inventories. SSPs help publishers sell their ad space to the highest possible bidder.

So, there you have it, DSPs help advertisers buy high-quality ads at the lowest possible prices, and SSPs help to ensure that publishers and media owners receive as much money for their ad space as possible. 

Examples of Successful Programmatic Advertising Platforms 

Amazon DSP 

In 2024, virtually everyone is aware of the e-commerce giant Amazon or has bought something from the website, and today, it is the third-largest brand in the world by revenue. 

Amazon’s Demand-side Platform allows advertisers to buy both video and display ads programmatically both on and off Amazon. It uses automated technology to select which ad slots to buy. Through using the Amazon DSP, advertisers are able to send highly personalised ads to consumers. 

Facebook Ad Manager 

Facebook Ad Manager is another example of a major programmatic advertising platform today. The social media juggernaut sells ad inventory to advertisers using data and information collected by Facebook, including things such as age, interests, education, profession, behaviour and more. 

Google Display & Video 360 

The Google Display & Video 360 is an end-to-end campaign management tool that functions as a programmatic advertising platform. It helps advertisers manage their display ads, video ads, and programmatic campaigns.

You now ought to be more aware of how programmatic advertising platforms work. Interested in hyper targeting your OOH audiences with stylish programmatic on-vehicle screen ads in London? Drovo is here at your service…