Both is Better - Programmatic + Direct Websites?

When I was representing College Media Network and ”theFacebook” at Y2M, I remember heated conversations about letting ad networks run banners with us.  Google was willing to pay $1.50 cost per thousand impressions (CPM) for anything we could send them and many other ad networks wanted to buy what we couldn't sell.  Similar conversations continued when I was at Classmates.com.  Later on at Weather Channel Companies, I learned that Weather.com had yet to let any networks run. It opted to give all remnant impressions to large advertisers like Monster.com, Experian, FreeCreditReport.com, and Match.com.  The large brands rather than networks were the first to suck up the inventory us sales guys couldn't sell at a premium.  I introduced the Rubicon Project to Weather.com because I thought, Hmm, this exchange thing could really take off on a big site like Weather.  

AdWeek says 63 percent of display-ad spending this year will be programmatic.

What do we (as advertisers) get with programmatic?

1. Control to test at low budgets or scale 2. Ability to somewhat control where our ads appear with URL targeting 3. Ability to mix in our high-converting retargeting with other targeting options 4. Ability to buy mobile, video, and banners across 99% of the web 5. Ability to net-out my ROI quickly and adjust 6. Platform to control and adjust directly.

What do we (as advertisers) get with direct websites?

1. More control with tests at slightly higher budgets (most sites have a $5-$25K minimum) and less opportunity to scale 2. More control of where our ads appear—no/less ad fraud 3. Audience extension (ability to retarget the sites we’re running ads on)—retarget our own ads 4. Ability to buy mobile, video, and banners across niche sites that we have determined to be a good fit for our product  5. Limited ability to net-out ROI because of campaigns guided by tighter contracts 6. DEDICATED people that will work behind the scenes to keep advertisers happy.

USE BOTH!  There is no reason to choose.  The days of a media planner managing 20 sites may be gone, but your people can try 2-5 buys that include programmatic, plus a couple of other programmatic-only programs (I'd also suggest a minimum of two social firms (different strengths) in addition to your the social media you manage directly).Today, brands looking to directly capture a demographic, as well as brands looking to drive $2.50 leads, can use sites directly and programmatic ad buying to get the best of both worlds.  We work specifically with brands looking to hit the age 50+ audience with scale, on sites like Ancestry.com sites, Grandparents.com, Legacy.com sites, Tributes.com, and many other genealogy-type sites, AND we cover the educational niche for back to school with college sites and custom ASL Marketing data in Facebook that drives university and college registrations at under $50 costs per action/acquisition (CPAs) --- but then we combine all of this with the programmatic world to capitalize on what sites direct can do when you add programmatic and data.  It's pretty simple: direct site relationships + tools/platforms + good people as an extension of the brand's marketing team = best of both worlds.  

Please keep looking at the comScore and Nielsen numbers or even Quantcast or other analytics to look at sites and niche networks; they give you directional information on what a vendor/site/network cares about.  Keep looking at sites direct because EVERYONE and ANYONE can buy programmatic and build a platform, but MOST of them are just using the same tools and buying the same inventory for you.  I'm not just talking about my fellow vendors: your internal people are also using the same tools and buying the same inventory as your competitors.   

The best online marketers and advertisers push vendors to do what they need to do: they invent problems for vendors to solve; they hire vendors as an extension of their staff; and they hold everyone accountable. Just use common sense, which means of course you want both programmatic and sites direct.  

Please send me more insights and thoughts. The best ideas come from brands, so stay thirsty and keep pushing us vendors for both!

[email protected] = College/K-12 Sites + Programmatic + Social Firm josh@iMediaSalesTeam = Boomer Sites + Programmatic + Social Firm