Programmatic selling on DOOH is just another way to offer media owners’ out-of-home digital inventory. Although onboarding each SSP (supply side platform) takes work, the rest of the way is relatively simple.
In the last two years programmatic selling in DOOH has been accepted and incorporated into the language of the OOH industry. Some media owners, as well as some markets, understand and accept it more than others. But where is the benefit really for each part of the ecosystem?
For buyers to be able to see, for example, the inventory of 30 different companies in one place is undoubtedly a great benefit. While for media owners being able to access global clients or another slice of the advertising pie is a great motivation to integrate their inventories to the different SSPs.
And in the SSP I want to stop and write a little more. Do all SSPs really give me access to another piece of the advertising pie? And the answer is NO, there is undoubtedly cannibalization of advertising budgets. This not only does not generate extra income for the company but also increases sales expenses because before we achieved these sales in a traditional way and today to achieve them we have tech fees on the demand and supply sides.
There are definitely SSPs that focus their attention on 100% digital budgets, such as Place Exchange, Hivestack or Vistar in the United States with sales teams assigned to 100% digital agencies. Today, in more developed markets, media owners are accessing sales with a single click and that is a great advance for the industry. Simply put, if a media owner is programmatically accessing sales that they could reach traditionally, they are selling their inventory wrong. The main objective of integrating to different SSPs is to access another part of the pie.
It is so important not to devalue or transform your inventory into basic inventory, especially if you are on the premium side of DOOH, with a well-considered pricing strategy for programmatic selling.
In the same way, it is important to integrate the greatest number of SSPs into your inventory, something that at Doohmain we do in a simple way, in order to capture the greatest number of programmatic sales. Always with full control of each media owner’s own inventory, transparency and without the need (or yes, it depends on the agreement) to guarantee available space for this type of sale.
In my personal experience, when talking with media owners in different countries and regions I usually hear these concepts:
- Before starting to operate programmatically I must choose an SSP:
The path to programmatic success is based on integrating as many revenue sources as possible. If we want to have good results in this type of sales, we must connect more than one.
- I’m going to lose control of what’s displayed on my screens:
At Doohmain we have created integrations that do not allow creatives to be displayed without prior approval from the inventory owner. Even a campaign that is active and showing, if the creative changes, it must be pre-approved.
- The price of my screens is going to collapse:
The key is to understand the price and have a solid and intelligent pricing strategy.
- How can I be sure that my sales are not going to be cannibalized?
It is undoubtedly a latent threat in programmatic sales and for that it is key to have an independent CMS (content management software) so that SSPs cannot access their traditional customer information. In addition to having a good pricing strategy, as I said in the previous point.
Conclusions:
Although programmatic outdoor selling has been developing for some time, it is still in a testing period and looking for the best way to be beneficial for both parties in the process (advertisers and media owners).
When deciding to incorporate inventory for programmatic selling, you should think about the following:
- Are my screens ready to be integrated programmatically?
- Do I have the necessary team members to operate the demand in the different SSPs?
- Do I have or have I explored audience measurement companies?
Without a doubt, the programmatic market will not only generate new income, but will also generate new challenges, teams and ways of working. Are you ready?
