Concerned over Private Marketplaces? No need to be.

By Alaric Thomas
April 23, 2013

Programmatic Trading is the buzz word for 2013. Many publishers are showing interest in adopting this more efficient way of trading but often lack the support to do so. Concerns in the market are rife, and it can often seem discouraging when the knowledge behind the technology isn’t there. And to confuse matters, Private Marketplaces (PMPs) have entered the programmatic scene, leading to even more mystification and fears on the publisher side.

However with their granular transparency PMPs give the reins back to publishers, allowing greater control over pricing and powering direct sellers with information on the practices and preferences of their best clients.

A recent PMP success story for PubMatic started when it partnered with IDG UK (International Data Group UK) towards the end of last year to help drive IDG UK’s offering into the programmatic spectrum.

 

IDG UK is a global technology network bringing together over 280 million technology buyers in 97 countries. IDG UK chose PubMatic as their Strategic Selling Partner to enable its programmatic offering to market for their B2B and B2C properties, such as ComputerworldUK, Macworld, PCAdvisor and DigitalArtsOnline.

Like many of our other clients, IDG UK needed to partner with a trusted technology platform to lead their programmatic trading adoption and help them drive their direct sales into the opportunities around Private Marketplaces.

privatremrktplaceKey factors for any client, when moving into the PMP environment, are to gain deep control over their digital assets with heightened transparency and the ability to adjust floor prices when needed. The feeling of having the chance to be ‘hands on’ within the programmatic landscape is often needed by the publisher to allow them control and transparency when dealing with their inventory.

IDG UK was quick to realise the benefit of embracing programmatic trading and taking ownership over how and to whom its impressions were traded programmatically. As part of its overall digital strategy, IDG UK’s media services director Dan Shaw quickly identified the need for a specialist to lead their programmatic trading and adoption within their direct sales teams.

“Everywhere you look there are very bullish forecasts about how much the programmatic space will grow. We wanted to make sure we were as close to the market as we could be. And we also wanted to be one of the first Publishers having the conversations agencies wanted to have. A dedicated sales resource has given us the opportunity to do both of these things; we recognised the need to have someone actively talking with all demand partners (and someone who could spend time with Pubmatic) so they really understood the opportunities and could feedback to the overall business,” said Shaw.

By appointing Rob Bradley to work with PubMatic’s EMEA Director of Advertiser Solutions, Duncan Chamberlain, Dan Shaw ensured IDG had a dedicated sales lead to partner with PubMatic.

This enabled the direct sales business to work alongside the Agency Trading Desks whilst complimenting each other rather than cannibalising the sales efforts which led to increased revenues.

Programmatic buying and PMPs equip IDG UK with the capability to control the pricing of inventory by advertiser or segment whilst maintaining direct relationships with buyers and controlling ad quality. This was previously not possible with network relationships.

Throughout 2013, IDG UK will continue to focus on PMPs, extracting higher CPMs and approaching more trading desks, segmenting audiences further with the addition of 1st and 3rd party data.

By funnelling more agency spend into programmatic, IDG UK will gain greater control on pricing via guaranteed spends across its premium/audience rich inventory.

“As a premium publisher it is imperative we have control over the CPMs and spend we receive from our core clients via Programmatic Trading. An initial block list led a sales strategy to approach agency teams and trading desks to set up PMPs, with clients we gain direct bookings from and use trading desks. Although the overall PMP market is not as advanced as we would like we have seen great success with some of those implemented. Our SSP PubMatic has been a very valuable asset in setting up this new revenue stream.

“The next few months will see us arranging more PMPs with various demand partners and keep a close eye on their success and impact against direct sales. We see them as a core progression towards Premium RTB. In fact I am already experiencing conversations regarding branding campaigns with higher CPMs than the usual direct response we are used to via RTB,” Bradley said.