Supply-side transparency is always top of mind for our programmatic traders. The Rubicon Project raised the question, “Is 2019 the tipping point for supply path optimisation?”. Well we believe that it may well be.
With so many intermediaries, advertisers often do not know how much of their digital spend is going to fees, and how much is going to publishers. It is our responsibility as an agency to ensure the cleanest path to purchase on behalf of our clients.
Supply path optimisation
An effective and efficient SPO (supply path optimisation) will benefit publishers as well as advertisers, as it will help remove the bad actors within our marketplaces and thus benefit the overall ecosystem. A number of supply-side platforms have already begun using filtered algorithms to send only the most relevant inventory to their connected demand-side platforms. If this is feasible, it will only be a matter of time before the whole market shifts to these filtered algorithms, but will these bad actors pivot and follow suit? EMX, as an example, is pioneering this market change, by having the exchange fee sit on the buyer’s sheet, and it will be interesting to see how their quest develops.
The flipside
The counter-argument can be, however, that advertisers should also be looking at KPIs to judge the value of their digital spend, not simply the media cost. What is more ‘efficient’? The $6 CPM with a 25% ROAS or the $2 CPM media with the 10% ROAS? Media cost by its own measure is not “value” nor “success”; it is just a meaningless cost without considering performance. Across programmatic, the end result is where the value lies, not simply supply chain cost benchmarks.
Croud difference
At Croud we understand precisely what is required for a clean SPO, whilst continuing to optimise towards performance, transparency and technical efficiencies – the three key components to a systematised and successful campaign. We ensure that these components are consistently implemented across our campaigns, meaning our clients deliver impressions to the most relevant content and at the best possible price.
IAB has recently announced that apps-ads.txt is ready to fight inventory fraud in mobile apps. This will result in reduced fraudulent in-app ad inventory and will help identify and block instances of unauthorised developer impersonation. As an industry, we are pivoting further towards mobile each month and therefore these kinds of market advancements will directly benefit our clients.
To find out more about our programmatic services or about Croud, get in touch.
