Programmatic advertising offers a vast array of options for marketers and advertisers to get their digital campaigns in front of exactly who they want when they want, and where they want. Two of the most widely-used options for running digital advertising campaigns through a programmatic platform are self serve and managed service.
Don’t know the difference between the two? Ready to take the leap into self-service programmatic advertising, or is managed service more your speed?
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Digital advertising continues its trend upwards
Self-serve advertising puts transparency and control front and center
Digital advertising continues its trend upwards
Twice per year, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) releases its Internet Advertising Revenue Report, produced by PwC US. In this report, IAB and PwC track the size of the digital advertising industry and the trends propelling its ongoing rise—and rising it is. IAB’s Susan Hogan, Senior Vice President, Research and Analytics, said, “The second half of 2020 made up for the rather abrupt drop in advertising revenue experienced toward the end of the second quarter… We not only had a rebound, we also had double-digit growth”.
- Programmatic advertising revenue increased by $14.2 billion in 2020, up nearly 25 percent from last year
- Digital video advertising revenue generated $26.2 billion in 2020, up 20.6 percent year over year
- Display ad revenue grew 35.4 percent since 2019, totaling $44 billion in revenue for 2020 and accounting for 31.4 percent of all ad formats
- Digital audio advertising sustained strong growth in 2020 with $3.1 billion in advertising revenue, achieving 13 percent growth year over year
With all that said, it appears brands and agencies have shifted budgets and strategies to programmatic advertising. However, there is still the decision of how best to scale—or start—your digital advertising campaign. What’s the better move for you, managed service or self-service advertising?
Self-service programmatic advertising puts transparency and control front and center
It’s true that “set it and forget it” can be nice at times—and for some, it’s just the better option. However, operating a self-service platform, like Choozle, boasts its own impressive benefits as well. Many brands and agencies are focusing their advertising strategy by bringing their media buying in-house, which is perfect for implementing a self-serve digital advertising platform.
Running a self-service digital advertising campaign allows marketers to have direct access to their campaigns. (Does it get any more transparent?) Marketers can keep track of their campaigns in real-time, from start to finish, allowing for maximum control and the ability to make changes on the fly, such as:
- Ad group adjustments & creative changes
- Site list & targeting optimizations
- Budget & bid adjustments
One significant benefit of running a programmatic advertising campaign through a self-serve platform is the opportunity to execute everything in-house. The marketer maintains control over their campaign strategy and the ability to launch and optimize a campaign on their own, significantly cutting down on set up times. Also, not to mention, the cost of running self-serve digital advertising campaigns is almost always more cost-effective than other options.
Managed service, however, is quite the opposite. In the case that an outside source fully manages digital advertising, be it an agency or otherwise, marketers can explore and adopt programmatic advertising over time while knowing an experienced team will be running the campaigns. However, the downside to this option is that expertise doesn’t live within the organization, and outside resources can come at an increased cost.
Managed service vs. self-service
If you’re just getting started with the process of buying advertising programmatically, know that it doesn’t have to be all on your shoulders.
Running advertising campaigns with fully managed providers puts the campaign responsibilities in the hands of media strategists. The media strategists are the ones who upload everything needed, make optimizations throughout, and send reporting back to the marketer. This is a more appealing option for teams that are just getting started with programmatic advertising and don’t yet have the resources to take these processes in-house.
As a marketer, whether it’s done through a managed service or a self-service platform, programmatic advertising is the future when it comes to executing display advertising campaigns. However, deciding how to run these ads is entirely up to the marketer and their company or agency. Whatever the needs may be, there is an option for everyone.
