Presentation from our NYC programmatic workshop on 9.22.15.

1. Best Practices
For Programmatic
September 22, 2015
NYC Workshop

2. Operative Overview
Jason Witt
CRO

3. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
TECHNOLOGY
WORKFLOW
BUSINESS
OUTCOMES
Success manifests at the Intersection

4. IMPRESSIONS
$$$
CUSTOM
ENTERPRISEDEALS
DIRECT:NAT/LOCAL
AUDIENCE
BULK
An even more significant problem occurs in
terms of Yield (profit/revenue) maximization.
Operating independently, it becomes
impossible to optimize pricing, resources and
technology—and often results in the inability to
even have accurate visibility into revenues,
profits, sales and expenses.
The Direct Sales Dilemma – Fragmented Yield

5. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
The Direct Sales Dilemma – Fragmented Ops + Tech
For media companies of any
scale, there are significant
challenges in executing—much
less optimizing—direct sales.
There are multiple sales teams
representing multiple
properties and trying to
execute advertising deals
across multiple technologies.

6. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
The Direct Sales Dilemma – Fragmented Ops + Tech
These multitudes of
stakeholders tends to be
partially solved by picking ONE
pivot point (e.g., the media
property) and then creating
parallel but differentiated teams
and processes to connect the
organization.
This is obviously inefficient for
cost, speed, error rates and
technology utilization.

7. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
The Direct Sales Solution – Comprehensive Integration
Operative.One was
constructed as the operating
system to interconnect all
aspects of the digital
advertising business—to
connect all people,
technologies and processes
into a single data architecture.
Operative Customers are able
to create economic waterfalls
without regard to the “artificial”
barriers created by teams,
properties or technologies.

8. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
The Direct Sales Solution – Comprehensive Operations
With regard to Operations,
Operative consolidates
business and delivery data and
makes this usable across all
phases of the campaign
lifecycle.
Through the configurable
platform, media companies can
still utilize unique skills and
organizational structures to
effect these processes.

9. SALES AD OPS FINANCE
CRM:
INVENTORY:
AD BUSINESS MANAGEMENT:
DMP/AUDIENCE
BILLING:
RECONCILIATION:
Create Order Invoice Client
Optimize
Campaign
Traffic CampaignSend to Ad Ops
DISPLAY: VIDEO/VOD:
PROGRAMMATIC :
The Direct Sales Solution – Comprehensive Technology

10. The “All Sales” Dilemma – Fragmented Yield
IMPRESSIONS
$$$
CUSTOM
DIRECTSALES
PARTNER
PROG.
DIRECT
SSPs
An even more significant problem occurs in
terms of Yield (profit/revenue) maximization.
Operating independently, it becomes
impossible to optimize pricing, resources and
technology—and often results in the inability to
even have accurate visibility into revenues,
profits, sales and expenses.

11. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
The “All Sales” Dilemma
The same challenge that
Operative conquered in the
direct sales world now exists
with the rise of programmatic,
aggregators, exchanges and
the increasingly complex
number of demand sources
and transaction platforms.

12. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
The “All Sales” Solution
Operative.One is currently
expanding to become the
operating system to interconnect
all aspects of the digital
advertising business—to connect
all people, technologies and
processes into a single data
architecture.
Our clients need to be able to
create economic waterfalls
without regard to the “artificial”
barriers created by teams,
properties or technologies.

13. The Current
Programmatic
LandscapeDon Amboyer
General Manager

14. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
RTB Still Most Popular for Marketers
How do you expect your total programmatic budget to be allocated
across the following buy types IN THE NEXT TWELVE MONTHS?
Open Exchange (i.e. open auction-based spot buying)
Private Marketplace (i.e. auction-based or flat CPM
spot buying with a restricted number of buyers)
Programmatic Guaranteed (i.e. futures-based buying)

15. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
The Current Programmatic Landscape
Backfill
Open
Exchange
Header
Bidding
Private
Marketplace
Preferred
Automated
Guaranteed
Premium
Exchange

16. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
Automated Guaranteed:
Streamlining Direct Sales
MATURITY: Publishers provide integrated
scheduling, pricing, data sharing and reporting to
facilitate the direct selling process across most
inventory through a marketplace.
REALITY: Publishers share pricing and some
inventory information through partners like AdSlot,
but data, viewability and other necessary add-ons
are not yet integrated. Minor revenue stream.

17. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
Backfill
Open
Exchange
Header
Bidding
Premium
Exchange

18. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
Unreserved Programmatic
MATURITY: Working like private auctions,
publishers float premium inventory in a single
system and allow a variety of select advertisers
to bid against each other raising CPMs.
REALITY: Inventory is floated case by case
across several auction systems at the
advertiser’s request. Minor revenue stream,
no lift in CPM.

19. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
Real-Time Bidding
MATURITY: Publishers have 3-6 integrated
partners who bid actively against each other
with common floors and real time optimization
occurs by placement.
REALITY: Header bidding is activated and a
wide variety of other partners are left in a
“frozen” waterfall.

20. Best Practices for
Optimizing Programmatic

21. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
What You’ll Learn
• Common publisher RTB strategies in use today
• How to build a proper infrastructure from the ground up
• How to include segmentation in RTB strategy
• How to scale your operations based on skillset
• Where header bidding falls in programmatic strategy
• What a mature RTB operation looks like

22. The Publisher Yield Curve
IMPRESSIONS
$$$
Custom
Direct
Sales
Partner
RTB
Programm
atic Direct
© 2015 Operative Media, Inc.

23. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
Maximizing RTB Revenue
High-eCPMExchanges
SolidFillRate
Exchanges
Backfill
IMPRESSIONS
$$$
HeaderBidding
PMP

24. Scenario 1:
“The Robots Scare Me”

25. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
“Robots Scare Me”
Have zero exchanges and rely
on networks and AdSense
Deterred by volume of tasks needed
to optimize programmatic
Rely on AdSense and house
ads for backfill
Be honest with yourself:
Why don’t you use exchanges?
Do something small,
start with AdX (for DFP users)
Call for help
CURRENT STATE OPTIMAL STATE

26. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
Developing an Infrastructure
1. Prepare for a testing period where you vet exchange partners for eCPM and fill
2. If you just look at CPM, you’re missing half of the equation
3. Partner Vetting: Forge good partners early on
• Test reporting tools to make sure you can capture all necessary data for your business
(i.e. site delivery, demand sources, bid landscape, floors, viewability, etc.)
• Make sure that there is a solid support infrastructure at the exchanges, a technical
resource available to answer questions (setup, reporting, best practices)

27. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.

28. Scenario 2:
“Set it and Forget It”

29. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
“Set it and Forget It”
“Sort of” have a yield person
Varied number of exchanges and networks
Occasional optimization based on “performance”
Little to no daily maintenance
Occasional reporting
Few, if any, taxonomy changes
“Sort of” Have a yield person
Consolidate partners
Optimize daily with concrete performance metrics
Daily maintenance and reporting
from BOTH partners and ad server
Redesigned taxonomy to be
optimal for programmatic
CURRENT STATE OPTIMAL STATE

30. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
1. Work with 3-4 solid partners (plus AdX) to inject competition
2. Segment your remnant inventory into private marketplaces, high-
performing exchanges, open exchanges, and backfill channels
3. How to segment your inventory:
• Make it descriptive of what you are offering
• Limit supply across verticals to lift eCPMs
• Split your inventory and package to maximize eCPM
• Be consistent between the ad server and exchanges
Segmentation

31. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
Less Effective Taxonomy:
All Exchange inventory RoS/RoN
No partner differentiation by platform
No differentiation between PMP/RTB
No packaging of inventory on open
market
No 1:1 ratio between ad server lines and
exchange inventory
Taxonomy Examples
More Effective Taxonomy:
RTB inventory segmented by
platform/site/section/size
Ability to package inventory
(i.e. mobile/display, international/domestic, etc.)
Ad server lines for both PMP/RTB inventory
(at different priorities)
Make sure there is a line for each
ad product per exchange
Ability to allocate impressions by either
SoV or daily goals

32. Scenario 3:
“Yeah, if you could do this
too, that would be great.”

33. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
“Yeah, if you could do this too,
that would be great.”
Ad Ops runs programmatic
(on top of regular ad ops work)
Same team optimizing
direct and indirect campaigns
PMPs and programmatic direct compete
for time with direct optimization
RTB is ignored or underutilized
“Sort of” Have a
dedicated yield person
Ideally, have two.
One for programmatic
direct and one for RTB.
Consider a separate yield analyst
Make sure to have a decision engine
CURRENT STATE OPTIMAL STATE

34. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
Staffing and Skillset
1. Delivery analysis
2. Working knowledge of ad servers and
the ad selection process (for
troubleshooting or evaluating new
partners and best practices)
3. Experience working in 3rd party ad tech
systems to build inventory, generate
code and tags, pull reports, and
integrate with other systems
BASIC SKILLS ADVANCED SKILLS
1. Data analysis
2. Partner evaluation
3. Ability to automate via APIs
4. Consultative industry
knowledge to move from
RTB to private marketplaces
5. Working knowledge of the buy
side and bid optimization/KPIs
You need a programmatic stakeholder(s), internal or external, that can do the following:

35. Scenario 4:
“Headed for a Heartbreak”

36. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
“Headed for a Heartbreak”
Implemented
header bidders
UX suffers
Inventory taken by
headers has high ROI
Remaining inventory…?
(which can be 80-90%)
Open exchange waterfall
for incremental revenue
Dedicated yield manager to
avoid pitfalls of previous scenarios
CURRENT STATE OPTIMAL STATE

37. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
Header Bidding: What to Look Out For
1. No control or insight (black box, be aware of bid ranges)
2. Doesn’t work across all inventory
3. Has very low fill rates (about 10-15%)
4. Page load latency
5. Doesn’t allow for optimization or new partners

38. © 2015 Operative Media, Inc.
Our Model (Sample Client Setup)
PRIORITY INVENTORY
1
Takeovers, Exclusives, Custom Units
2
3
4
5
PMP Deals Through Rubicon with Ultra
(Mindshare agency trading desk)
6
7
8 Direct Deals
9
Lower Value Direct Deals, ad networks (Undertone, Kargo)
10
11 OpenX Header Bidderm, Amazon Bidder (A9)
12 Operative Compete
Network line type (OpenX, AOL, Rubicon, PubMatic
being optimized by performance) competing
AdX Dynamic Allocation
13
14
15
16 Ad.com / House / PSA

39. Learn more at:
www.operative.com/compete