The Great Shift: Modern Marketing Reset By AI

Earlier this year, programmatic advertising surged back into the spotlight, drawing renewed interest from India’s leading advertisers. This resurgence was primarily fuelled by rapid advancements in AI and the growing adoption of programmatic advertising to address the complexities of a cookieless environment. Against this backdrop, India stands on the brink of a new era in digital advertising, marked by a range of exciting developments.

Fast-growing media channels from connected TV (CTV), digital out-of-home to retail media are increasingly becoming part of the programmatic advertising ecosystem. Premium inventory such as live sports is also poised to enter the programmatic landscape, and this will further expand advertising options on the open internet.

Projections indicate that by 2026, programmatic advertising will command an astounding 86 per cent share of all digital advertising revenue in India. With the inevitable transition towards a future where all digital advertising will be transacted programmatically, it becomes crucial for marketers to fully comprehend and carefully select the programmatic approach that best aligns with their objectives.

True Effectiveness Thrives In An Objective Environment

Throughout its relatively brief history, digital advertising has predominantly been controlled by a handful of large tech companies operating as ‘walled gardens'. Operating as closed ecosystems, walled gardens own their content and distribution platforms while having full control of the technology used to target, place, and measure ads. Some of the largest walled gardens include Apple, Amazon, Google and Meta.

Unlike Google, for example, which has ad inventory on Search and YouTube, media buying platforms representing the open internet do not own media or content sites. They focus solely on purchasing ads across various channels on the open internet, ensuring optimal results for marketers. This approach maintains transparency and independence and maximizes campaign performance. It's akin to having separate agents for buyers and sellers in a home sale, ensuring fairness for all involved.

Programmatic Unleashes Its Potential On The Open Internet

At its core, programmatic advertising thrives on applying data and automation to optimize and personalize campaigns. This allows brands and agencies to precisely target audiences and deliver timely, relevant messages across digital channels. Yet, its full potential is limited when confined to a few walled gardens.

This is because walled gardens restrict advertisers' access to the vast universe of impressions available on the open internet. Independent media buying platforms, however, offer access to a scalable environment, allowing marketers to reach nearly 600 million users in India on the open internet, a substantial 62 million more than what walled gardens provide.

Recent research findings from the ‘Elevating your digital marketing strategy with AI’ report underscore marketing leaders' growing appreciation for advertising on the open internet in India. The findings indicate a departure from the traditional 'media-first' approach, where direct programmatic deals were primarily made with publishers and walled gardens. Instead, there's a notable shift towards an 'audience-first' approach, which leverages AI and advanced data sources to understand user lifestyles and preferences across the open internet. Advertisers adopting this modern programmatic approach can now create more personalised campaigns, and launch large-scale campaigns rapidly, bypassing the slower, traditional publisher-by-publisher or individual walled garden advertising approach.

A New Dawn In Programmatic Advertising

Today, data is transforming programmatic advertising, marking a new era of sophistication.

Modern marketers are now empowered with their invaluable first-party data, where they can leverage lookalike modeling to pinpoint potential customers who closely resemble their existing customer base, thereby boosting conversion rates.

Similarly, third-party data has evolved, offering advanced targeting capabilities beyond basic demographics. This enables brands to access diverse niche datasets, allowing for precise audience selection with unprecedented accuracy.

As we enter an era driven by data and AI, leveraging these tools strategically in advertising will become a competitive differentiator. Those who upgrade their media buying strategies and embrace an 'audience-first' programmatic approach will gain a first-mover advantage, leading to more effective outcomes for a future where all digital advertising will be fully automated.

Tejinder Gill

Guest Author The author is the General Manager at The Trade Desk.