programmatic vs adwords

ProgrammaticThinking beyond Google Adwords

Mcounts consumer Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Demand Side Platforms (DSPs)

- Neeraj Mishra | Mcounts

Google AdWords, as the name implies, wasprimarily built around search, keywords,and text ads. The display network was anafterthought, bolted on after Google'sacquisition of DoubleClick and theexpansion of the AdSense program.


DSPs were purposely designed aroundbuilding display ad campaigns. BothDSPs and AdWords are buying platformsfor advertisers, but when it comes to thefocus, DSP's wins hands down in displayadvertising.

Adwords Programmatic

DSPs = Demand Side PlatformsProgrammatic, Programmatic DSPs, RTB (Real Time Bidding are used interchangeably in this presentation


Amongst experienced marketers, most only have little idea of how DSP's work and howthey ultimately differ from a platform like Google AdWords.

“Isn’t Programmatic Displaykind of like AdWords?”

Most Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) are similar to AdWords in thatthey are used to create ad campaigns. But, DSP's provide advertisersaccess into the vendor-neutral RTB (Real Time Bidding) ecosystem;whereas AdWords only allows campaigns to run within the Google

network.


The differences go beyond that, as well, especially on the display advertising side of things as explained next


Extent of ReachAdwords vs Programmatic


The reach of the RTB ecosystem (Programmatic) isunparalleled in the history of online display advertising.

Adwords vs Programmatic

Extent of Reach


DSPs centralize access to inventory from well over a dozensupply-side platforms (SSPs), enabling access to a pool of

over 15 billion impressions per day and rising.


Extent of Reach

With the relatively recent addition of the Facebook Exchange (FBX), there is no question that DSPshave the upper hand in terms of reach.


With access to billions of impressions combined with righttargeting data, you can basically find your audience

anywhere on the web (whether desktops, tablets, or mobiledevices) and show them your ads using Programmatic


Extent of Reach


On the other hand, the Google Display Network (GDN), as availablethrough AdWords, is limited only to Google/DoubleClick properties.

Inventory from GDN is also available through DSPs as part of theGoogle/DoubleClick Ad Exchange (AdEx), among other premium

publisher inventory.


Extent of Reach

Non-GDN inventory on Google Ad Exchange is not available through AdWords!


Data Freshness & GranularityAdwords vs Programmatic


Important difference between AdWords and DSPs is the ease withwhich you can view the performance of your campaigns through the

reporting interface, and the granularity with which you can applyoptimization decisions to your campaigns. .


Data Freshness & Granularity

Campaign Optimization is largely dictated by the freshness and transparency of your campaign data


In AdWords, there is a reporting delay of roughly 2-3 hours for some

stats (such as clicks, impressions, and conversions), while other

metrics are only updated once a day!




Most Programmatic DSP's report in real time – meaning that you are

both bidding on impressions in real time, and getting up-to-

the-minute statistics, as well. It also provides significant granularity

in reporting, allowing you to uncover insights and optimize

immediately, some things that are not possible with AdWords.




With Programmatic DSPs, looking at the performance of specific placements on a

specific website, you can uncover some extremely useful optimization insights. You

might find that a certain ad unit, placed below the fold, happens to draw a very low

click-through rate (CTR), bringing down overall campaign performance. Being able to

disable such under-performing elements is crucial to effective optimization.




When you look closely at these two factors — data freshness andgranular reporting — you realize that both are key features foreffective optimization, especially with the rate at which adimpressions can be bought from today’s massive real-timeexchanges.




Targeting OptionsAdwords vs. Programmatic

Mcounts consumer Solutions Pvt. Ltd.Adwords vs Programmatic

Targeting

Many of the targeting options available on AdWords arealso available on DSPs, geographic targeting, day parting,frequency capping, and so on. Even more advancedtargeting options like retargeting (or remarketing) are alsoavailable on both platforms.

However, DSPs are unquestionably more effective at targeting audiences, given the reach of the RTB ecosystem.


Targeting

Contextual targeting (i.e., targeting specific URLs based onthe topic of the page) is another similarity between the twoplatforms, even though there are some differences inimplementation.

1. AdWords allows contextual targeting by keyword or category2. DSPs typically only allow for targeting by category.


Targeting

Keywords gives AdWords an advantage in that displayinventory can be bought on a keyword basis; however, therelevance of the Keyword targeting via Adwords is quitelow, making performance difficult to achieve, evenamongst veteran AdWords advertisers.


Targeting

Target capabilities ofDSPs, made possible byreal-time bidding, arefar more advanced.

E.g: when creating a mobilecampaign you can choose to targetby a number of different criteria,including:

Device manufacturerHandset modelMobile carrierOperating systemWeb browser


Targeting

Targeting segments include everything fromdemographic data (age, gender, income,marital status, education level, etc.) topsychographic data (likes and interests) tobehavioral data (e.g., company they bankwith, brand of car they drive, who they use forinsurance, etc.)

The scope of targeting options using cookie data is practically limitless, and the easiest way toachieve scale is via DSPs.



Pricing Options


Pricing Options

When it comes to display ad inventory, CPM is thefoundation of all pricing. (In the RTB ecosystem, it’s eCPM,to be more precise.)

DSPs do offer the ability to run campaigns with a CPC or CPA price target, but such options onlyoptimize to those goals, effectively. Underneath, impressions are still traded on an eCPM basis.

eCPM = Effective Cost per MileCPC = Cost per ClickCPA = Cost per Action


Pricing Options

Google can afford to offer a CPC pricing option through AdWords,mainly because they have direct control over publisher adplacements through DoubleClick and AdSense.

Using their own algorithms, they can optimize both CPM and CPCbids to show higher-CTR ads at certain times, and CPM ads at othertimes, depending on price and performance, and what yields themthe highest revenue.


Pricing Options

As a marketer, you can use this fact to your advantage. Using theAdWords platform, you can effectively test a variety of banner adswith very little risk using CPC bids. Once you find a set ofhigh-performing ads, you can move them over to DSPs and directbuys with higher confidence.


AccessibilityAdwords vs Programmatic


Accesibility

While Programmatic has an entry cost with minimumof 5K-20K $ per month, both adwords and DSPs have

self-serve options mainly that provides greataccessibility to marketers


Verdict

Extent Of Reach

Data Freshness& Granularity

Targeting

Pricing Options

Accessibility

Programmatic Adwords

Win

Win

Tie

Tie

Win

Lose

Lose

Tie

Tie

Lose


Verdict

AdWords is obviously the king of search engine marketing(SEM) platforms. But when it comes to display advertising,

the industry has evolved beyond what AdWords offers.Superior reach, targeting, and optimization are now foundin the realm of real-time bidding technology and realized

through Programmatic demand-side platforms.


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Helpful Resources: http://digitaladblog.com/2015/03/22/programmatic-the-top-infographics/

programmatic vs adwords

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