We’re excited to introduce the next segment in our Q&A series, Ask the Expert! Ask the Expert features a series of conversations with product experts where we dive into the areas you care most about like identity resolution, targeting, attribution, and more. Our next segment features a conversation about sell-side targeting.
Mike Chowla, SVP of Product at OpenX joins us to chat with Experian’s SVP of Sales & Partnerships, Chris Feo. OpenX is the world’s leading sell-side platform for audience, data, and identity targeting. In their conversation, Mike and Chris review:
- The shift to targeting on the sell-side
- How first- and third-party data are being used on the sell-side
- How OpenX is thinking about alternative IDs
What is sell-side targeting?
Sell-side targeting optimizes the way buyers and supply-side platforms (SSPs) work together. This approach moves the responsibility of inventory and audience targeting from the demand-side platform (DSP) into the SSP, providing advertisers with increased reach and better performance.
With sell-side targeting, locating your target audience becomes easier as you have a more direct connection with publishers. This increases your ability to scale against a target audience. Specifically, the SSP directly matches the buyer’s audience or data segment to the publisher inventory and audience and automatically sends the impression to the buyer’s DSP of choice via a deal ID, providing advertisers with improved reach and performance metrics as well as control over their inventory. With more direct access, your budget can likely go further, and you can decrease your effective cost per mille (eCPM) and get more working media.
“Supply-side targeting is the next phase of how supply path optimization (SPO) and buyers will need to work more closely with SSPs.” – Mike Chowla, SVP, Product, OpenX
Buying on the sell-side vs. open exchange
When buying on the open exchange, you have access to a vast number of impressions. With sell-side targeting, you can apply your campaign targeting directly on the supply-side and activate those impressions through a deal ID. Sell-side targeting works across various formats including web display, mobile, in-app, and connected TV (CTV) for a seamless advertising experience.
OpenX offers the unique capability to match users using their device graph within their SSP. This means you can target users from traditional data sources such as cookies or mobile ad IDs (MAIDs) and reach them in CTV or app environments. This gives you even more reach and precision in your advertising efforts.
The role of first- and third-party data on the sell-side
Buyers are showing a keen interest in bringing their own first-party data into the process of sell-side targeting. Meanwhile, certain agencies have been actively involved in working with identity and data. OpenX is currently collaborating with several agency ID solutions such as Choreograph, Merkel, and Horizon.
Buyers are also purchasing third-party data and data segments from various providers through OpenX’s platform for sell-side targeting purposes. By utilizing this data on the supply side, buyers are able to increase the match rate against their first- and third-party data segments in all environments. This ultimately maximizes scale against these audiences and drives a more efficient CPM due to eliminating waste.
Measurement and attribution on the sell-side
In the current state of SSP advertising, there is more of an emphasis on targeting capabilities than measurement and attribution. That said, SSPs can provide granular log level reports that can be utilized for multi-touch attribution (MTA) or mixed media models (MMM). These granular insights not only inform measurement and attribution models, but they also provide valuable optimization insights such as clearing price.
Additionally, advertisers have all of the same reporting options that they’re used to getting through their DSP because their buys are activated via deal ID in the DSP of their choice.
What to consider when transitioning to sell-side targeting
There are two primary items you should consider when transitioning to sell-side targeting:
- Supply
- Reach
Reach
Collaborating with partners who have the right capabilities can greatly improve reach and audience extension across different devices. For instance, if you bring your first-party audience or a third-party audience and are identifying that consumer via a cookie or MAID, being able to extend that targeting segment to other devices and platforms can be highly beneficial.
Supply
It’s crucial to collaborate with partners who have the right access to supply and direct connections with publishers. While targeting is essential, it’s equally important to have high-quality supply to drive performance.
Reaching consumers in a cookieless future
Whether you’re targeting on the demand or sell-side, it always starts with the consumer and who you’re trying to reach.
Significant changes in the consumer privacy landscape are impacting advertisers’ ability to access various signals emitted by consumers through their devices and browsers. Recent developments from Apple and Google have further amplified this situation.
Alternative IDs as a solution to signal loss
In response, we’re seeing the emergence of alternative IDs like UID2, Ramp ID, and ID5. OpenX supports these types of IDs and considers them crucial for audience buying in a privacy-centric cookie-less future.
We are still in the early stages of this evolution. While some of the IDs have good coverage, cookies will continue to be the primary targeting method as long as they remain available.
Nevertheless, we see alternative IDs as one of several solutions that will become increasingly important as third-party cookies disappear. Contextual buying will also emerge, and a set of solutions will come together to enable advertisers to keep finding their audience in a cookie-less world.
Overcoming signal loss with identity resolution
Looking ahead, as we continue to lose signals due to the evolving consumer privacy landscape, we will witness two things:
- Continued fragmentation
- A wide variety of identifiers
Content will continue to be available on various devices. We’re currently experiencing the emergence of connected TV, but who knows what other devices will surface over the next five to ten years. As cookies disappear, which have been the primary identifier, and alternative IDs are introduced, the wide variety of identifiers will create further fragmentation. This highlights the need for identity in the future.
Identity resolution at Experian matches fragmented identifiers to a single profile to create a unified, cross-channel view of your consumers. Our identity resolution solutions can help future-proof your marketing strategies.
How Experian and OpenX work together
Experian is a key player in OpenX’s OpenAudience solution and helps to power many of their data segments as well as their identity graph. While OpenX collaborates with a variety of providers and operates a fully interoperable platform, Experian remains valuable to the core technology within OpenX’s SSP.
“Experian powers a lot of the data segments and identity graph that OpenX has in our OpenAudience capabilities as part of our SSP.” – Mike Chowla, SVP, Product, OpenX
Watch the full Q&A
Visit our Ask the Expert content hub to watch Mike and Chris’s full conversation on sell-side targeting. In the Q&A, Mike and Chris also share their thoughts on the impact artificial intelligence (AI) will have on the AdTech industry and their go-to sources for staying up to date on all things AdTech.
About our experts
Mike Chowla, SVP, Product, OpenX
Mike Chowla is the SVP of Product at OpenX where he leads product development and innovation, from customer discovery and user research to the development, delivery, and support of a market-leading product suite. Chowla holds a BS in Engineering from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from The University of Pennsylvania.
Chris Feo, Chief Business Officer, Experian
As SVP of Sales & Partnerships, Chris has over a decade of experience across identity, data, and programmatic. Chris joined Experian during the Tapad acquisition in November 2020. He joined Tapad with less than 10 employees and has been part of the executive team through both the Telenor and Experian acquisitions. He’s an active advisor, board member, and investor within the AdTech ecosystem. Outside of work, he’s a die-hard golfer, frequent traveler, and husband to his wife, two dogs, and two goats!
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Tapad expands linear TV analytics solution, enabling optimal reach and frequency across TV and digital platforms NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Tapad, now a part of Experian, has partnered with WideOrbit, the leading provider of advertising management software for media companies, to develop the industry's first programmatic TV-buying platform powered by a device graph. Tapad is the leading provider of unified, cross-screen marketing technology solutions and was first to market with a device graph, the Tapad Device Graph™. WideOrbit's robust supply platform and industry-leading footprint offers access to premium TV inventory on top networks, reaching more than 99 million households across local affiliates. The partnership pairs Tapad's demand-side technology with WideOrbit's supply-side inventory. As a result, marketers can leverage cross-device audiences in their TV buys for the first time. Additionally, integrating the Tapad Device Graph™ with digital feedback loops and audiences both accelerates optimization and enables precise audience discovery for TV marketers. "The integration of WideOrbit's quality TV supply takes orchestrated cross-screen media buys to the next level," said Marshall Wong, Tapad's SVP of TV market development. "Marketers can now optimize TV campaigns within days instead of weeks. This also untethers them from buying against generic demographics like age and gender. By allowing brands to employ their own CRM or third-party data, we can move them much closer to audiences who will take action." "Integrating Tapad's device graph with WideOrbit's programmatic marketplace delivers enormous value to marketers looking to add TV to cross-device campaigns," said Ian Ferreira, EVP of programmatic at WideOrbit. "Television still delivers the most efficient reach of any medium, and Tapad's platform now allows marketers to purchase premium broadcast inventory that extends the power of cross-screen campaigns to TV with a single, unified solution." "Our clients build lasting relationships with consumers through thoughtful and pioneering marketing," said Jeff Giacchetti, VP of digital at Mediavest Spark. "The strategic partnership of demand-side technology and supply-side inventory makes it easier for brands to find efficient, incremental reach and are critical in this endeavor." For more information about Tapad's cross-platform advertising solutions, please visit https://www.experian.com/marketing/consumer-sync Contact us today!
The top of the year is always a great time of reflection. As our team has been excitedly preparing for our first webinar of 2017, I’ve been able to reflect on the many changes I’ve seen happen internally and externally in the digital marketing landscape, especially those related to shifting roles and breadth of knowledge. Nearly twenty years ago, when I was first getting started, most marketers knew the four Ps (price, product, promotion and place). We used to be able to come up with ideas, execute in a couple of channels, pop a bottle, and celebrate success. Tech folks tended to develop software based on requirements developed by project managers and engineers, and congratulated themselves when a project was fully tested, and delivered on time and under budget (with few, if any, bugs). Then came the big disruption of the digital age. And the lines between marketing and technology became blurred. The marriage of marketing and technology increasingly requires shared responsibilities and deeper knowledge of both areas. Marketers must be much more versed in technology and how it exists to provide support in reaching distracted and elusive customers. Developers must understand fundamental marketing concepts and be open to approaching enhancements based on how a new feature would solve real-life marketing challenges. If either of these stakeholders say “that’s not my job”, and refuses to learn, the brand’s ability to provide a consistent, customer-centric experience will suffer. Ultimately, no matter how many systems are in place, human beings—from your internal team to your audience—guide programs. That being said, personal development—from classes to reading books and blogs to networking—is critical and something you MUST make time for, whether you’re the email marketing manager or the director of product development. But let’s be real: in the busyness of daily life, you probably can’t get away from your desk for lunch most days. However, even if you have to slot time on your Outlook calendar, it is worth it in order to foster a broader and more accurate view of your program and the industry. This curious and thirsty mindset is also a top predictor of success (assuming you aren’t born into a dynasty). Don’t believe me? The greatest minds of our time, from Warren Buffett to Oprah Winfrey spend a LOT of time on personal growth through a very simple activity…reading[i]. So how can you be a lifelong learner, build your skills and stand out from the crowd professionally? Take your growth by the reins and do the following: Attend webinars: There are webinars related to everything from how to give webinars, to specific areas including contextual marketing and testing. Tip: Try not to multi-task during the webinar, to be sure you are fully immersed in the content. Attend industry conferences: Get around likeminded people who speak your language. Be inspired and challenged by learning what they do in their own verticals, and repurposing it to fit your audience, as appropriate. Blogs, whitepapers: At least bi-weekly, take time to expose yourself to thought leadership. I get a lot of great ideas and industry knowledge from what others talk about—not that I always agree, but that’s the point: surround yourself with other ideas. But remember, you only get to know those ideas by purposefully exposing yourself to them. Internal relationship building – My mother’s example at work became my template once I joined corporate America. She got to know everyone on campus at Loyola Marymount, from professors to nuns, staff and students. It gave her a great idea of who did what outside of her wheelhouse, and expanded her overall knowledge. It has served me well to get to know everyone in my organization – in speaking with tech folks, I gain a deeper understanding of how our software works and what the plans are, and vice versa (they get more insight as to how we are actually using our technology, and what would truly be helpful on a daily basis). In your own organization, you’ll learn to navigate personalities and roles when you seek out colleagues who are communicating with your audience across other channels. Ideally, you’ll be able to share resources, gain inspiration, and build efficiencies all around. Don’t forget – you are an important part of your company’s success and, just like your marketing programs and technology enhancements, you must also be continually developed. I dug more into personal development and how it fits into your overall campaign strategy in our January webinar, Trends are Dead Ends: Create a clear road to success with our 2017 planning tips. My co-host was Justin Foster, co-Founder of Liveclicker, and we took a deep dive into tried and true strategic and tactical tips to help make you and your marketing programs successful in the coming year. Our webinar definitely steered away from trends and towards the basics, and being a lifelong learner is a basic for success. If you didn't get a chance to catch it, you can view it here! [i] Observer article, “Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Oprah Winfrey All Use the 5-Hour Rule” by Michael Simmons
Global Engineering Team Staffing Up New Oslo Hub; Nordic Operational Team Also Slated for Q1'17 NEW YORK, Jan. 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Tapad, now a part of Experian, the leader in cross-device marketing technology, is opening an office in downtown Oslo, Norway, effective January 16, 2017. This development reflects Tapad's continued growth following its acquisition by the Telenor Group in early 2016. Tapad Oslo will be comprised of a globally-focused engineering team as well as an upcoming operational headquarters for the region. Jeff Olchovy, a senior Tapad developer and one of its earliest employees, will forge the company's Nordic engineering presence by supporting the build-out of the team. The initial hiring plan of more than 20 open positions includes roles such as Head of Engineering, Senior Software Engineers and Solution Engineers. Plans for Tapad's Nordic Region business line, including its leadership, will be announced within the first quarter of 2017. "Given the caliber of technical talent and our extensive network in the region, Oslowas the logical choice at this stage of our growth," says Dag Liodden, Tapad CTO and co-founder. "This enables us to continue building out our innovative team on a global scale in a region that is close to our hearts and minds." In collaboration with its New York-based developers, Tapad's Oslo-based engineers will continue to advance the company's renowned product portfolio, such as the Tapad Device Graph™. An early adopter of Scala and big data processing technologies, Tapad has long been an influencer in U.S. tech. "As the head of our platform group, which daily processes several petabytes of data and is the foundation for all of our real-time systems, Jeff is a highly respected engineer," said Pål Høye, Tapad's senior vice president of engineering. "Given his experience and skillset, he is ideally suited to find and lead an innovative team focused on building the industry-leading products we are known for." Tapad has 15 offices in six countries with more than 200 employees worldwide. For more information on Tapad and to explore open positions, visit www.experian.com/careers/ In 2016, Tapad launched an entrepreneurial mentorship initiative, the Propeller Program, which selected five Norwegian startups to share Tapad's New York Cityworkspace, receive C-level guidance and help establish a U.S. presence. To learn more about the Propeller Program, visit www.tapad.com/propeller-program. About TapadTapad Inc. is a marketing technology firm renowned for its breakthrough, unified, cross-device solutions. With 91.2% data accuracy confirmed by Nielsen, the company offers the largest in-market opportunity for marketers and technologies to address the ever-evolving reality of media consumption on smartphones, tablets, home computers and smart TVs. Deployed by agency trading desks, publishers and numerous Fortune 500 brands, Tapad provides an accurate, unified approach to connecting with consumers across screens. In 2015, Tapad began aggressively licensing its identity management solution, the Tapad Device Graph™, and swiftly became the established gold-standard throughout the ad tech ecosystem. Tapad is based in New York and has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit,Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Toronto. Tapad's numerous awards include: EY Entrepreneur of The Year (East Coast) 2014, among Forbes' Most Promising Companies two year's running, Deloitte's Technology Fast 500, Crain's Fast 50, Entrepreneur 360, Digiday Signal Award, iMedia ASPY Award and a MarCom Gold Award.