Anastasia-Nikita BansalWith the warming heart aroma of homemade pastry in the background, I am preparing one unique article for inquisitive and passionate advertising people this time. I desire to help you read between the lines of the AdTech industry that is unceasingly evolving, crossing the final furlong of the outgoing year.
We will discuss rapid market changes, peculiarities of fine-tuning ad traffic, tightening privacy requirements, the best programmatic partnering practices, and hands-on strategy to embrace as early as today.
The market is growing, while partnering remains limited
Let me not dive into statistics. Everybody is familiar with these graphs, which show that worldwide programmatic advertising spending constantly increases and is predicted to continue increasing. And it's true; I won't argue about growing dynamics. However, the number of players in programmatic advertising increases asymmetrically compared to market size. It goes slowly and gradually, supplementing with issues like SSP consolidation when diverse market participants combine to create fewer, bigger platforms.
As a programmatic business owner, you should invest in fine-tuning, enriching, and enhancing the already existing partner integrations. Foremost from the technical perspective.
Below, I'll provide examples of such inner optimization based on the embedded functionality of our white-label SSP + Ad Exchange platform. All the optimization features applicable to your programmatic business include, but are not limited to, the following:
Dynamic flooring to assign the optimal price for advertising inventory to trade, maximizing the profits of the platform owner and publishers.
Traffic Shaping will increase the efficiency of demand-side interaction with partners, maximize winning auctions, and minimize server expenses by adjusting the QPS limits applied.
Adaptive margins for various types of ad inventory to make more comprehensive use of DSPs' resources by fine-tuning the pricing for supplied ad spaces.
These optimization approaches use machine learning and artificial intelligence to automatically apply changes and adjust them in real-time according to trading dynamics. I emphasize the importance of adopting such tools on your platforms because you can work with existing integrations to maximize the value for all stakeholders.
To use a simple comparison, with the right approach, you can squeeze much more lemonade out of ten lemons than you've ever managed. And this will be entirely beneficial for all participants in the process.
Investigate what's on the minds of industry giants
After more than a decade in the game, we at TeqBlaze have learned to see the true intentions of the big fish behind the changing market movements. The only truth is that you can always adapt to the coming changes by carefully optimizing them to your business's needs and capabilities.
A good example is the unstoppable privacy trend. Although Google has been trying for years to realize its promise to get rid of third-party cookies, it is still technically impossible. This simple, obvious fact is known to all large companies and even to small ones, but drawing the right conclusions from trends, knowledge, and facts is an art.
How the process of proper adaptation to the cookieless revolution will look like in this case:
Continue actively supporting cookie targeting until it makes no sense at all. Use it without being judgmental as long as there is at least a minimal reason to continue.
In parallel to the traditional approach, roll out support for ID solutions to increase your capacity for accurate targeting within the established relationships. This approach is an alternative to cookie targeting and a standalone solution that delivers decent results.
Work on supporting contextual intelligence solutions so that you have your own tools for contextually analyzing resources and launching advertising campaigns based on this data. Contextual targeting should become a part of your advertising portfolio, and since this process is deeply connected with the development or adoption of software for its operation, do not waste time.
Such an action plan should be developed in response to any significant market changes. If you know how to respond to the steps that affect your future, you are no longer a sacrifice but a participant in the changing process.
Separate the wheat from the chaff by analyzing the traffic
In my blog on Substack, I've already discussed the strategic importance of SPO in the modern digital advertising landscape. It's not just about eliminating intermediary partners—or rather, it's not about that at all. It is primarily about careful analysis that will form the basis for further bidding optimization on your ad platform.
So, looking to the future, we expect the benefits of supply chain optimization to increase over time, while the need to implement this type of optimization will also grow due to the development of competition.
Again, I want to use simple comparisons. When a programmatic company does not invest in an SPO, it is like a country without customs control. When people export and import whatever they want, the burden of classification and seizure or prohibition falls on the shoulders of internal institutions within the state. So, instead of analyzing the content in one place and allowing or denying passage, dozens of participants are involved, each losing from the lack of initial control.
The point is that programmatic is developing very quickly, and nowadays, this industry is much more understandable, simple, and accessible than it was ten years ago. But the beauty always lies in the initiative and passion for the process. And believe me, you already need to analyze traffic if you are still not. But if you are, you most likely understand that it's worth the extra resources.
TeqBlaze clients already benefit from insights into the best way to grow their businesses through traffic analysis. Companies on the market also help generate new traffic in the same way: they access, analyze, make optimization recommendations, and point out apparent ways to strengthen and expand your current programmatic network. In 2025, more companies will be offering such services, and the ability to conduct such activities independently will become a new value for platform owners.
So invest in an SPO as soon as possible. It's like with Bitcoin, which you should have bought when it was cheaper than bottled water.
Transparency is becoming a new reality
This chapter is very special. It's about new standards of communication between prominent industry figures, and yes, it's about traffic analysis again.
Supply chain optimization is part of a more extensive process that generally involves meticulously clearing traffic from low-priority flows. It looks like this: large DSPs have already begun to thoroughly analyze traffic to offer their users the best possible ad inventory. It is one of the competition's wonders, pushing for better service quality when the market is tightening. The process is called demand-path optimization (DPO), and it is already part of the strategies of major players. This means that it will soon become the norm for smaller companies. It's easy to predict that third-party services will appear and want to make money on this more actively. History repeats itself, and it has its charm.
For players on the supply side, this information is an important warning: don't become the node that gets rid of because of poor performance. For this purpose, it is necessary to proactively put the built programmatic network into good shape. It is always a pleasure to work with those who control the situation and foresee problems before they arise. In this game, the strongest will survive and take all the prizes, bonuses, gifts, and awards.
Be a part of the future that smiles on the brave
To be candid, the future does smile on dedication and persistence. It takes a little courage to work while others rest. But that's exactly the recipe for success: along with a talented team, unlimited coffee, and a constant improvement on what you've already accomplished.
Summarizing all of the above, we will have the following scenario for entering 2025:
Implementation of automated optimization processes based on ML is mandatory
Monitoring the intentions of market giants and taking preventive measures is also necessary
Traffic analysis and data-driven bid route adjusting are worth all planned investments
Besides, I want to emphasize the importance of industry development efforts. By helping the industry grow, you stand among the people who receive breaking news before journalists start making appointments.
Finally, a short test: if your business is developing without drastic changes and there is no need for them, you are doing everything right and on time. Year after year, I am convinced that the TeqBlaze team is on the right track—we've taken care of different scenarios and are ready to enjoy each one.
Have a great year and business! For prospective partnerships, please do not hesitate to contact our team.
