Real Time – Spot Interactive Advertising – is it finally here

Commentary:

Spot buying of remnant ad inventory is going to shake up big firms. This is not about getting stuff for less but about taking advantage of cheap inventory that can achieve premium status by being time relevant. Immediacy is the key here – to buying inventory cheap and project its relevance to a real-time ad buyer based on unfolding events. Of course assuming its done right.

A team I worked did implement a system once where ads were delivered somewhat subject to weather reports – but that fairly simple. Real-time purchase decisions will need strong tie-ins into public event assessment systems – that rapidly project consequences of sports wins, weather events, election results as well as real-time sentiment analysis and polling.

Leftover Ad Space? Exchanges Handle the Remnants. (NY Times)

 

Some background:

For so long it seems that advertising industry was content to run a nice clubby operation, managing large accounts with predictable spends. Small groups of alpha males (and the occasional alpha female ) would be surrounded by compliant creative communes and life was indeed good on the Serengeti!

Then came DoubleClick… the others, that automated the process of placement and delivery – but in sheer $ volumes, the buyers of ads pretty much stayed the same. Google came and let just everyone baboon have a shot at being Simba.

With large buyers real-time reporting and tracking became de rigeur, but buying inventory stayed pretty much the same clubby affair. Real-time remnant inventory exchanges, when tied in with spot buying decision systems could change that forever.