ANA aims to eliminate programmatic media waste with new guide

Programmatic media buying is one of the ultimate black boxes of marketing – rife with technical details that marketers rarely understand but certainly pay for. Now the Association of National Advertisers is providing a guide aimed at opening the box and shining a light inside. Subscribe to Ad Age Sign up now for the latest industry news and analysis Click here The group’s Global CMO Growth Council has issued The CMO’s Guide to Programmatic Transparency, a sort of how-to for marketers to discover, analyze, track, understand – and possibly reduce – what they pay for programmatic media buying. Steps recommended include gathering all the bills associated with the media supply chain, analyzing the expenses, making formal requests for data that isn’t broken down in the bills, developing plans for addressing costs and establishing a process for tracking progress. The guide is separate from but complementary to an ANA investigation of programmatic media buying launched last year. That probe is being conducted by Kroll, PwC and TAG TrustNet, focused on how advertisers can eliminate waste throughout the programmatic marketplace and supply chain. It’s expected to be complete by next year. The guide notes estimates from prior studies that only 45% to 60% of media spending in programmatic goes to publishers, the balance going to various ad tech providers and agencies. “Most companies are paying more than they have to for their media supply chain,” said ANA CEO Bob Liodice in a statement. “This is due to factors such as the rapid development of programmatic ad buying, a lack of transparency, the overlap of many providers and services, and the complexity of the process itself. This guide will help marketers overcome those obstacles and significantly reduce their programmatic costs.”

ANA aims to eliminate programmatic media waste with new guide

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