IF YOU

BUILD IT,
THEY WILL
COME
HOW PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING IS CHANGING
THE GAME FOR DIGITAL OUT-OF-HOME
 2

3 Introduction
4 Part 1 What is it?
4 Programmatic Advertising 101

5 An OOH Marketplace for the Digital Age

6 Part 2 Why is it better?

6 A Simpler, Faster Path to DOOH ROI

7 Creating New Revenue Possibilities

8 Part 3 How does it work?

8 Empowering Owners, Removing Barriers, And Driving Value
9 A Simple Process For Owners
10 Helping Advertisers Hit The Mark

11 Closing

Contents
Intro
3

Giving the fans what they want

Not that long ago, few would have imagined that advertising is coming into its own in the digital
watching something on a 4” screen might be out-of-home space: programmatic advertising.
more exciting than having a front row seat to a
The potential of programmatic for DOOH has long
world-class game or show. And yet, as streaming
been anticipated, but only now is the technology
and mobile media become more interactive,
catching up with the promise—and it’s giving
they are beginning to eclipse live experiences in
venues the fast, reliable ROI they’ve needed to
excitement, engagement, and pure addiction.
justify upgrading their ad tech. This gives fans
Recognizing this, many venues see the wisdom the dynamic, live-meets-digital experiences
in making technology investments to meet they crave.
consumer demand. Of course, for any business,
In this short guide, we’ll take a closer look at
it’s best to justify any capital investment with
how programmatic is enabling venues to up their
a hefty projection of ROI. What’s more, an
live game, accelerate their time-to-profit, and
ever-changing economic climate is driving the
deliver fans an experience that gets them off the
need for more diverse ad revenue. Yet even as
couch—and back into the stands.
venues face this challenge, a new form of digital
 4

What
PART ONE

is it?
Programmatic Advertising 101
Programmatic advertising is empowering digital sign owners like never before. Essentially, this new
technology allows owners to sell a portion of their ad inventory on an online marketplace where
buyers are looking for ad space. Qualified buyers then bid on the inventory, the highest bidder wins
the space, and the ad gets displayed. All of this takes place automatically—with no extra technology
required or complicated paperwork.

“Programmatic advertising is everything all in

one, it’s plug and play. You turn it on and you
start making money. You don’t have to hire a
sales team or go search for leads.”
- Daniel Sturdivant, Sales Lead for Samsung Signage/Spectaculars
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An Out-Of-Home market-
place for the digital age
A good analogy for programmatic advertising is AirBnB. Say you have a property to rent. You
might post it to AirBnB’s online marketplace. Globally, guests in the market for a weekend
getaway can then find your property and book online—without you having to lift a finger.
Everybody wins.

Considering that DOOH is expected to be 40% of the total ad spend by 2025—that’s a $34B
industry in just 4-5 years from now—it makes sense that venues ought to pay extra special
attention to this fast-rising technology. “It’s a field of dreams scenario: If you build it, they will
come,” says Russell Abdullah, Head of Strategy & Planning, Samsung Display. “Because you’re
plugging into an engine that already has buyers waiting to buy. The bid logic is set. Activate
and you’ve entered the marketplace.
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Why is it
PART TWO

better?
A simpler, faster path to digital
out-of-home ROI
Complex, inefficient, expensive. Those are three significantly reduce the headcount, operational
words you might use to describe the old way complexity, and back office needs that were
of selling static digital ad space. Traditionally, required to serve the static buyer.
a venue or sign owner would be dealing with a
“Programmatically-enabled displays do what
number of individual buyers and sellers. That
digital signage has always done—empower the
meant individual negotiations, assets, contracts,
owner,” says Ben Sewell, Samsung’s West US
and relationships—all of which needed to be
Sales Lead for Signage/Spectaculars. “It lets them
independently managed, at great expense.
control their revenue and how they want to use it.
With programmatic advertising, it’s simple. They can sell 100% of their display as ad space, or
There is one contract and one platform where zero percent—and enjoy total control over how
sign owners and ad buyers can connect. By they want to use their signage.”
adopting this approach, sign owners can
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Creating new revenue

possibilities
Ultimately, programmatic advertising helps display owners see new possibilities for revenue
generation—making it easy for them to execute. Many venues, retail stores, and other
businesses that own digital displays are unaware of the revenue-generating potential of their
boards—they are still bearing the mindset of static, and might not think of these assets as the
advertising mediums they are.

Essentially, programmatic does for digital signage what eBay did for the garage sale. Now,
instead of waiting in your driveway with your books, your clothing, and your kitchen appliances,
you can inject these items directly into an exponentially larger marketplace of searching,
qualified bidders. That’s more eyeballs driving higher bids, and an all-but-guaranteed sale.
 8

How
PART THREE

does it
work?
Empowering owners, removing
barriers, and driving value
With the right tools (an Internet-enabled digital An ad exchange automatically connects demand
display and programmatic software), reaping the with supply. There is a variety of targeting criteria
benefit of programmatic is extremely simple. As available: venue, location, size, indoor/outdoor,
we’ve said earlier, a programmatic exchange is a weather, time of day, foot traffic, and so on. This
bidding marketplace—a network of computers empowers marketers to reach the exact audience
that talk to each other, and that allow buyers and they want at the right time and the right place.
sellers to communicate.
 9

A simple process for

owners
For sign owners, the process is simple. Through an intuitive software program, they place
their inventory on the marketplace where advertisers are already looking—along with their
parameters. Venue owners have total control over who can advertise what, when, and for how
long on their displays. If you’re Madison Square Garden, you don’t want to advertise ticketing
for competing events—and you can specify that in your programmatic software.

This process enables sign owners to maximize—and unlock new value—from their displays
with unprecedented ease and flexibility. For instance, a retailer might promote their own
goods and events during store hours, but decide to sell ad space during off hours—generating
more revenue for the business.
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Helping advertisers hit

the mark
Programmatic advertising brings great benefits to advertisers as well. “The bid logic helps
you hit your target,” says Sewell. “An advertiser can say they want to reach these people, in
this place, at this time—and the programmatic platform can assess measurement criteria and
know there’s an estimated amount of people who match that profile that will see this ad.”

In addition to improved targeting, measurement technology has advanced as well. “Advances

in measurement technology help quantify the impact of digital billboards,” says Sturdivant.
“Cameras count people and gauge proximity. As a result, our ability to convey value and
performance to advertisers has improved dramatically.”

When criteria meets inventory and a price agreed upon, the ad gets delivered. “Programmatic
is helping make the dream vision of business become a reality,” says Abdullah. “Venues can
invest in a best-in-class screen—not a bargain bin piece of technology—and still realize the
full maximum potential of the screen–and defray the cost very quickly.”

“Programmatic [advertising] is helping make the

dream vision of business become a reality.”
- Russell Abdullah, Head of Strategy & Planning, Samsung Display
Closing
A disruptive idea whose time
has come
Programmatic advertising is a game-changer—
enabling sign and venue owners to finally justify
upgrading their technology, knowing that fast,
reliable ROI is waiting for them the instant the
sign turns on. That said, not everybody will be
happy about it. The advances in programmatic
speak to the continued movement of the
marketplace toward cutting out middlemen that
aren’t providing enough value.
11
“I call it the Amazon effect,” says Sewell. “People
are conditioned to now ask, ‘Why do I have to go
to this other guy to get this service—can’t I just
go directly to the people I want to work with?’
Death, taxes, and change are the three sure
things in life. If you’re afraid about programmatic
advertising, you need to rethink your value add.”
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Exploring programmatic
advertising with Samsung
At Samsung, we are committed to delivering To learn more about programmatic advertising
a total technology solution. Not just a piece of with Samsung displays, reach out to us at
hardware you hang on your wall or building— marketing@prismview.com.
but a fully integrated display that connects
seamlessly with all the other systems you have
running in your business—including all that
programmatic advertising has to offer.