Mad Men. Nike. Apple —advertising is an intense study. And everyone wants a piece of it. Brands can build identities with ads and stay in the buyer’s head for decades or years. Becoming part of their nostalgia.

‘Advertising is powerful’ is an understatement. But now, the landscape of ads has changed. All it takes is one look at Times Square and the internet to realize that the most popular form of advertising is digital.

Although print has value and offers a throwback to simpler days, digital advertising has made it easier to reach relevant audiences and resonate with them.

The most challenging part of creating a copy is making it stand out and understanding the message for the right audience. Design, message, and content are the lynchpin of modern advertising.

But how do you reach your audience at the right time with the right message? The answer: Programmatic advertising. The logic behind programmatic ads is simple— as AI Sweigart says, automate the boring stuff.

Programmatic ads have revolutionized advertising. And we’re not even over-indexing its value. But to unravel the full breadth of ad potential, marketing teams must devise strategies for impact.

And these programmatic advertising strategies go way deeper than the obvious.

Programmatic ads are complex systems devised by publishers and advertisers to simplify the process of advertising. These systems involve a lot of moving parts. Before we touch on the strategies. Let us, for the layman, explain what programmatic ads are.

What is programmatic advertising in simple terms?

In simple terms, programmatic ads are the automation of the ad system. There are four technical concepts that marketing teams should know. These are the: –

1. DSP or Demand Side Platform
2. SSPs or the Supply Side Platform
3. RTB or Real-time bidding
4. Ad Inventory or Total ad space

The process starts with the demand side platform. Advertisers use these systems to automate their ads and set up campaigns. On the DSP, the advertiser sets their budget, bidding limit, and so on. In real-time, the RTB starts bidding, and when an advertiser wins, the SSP gives the ad inventory to the winning copy.

These ad inventories are spaces on a website or a slot in video or audio content.

All of this is automated. The advertiser has to choose their audience and define them for the DSP and SSP. The algorithms do the rest.

The Importance of Programmatic Advertising

It is an effective way of advertising. And it keeps on growing as the tech permeates into the tiniest details of our lives. The moment we wake up, advertising and its potential can reach us through our smart devices and OOH displays.

It is this potential that advertisers must use to elevate the consumer’s life. And that is where the programmatic advertising strategies start.

Types of Programmatic Advertising Bidding

Programmatic advertising has tiers of its own. There are various types of bidding that advertisers can engage in based on their budget and standing in the market. Yes, some advertisers enjoy the benefits of an exclusive guestlist.

These types are as follows: –

Open Exchange Biding

Many publishers can bid on the open exchange type of programmatic bidding. It is open to all entries. And there are a lot of publishers available to the advertisers. Open exchange uses RTB to bid for the spaces. These ads do not have a guarantee.

Private Auction

This is where things get exclusive. Not all advertisers are allowed in the private auction. Certain publishers allow a select few to use the ad inventory. Private auction works on the bidding system of PMP or private marketplace— it is the exclusive version of RTB.

Programmatic Guaranteed

This is where we realize the importance of a buyer/seller relationship. Programmatic guaranteed happen between two parties. There is only one advertiser and one publisher. The advertiser has exclusive rights to run ad campaigns on this publisher’s website. Imagine the potential it has. A deal with high-quality publishers means higher chances for ad personalization. After all, an exclusive publisher means access to exclusive audiences and premium inventory. They work on the programmatic direct technology.

There are no bids in programmatic guaranteed. The prices of clicks, impressions, etc. are fixed. And the number of impressions is fixed, too. Negotiated by the buyer and publisher, the publisher promises a certain amount of impressions.

A note on programmatic direct: It is a one-to-one interaction where advertisers’ salespeople meet with the publisher’s team for the deal.

Preferred Deal

Preferred deals are non-guaranteed types of programmatic bidding. The advertiser gets preferential treatment from the publishers, and the buyer can choose not to publish the ad. The publisher and advertisers set a negotiated price for specific ad inventories. Preferred deals are flexible and offer publishers and advertisers a middle ground for exclusive treatment.

Preferred deals also use programmatic direct for inventory purchase and negotiation.

Strategies often fail, and that is not a bad thing.

Programmatic ads are often said to be complex. And for good reason. There is a lot of thought behind them, and marketing teams must understand their workings.

There is a certain vagueness in the programmatic landscape. Most conversations surrounding the technology and its strategies are based on the basic rules.

Of course, A/B testing and understanding the customer are crucial for an ad campaign’s success. There isn’t a marketing leader out there who doesn’t understand the value of experimentation and its relationship with growth. Or understanding the customer in crafting a resonating message.

Crafting a strategy must go beyond all of the basics and the obvious. It would be easy to list down all the things that you must do to succeed. From A/B testing to understanding the DSPs, technical knowledge is a must, but it is a topic discussed at length.

However, one crucial aspect of programmatic advertising strategies, in fact, marketing in general, is how you find a strategy unique to your organization and then execute it.

In advertising, it is by understanding that you must be as fluid as the customer itself.

2025 Emerging Trends in Programmatic Ads

Ask your social media managers. They will tell you that trends change almost daily. Think of all the trends you followed. How many of them died within the day, and how many still persist?

Why does it happen? Psychologists and marketing experts have pondered over this question for a long time. A works, but D does not.

The answer lies in the cultural context of the message. B2B marketing is often said to be boring.

Emerging trends are linked to what is relevant to the culture you are advertising to. And this aspect goes beyond understanding your customer; it is context-based.

Culture, in this day and age, means understanding the societal and technological landscape of the target geography and demographic.

The simplest example is: Will you talk to a 20-year-old like you would with a 60-year-old? No, their technology and understanding of the world changes. Language and lingo changes.

With this information, marketing teams can not only identify emerging trends but also create them. One of the most famous examples is Oatly. Their disruptive marketing is based on eye-catching and energetic messages that go against the grain.

They recently went to the US capitol and gave people ice cream, which was advertised as tastier than regular ice cream. But such disruptive marketing is possible in the ever-social US climate. If it were Japan, they would have been subtle and contradictorily a bit more absurd.

Emerging trends and timeless messages are the crux of marketing strategies. And to understand them, you must understand your customer segments’ culture above everything else.

The Budget Strategy For Programmatic Campaign

Bidding is one of the most crucial aspects of programmatic advertising strategies. In Hubspot’s 2024 state of marketing report, marketers report facing scrutiny in how their budgets are spent and how ROI is generated.

And that scrutiny has only increased. Programmatic ads are budget-heavy. DSPs cost a lot. While running the ad itself will based on the ad budget, impressions, the bid at which it closed, and the keywords used, the tools that you buy will be out of the larger marketing budget. And they are expensive.

How will you justify your budget? This strategic question is often overlooked. In this piece by Google Think—Jim Lecinski, a professor of clinical marketing from Northwestern Univerity, suggests presenting marketing budgets not as a bill but as a financial investment.

It is a simple yet revolutionary idea. For your programmatic advertising strategies to work, you must justify the cost behind them and propose levers of financial growth.

You must: –

1. First, understand why programmatic ads are necessary for your brand. And the potential ROAS the campaigns will present to you.
2. Propose an exact budget and the returns you expect from the campaigns.
3. What market share do you expect your ad campaigns will deliver, and what will be the financial effect on the quarter?
4. What are the drivers of growth you are targeting? Is it brand awareness? Is it leads? Or is it sales?
5. What will be the end financial result of the campaign, and how will it affect the bottom line of your organization?

These are some of the questions that will help a CFO make sense of your spending. Advertising, as much a creative endeavor, is also a financial one.

The Creative Strategy

How does one strategize creativity when creativity itself is part of strategy?

The answer: Creativity is nurtured through experimentation.

While marketing teams love to assign data and attributes to their assets and winning templates, there is no such substitute for creativity. What resonates with people are emotions and outcomes. In the B2C industry, this is perceived to be easier than B2B.

But that is not true. When in a workspace, people are still bound to emotions related to their work, and simplifying complex tasks opens up space for more business improvements and a perception of elevated work lives.

As such, creativity must work within the bounds of emotions and provide a positive outcome to your buyers.

The message

Let us try out an example: –

Of the two messages below, what catches your attention the most?

a. Notion is an all-in-one workspace for managing and creating content.

or

b. Bring your ideas to life— ideation, planning, design, and creation. Notion, is a canvas built to evolve with your vision.

Both messages will resonate with the right audience. There is a chance one will elicit more emotion, curiosity, and imagination. But that is for you to understand which one.

Creativity can be enabled in your teams by letting them experiment. A/B testing is part of this experimentation to verify what is working. But it is not the only way to experiment.

Hotjar’s product experimentation method.

Hotjar, the solution for website analytics, goes through a framework for product experimentation. It is the scientific method of: –

1. Asking the right questions: What does the user want and would benefit from?
2. The possible solutions to the problem
3. Who does the solution exist for?
4. And the data backing up your claims.

This framework empowers marketing teams to come up with their experimentation methods by mixing and matching their unique user base to their behavior.

After all, a message about the product can also be seen as the product itself.

Ad copies are fascinating pieces of art that serve a practical purpose. And should be looked at from a creative aspect. But like architecture—whose art also serves a real function— ads’ creativity has to be deeply rooted in the needs of the buyer.

These needs can be found through understanding the buyer with data.

The Technical Strategy for perfect optimization

We have looked at things from the creatives’ perspective. It is time to get technical.

Technical programmatic ads strategies fall into four parts, and their function is to get a deep understanding of buyers’ needs. The technical strategy enables marketers to validate their creative messages. These four parts are: –

1. Understanding Insertion order and line items
2. Gathering data
3. Analysis
4. Integration

Insertion order and line items

One of the main aspects of running an ad campaign is the timing.

When do you want the ads to run?

For how long?

Where?

To whom?

And why?

Without these, you will not be able to have a successful campaign. Purpose, geography, time, and the user are necessary dimensions of a programmatic advertising strategies’ success.

You have to be very careful with these. Because automation will do as you say.

But how do you go about this? It is by defining the insertion order (A term used by Google’s DV360). Insertion order and its equivalent is nothing but the set of interrelated line items (a.k.a. ad groups.) and the commands given to those line items.

Say you are a SaaS company for salespeople. And you are launching your AI agent. The insertion order will have all your ad groups for the launch of the AI agent.

These ad groups will be of similar themes. But they can target: –

1. Different user bases with their language
2. Different geographies
3. Different keywords e.g., Sales AI Agent V.s. Conversational AI Agent.
4. Different messages and designs.
5. Have certain time periods and differing budgets – maybe one line item runs for an hour, and its budget, 500$ or it runs for the European region and should stop after there are 1k clicks on the ad.

With insertion order and line items, you can set up the rules you want for your campaign. There is complete flexibility as to how you want your ads presented to your users.

Data

Data is a treasure in marketers’ hands. Understanding buyer behavior comes from data. And programmatic advertising is ripe with data.

Every interaction, click, impression, etc. leaves a digital footprint of users’ behavior. And with DSPs, you can choose the data you need in specific scenarios for unique conditions. That makes DSPs a goldmine for first-party data— the holy grail of user data and a key components of programmatic advertising strategies.

However, data without analysis is like a book without a cohesive story.

Analysis

Data analysis has revolutionized human life. From winning wars to boardroom meetings, analysis has driven our decision-making ever since we understood the power of computational data.

There are multiple ways of analysis— through automated software or manual effort, data begins to make sense to the one looking for clues. It is the story behind these vast behavioral maps.

Why does one user behave this way with this campaign but not the other?

Analysis lies in questions such as these. Adobe has a great blog on data analysis and its tools. But for our programmatic advertising strategies, analysis must answer the following questions: –

1. Is the campaign working as good as you hoped it would?
2. Do the numbers or trends suggest that your ad spend was justified?
3. Does the trajectory of your ad campaign need to change? If yes, in which section do you think it should be?

The analysis gives insights into scattered data. But it is the human being who must choose what to do with it. An AI will provide a predictive analysis of your data and visualize it.

The main question is: What can you do about it?

Here’s a resource for all marketing analytical enthusiasts. To generate insights in BigQuery, you would need to do this: https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/docs/data-insights

But your DSP will also provide such analysis. At least, DV360 promises to do so.

Integration

Integration is a vital concept in marketing. It means delivering a cohesive and singular experience to your user.

Programmatic ads are part of customers’ journey into a seamless experience. One cutting-edge advantage of programmatic advertising is the data-driven approach it takes.

And thus enables a dynamic approach to marketing. Based on your buyer and their journey in the funnel, programmatic ads can change the message. And the mode it takes to reach the buyer.

These dynamic ads have the advantage of reaching your buyers wherever they prefer to be. Even if it is their smart TV.

The Reach strategy

Programmatic ads can reach the buyer anywhere. From TVs and phones to their Alexas, these ads can potentially approach your ICP on their terms.

Reaching your audience is not complicated. If your ICP loves podcasts, that’s where you will be.

But what matters is the message. The cohesive experience must also be dynamic enough to adapt to the channel. The message should stay the same, but the delivery will change.

If your ICP is an avid football fan, can you leverage that to reach them through their CTVs?

And you should not do this for clicks either. Remember the rule? 95% of your ICP is not in the market to buy.

But you should nonetheless market to them. Why do you think that is?

It’s because of category entry points. In any given scenario, if a buyer wants to buy something, they will search their memory banks for an option before any search engine. In short, if they think of you in an ideal buying situation, there is a high chance that you will be their choice.

There is a reason why positive brand awareness and market share are so intimately linked.

Bringing it all together – The end of strategy

This is not a comprehensive take on the programmatic advertising strategies that you must take to improve. There’s the omnichannel experience, cross-device targeting, second-party and third-party data leveraging, and more.

There is a good chance your strategy may fail. And that is a good thing. Programmatic advertising strategies’ success is based on the agile practices of failing, pivoting, and success. We have presented to you moving parts that will be necessary for you to understand its depth.

The way you use these moving parts will be based on your creativity. As you experiment and grow, so will your strategy.

As a leader, you must drive the balance between creativity, experimentation, budget, and execution.

Programmatic advertising strategies are intense and satisfying.

Programmatic ads are deeply rooted in marketing strategies. Ad copies must be creative and deliver value to the user. Whether it’s humor, design, content, or the message, each copy must be treated like a product and elicit emotion in the viewer.

There are many dimensions by which you can judge your ads’ success, but if it does not align with business objectives, there is a chance that you may not get the organizational buy-in necessary for the campaigns.

CMOs must teether the line between advertising’s creative side and its financial one. One of the greatest advantages of programmatic ads is its data banks, which can produce high-quality data that will be beneficial for the entire organization.

The complexities of programmatic advertising strategies are not lost on us. That is why Ciente.io orchestrates your buyer experience for you. We lighten the load on your shoulders by bringing our expert-led strategies for brand success.

Ad Tech is redefining several age-old marketing techniques and providing businesses with better tools to reach their customers. How can organizations take advantage of it?

Today, digital innovation is transforming the way most businesses and industry sectors operate. For marketers, data is the new oil. Data collection and analysis will be the foundation of all future services and business models by 2030.

Despite this, 76% of marketers do not use data in their online marketing and targeting, even though businesses are continually collecting information about their customers. The failure of marketers and advertisers to fully utilize ad technology represents a significant waste of potential.

Ad Tech aims to change that. As the digital advertising business is undergoing a significant phase of development as a result of the rising amount of time customers spend on digital media, it is an excellent way of strengthening communication with clients.

Statista predicts that global digital ad spending would surpass $645 billion by 2025. Marketers can use Ad Tech to target consumers, offer relevant ads, optimize profitability, and improve the efficiency of an ad campaign. This guide describes what is AdTech, what it entails, and how it may benefit organizations. Dive right in!

What is the meaning of AdTech?

Ad tech, or advertising technology, refers to the software and tools that assist agencies and businesses in targeting, delivering, and analyzing their digital technological advertising efforts.

AdTech strives to develop data-driven marketing tactics that are personalized to the preferences of the target audience.

What AdTech does:

In the context of b2b demand generation, Ad Tech solutions allow you to see the big picture of your campaign and maximize its effectiveness. It simplifies the increasingly complicated procedures of purchasing and selling online ads, allowing organizations to maximize their ROI by making the most of their budget.

It is a collection of tools and platforms that marketers and advertising firms can utilize to maximize the effectiveness of their ad operations. Effective advertising campaigns leverage it to gather relevant data and present the most suitable advertisements to their audiences.

GlobalData, a renowned data and analytics company, predicts will expand from $438 billion in 2021 to $1 trillion in 2030.

Key AdTech Components:

Ad tech refers to a variety of technologies that help marketers, and media agencies, operate effective advertising campaigns. It includes the following:

Advertisers have to purchase advertising space from media companies. Media-related businesses require a location to market their unsold inventory.

Demand Side Platform –

Advertisers can use demand-side platforms (DSPs) to place offers on open advertising slots on a per-impression basis.

Supply Side Platform (SSPs)

Supply-side platforms enable vendors to add their inventory on a variety of platforms in an efficient and automated way.

Ad Exchange

(the centralized point that streamlines the purchasing procedure)

When a brand wants to purchase or sell advertising space, it goes to an ad exchange, which acts as a marketplace for DSPs and SSPs. Ad exchanges enable programmatic ad buying and selling with real-time bidding. An ad exchange can provide any type of ad space, from textual content to video advertising.

Ad server technology

(a repository of creatives for advertisements created with specific software)

Aside from the big players (DSP, SSP), another force in the advertising business is ad server technology, which is an inventory of creatives for tech ad that use certain software to post ads on websites whenever needed.

The advertising provided is filtered by publishers and advertisers based on the intended audience, ad type, and demographic factors. Ad servers additionally keep track of how frequently an ad is shown to a specific user.

Why is AdTech important for Businesses

Let us see 10 ways in which AdTech empowers businesses in the digital age.

1. Highly Targeted Advertising

Adtech platforms use advanced algorithms to analyze a wealth of user data (demographics, interests, online behavior, purchase history, etc.). This allows businesses to target their ads precisely to the individuals most likely to convert into customers. It’s the difference between showing ads for baby products to everyone versus primarily to expectant and new parents.

2. Omnichannel Reach

Adtech enables businesses to reach consumers wherever they are online – websites, social media, mobile apps, video platforms and more. This ensures consistent messaging and creates seamless touchpoints with potential customers throughout their digital journey.

3. Real-Time Optimization

Adtech platforms provide real-time data on how ads are performing. If a particular ad or format isn’t getting results, businesses can adjust it or replace it immediately. This dynamic optimization helps maximize the effectiveness of advertising spend.

4. Enhanced Measurability

Unlike traditional advertising, adtech provides granular data on impressions, clicks, conversions, cost-per-acquisition, and numerous other KPIs.  This allows businesses to quantify the success of their campaigns, understand what works (and what doesn’t), and refine strategies based on real evidence.

5. Increased Efficiency and Automation

Adtech automates tasks like ad buying, bidding, placement, and optimization. This saves businesses valuable time and human resources that can then be focused on higher-level strategy and creative ad development.

6. Creative Flexibility

Adtech supports rich ad formats like videos, interactive elements, dynamic ads (customized based on user data), and personalized messaging. This diversity can enhance engagement and make ads more memorable compared to traditional, static displays.

7. Improved Brand Building

Targeted and consistent brand messaging across various platforms through adtech solidifies brand recognition and awareness in the minds of consumers. This contributes to increased brand recall and trust.

8. Competitive Advantage

Early adopters of innovative adtech tools often gain an edge over competitors who are still relying on traditional advertising approaches. This advantage can manifest in several ways, like lower customer acquisition costs.

9. Global Market Reach

Adtech lets businesses easily target audiences across borders and time zones. This is invaluable for companies looking to expand into new international markets or tap into niche demographics worldwide. Explore Cross-Border Payments.

10. Data-Driven Marketing

The rich data and analytics provided by adtech empowers businesses to make strategic marketing choices rooted in performance insights. This leads to a higher return on investment (ROI) compared to a non-data-driven approach.

Benefits of AdTech for Business

Until recently, the advertising industry had stayed unchanged for decades. Today, how advertisers put advertisements, how they pay for them, and the actual appearance of the advertisements themselves have all changed dramatically.

The goal, however, is always the same: to reach a specific consumer market and attract their attention. There are numerous options for agencies to differentiate themselves in the age of ad tech.

Ad tech data variety enables more detailed and appropriate targeting. To get the best possible results out of every ad campaign, it is also necessary to rely on reputable ad tech solutions and platforms.

The demand for effectiveness and scale in the domain of thousands of interactions on the internet drove the creation of ad tech. One significant benefit for organizations and their customers is an increase in client encounters. Brands can now integrate across all advertising channels using ad tech.

The purchasing and selling of advertising spaces still take place in an online marketplace, but the introduction of digital advertising has added complexity to the process. Cross-platform consistency makes sure that marketers contact people frequently and effectively.

To manage real-time buying and selling at scale, automated platforms like DSPs and SSPs are required. Furthermore, ad tech and martech solutions are becoming increasingly linked to helping brands and/or companies reach their advertising and marketing objectives. Many ad tech companies provide programmatic advertising services.

Global ad tech spending is anticipated to reach $150 billion by 2023. To put it another way, it’s here to stay. Using ad tech data, agencies may dig down and target just those who are most likely to convert, while ignoring those who aren’t.

What are the challenges of Adtech in 2025?

Demonstrating ROI

B2B marketing requires a focus on long-term value and pipeline development. Attributing conversions to specific ad interactions in a complex B2B sales cycle becomes crucial. AdTech needs to evolve beyond basic metrics like click-through rates (CTRs) and provide B2B marketers with tools to understand the impact of campaigns on pipeline growth and revenue generation.

Data Silos and Integration

Organizations often have data scattered across various platforms like CRMs, marketing automation tools, and web analytics. Integrating this data and creating a holistic view of customer behaviour poses a significant challenge. AdTech platforms need to prioritize seamless data integration and offer solutions that facilitate a unified customer view for effective campaign targeting and optimization.

Budget Constraints and Cost Efficiency

B2B companies often have tighter marketing budgets compared to B2C counterparts. AdTech solutions need to be cost-effective and provide clear value propositions that translate into measurable business impact.

This includes features that optimize campaign performance, minimize wasted spend, and allow for scaling your digital campaigns effectively.

Adapting to Privacy Regulations

B2B marketers also need to navigate the complexities of data privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA. AdTech platforms must ensure compliance with these regulations while still providing B2B marketers with the tools needed for targeted outreach and personalized engagement.

Reaching the Right Audience

Buyers are exposed to an abundance of marketing messages across various digital channels. Crafting compelling content and utilizing creative ad formats that resonate with relevant audiences is crucial to capture attention and drive engagement.

Vendor Consolidation and Limited Choice

The AdTech landscape is seeing significant consolidation, with larger players acquiring smaller companies. This can lead to limited choice for buyers and potentially restrict access to specialized solutions that cater to specific industry needs.

Ensuring Data Security and Ethical Practices

Marketers entrust AdTech partners with valuable customer data. Building trust and maintaining transparency in data handling practices is crucial, especially in light of increasing privacy concerns.

Adapting to Changing B2B Buyer Journeys

B2B buyer behavior is constantly evolving. AdTech solutions need to adapt to changing trends and provide B2B marketers with tools to understand buyer journeys, personalize communication at different touchpoints, and address evolving buying preferences.

How to overcome Adtech challenges?

1. Invest in First-Party Data and Identity Solutions:
   • Leverage customer relationship management (CRM) data, website visitor behaviour, and other permission-based sources to build rich audience profiles.
   • Explore privacy-compliant identity solutions like contextual targeting and contextual authentication to reach desired audiences without relying on third-party cookies.
2. Embrace Advanced Measurement and Attribution Models:
   • Utilize multi-touch attribution models that account for the complex customer journey across different programmatic advertising channels and touchpoints.
   • Look for AdTech solutions that offer in-depth campaign reporting and analytics, including insights into pipeline progression, lead generation metrics, and revenue attribution.
3. Prioritize Data Integration and Platform Consolidation:
   • Choose an AdTech platform that integrates seamlessly with your existing marketing technology stack, reducing data silos and streamlining workflows.
   • Consider consolidating your AdTech vendors whenever possible to simplify campaign management, gain better data visibility, and potentially negotiate more favorable pricing.
4. Focus on Creativity and Engaging Content Strategies:
   • Move beyond traditional google ads and experiment with creative ad formats like interactive content, native advertising, and video storytelling to capture B2B buyer attention.
   • Personalize content based on audience segments and buyer personas to deliver relevant and engaging messages that resonate with specific B2B customer needs.
5. Prioritize Transparency and Responsible Data Practices:
   • Partner with AdTech providers who prioritize data security, user experience, user privacy, and ethical data practices.
   • Clearly communicate your data privacy policies to customers and ensure compliance with relevant regulations.

What is the best Adtech platform for 2025?

In the dynamic world of digital advertising technology, navigating the complex landscape of Ad Tech platforms can be a daunting task. However, understanding the specific strengths and weaknesses of key players can empower you to make informed decisions for your advertising needs.

Here, we delve into the top 3 Ad Tech platforms, each catering to distinct requirements within the ad tech ecosystem:

Nexd

Features:

• Creative management platform (CMP) for building interactive programmatic creatives.
• Utilizes WebGL and GPU technology to create smaller file size ads, promoting sustainability.
• Offers over 30 interactive ad layouts, including gamified ads, 3D experiences, and virtual reality ads.
• Integrates with well-known DSPs for seamless ad serving across various platforms.

Target audience:

• Agencies and brands looking to create high-impact, interactive ad experiences.
• Advertisers focused on brand awareness and audience engagement.
• Companies prioritizing sustainable advertising practices.

Adform Flow

Features:

• Demand-side platform (DSP) for programmatic advertising.
• Offers campaign planning, creative optimization, and real-time bidding (RTB) functionalities.
• Provides access to a wide range of ad exchanges and publishers.
• Supports various ad formats, including display, video, native, and audio.

Target audience with Adform Flow:

• Agencies and businesses seeking a user-friendly and cost-effective DSP solution.
• Advertisers with smaller to medium-sized budgets.
• Companies looking for a platform that balances features with ease of use.

OpenX

Features:

• Sell-side platform (SSP) for publishers to manage and monetize their ad inventory.
• Supports various ad formats, including display, video, native, and mobile.
• Offers advanced yield optimization tools to maximize revenue.
• Provides granular control over ad inventory and targeting settings.

Target audience:

1. Established publishers with significant ad inventory and technical capabilities.
2. Media companies seeking advanced tools for ad revenue optimization.
3. Publishers comfortable with complex platform functionalities and integrations.

Read our in-depth blog to understand Adtech platforms and their roles in programmatic advertising.

4 Powerful Adtech Examples

Top 5 Adtech trends to look out for in 2025

First-party data takes center stage:

As third-party cookies become increasingly obsolete, brands are placing greater emphasis on collecting and utilizing their own customer data.

This includes information gathered from website visits, app usage, loyalty programs, and other direct interactions. By building a robust first-party data strategy, brands can gain valuable insights into their audience preferences and tailor their advertising programmatic campaigns accordingly.

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to revolutionize adtech:

AI is playing an increasingly important role in various aspects of adtech, including:

• Audience targeting: AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data to identify and target specific audience segments with greater precision.
• Ad creative optimization: AI can be used to dynamically generate and personalize ad creatives in real-time, ensuring that each user sees the most relevant and engaging ad.
• Campaign performance optimization: AI can continuously monitor and analyze campaign performance, automatically making adjustments to optimize results.

Video advertising reigns supreme:

Video remains the most engaging and effective technology for advertising format, and its popularity is expected to continue to grow in 2025. This is being driven by several factors, including:

• Improved video ad formats: Interactive video ads, shoppable video ads, and other innovative formats are providing brands with new ways to capture attention and drive conversions.
• Advanced video measurement: Advertisers are now able to measure the true impact of their video campaigns, including metrics such as engagement, brand lift, and purchase intent.

Data clean rooms become the new normal:

Data clean rooms are secure environments where brand advertisers with publishers can collaborate and share data without compromising user privacy. This allows for more effective audience targeting and marketing campaign measurement in a cookieless world.

Focus on ethical and transparent advertising:

Consumers are increasingly demanding transparency and accountability from brands, and this is reflected in the growing emphasis on ethical and responsible advertising practices. This includes practices like:

• Avoiding misleading or deceptive advertising: Advertisers need to ensure that their claims are truthful and not misleading consumers.
• Respecting user privacy: Brands need to be transparent about how they collect and use user data, and they need to obtain explicit consent from users before using their data for advertising purposes.
• Promoting diversity and inclusion: Advertisers need to ensure that their online advertising campaigns are diverse and inclusive, representing a wide range of people and perspectives.

Wrapping Up

The advertising landscape is constantly evolving, offering advertisers new opportunities to reach their target demographic. Marketing executives face numerous obstacles as they struggle for consumers’ attention. AdTech ecosystem holds immense promise for advertisers to enhance profits and boost ad campaign efficiency. While creative and engaging material is still required, AdTech allows advertisers to more accurately assess the effectiveness of an advertising initiative and make adjustments as needed. It also assists advertising in targeting individuals and generating better leads. If your company is not yet utilizing advertising technologies, there is no time more appropriate than now to get started with the best advertising agency.

FAQs

What is an example of AdTech?

A few examples of AdTech include software and technologies that help with data management, ad exchanges, ad forecasting, and ad management software. These technologies allow brands to quickly produce personalized ads while spending less time and money on each targeted campaign.

What is header bidding in AdTech?

Header bidding, also called pre-bidding or advanced bidding, is a process that enables publishers to collect multiple bids simultaneously from different demand sources. These demands are not limited to their ad server but also come from various servers across all of their ad inventory before a sale occurs.

What is the future of AdTech?

The future of AdTech is filled with both opportunities and challenges. By leveraging AI/ML technologies with the right set of software, data, and strategies, the possibilities are endless. These tools can understand customer behavior in real time and automatically make changes as needed.

What are the new technologies for advertising?

Programmatic advertising has innovated various tech to target user at different time. For example, the latest technologies like CTV, DOOH are reaching out to the customers even when they are not interacting with mobile or tablets.

Audio advertising is also a perfect way to target users when they are not active on digital displays but are just listing songs.

The difference between adtech and martech

AdTech is like the flashy billboard of the digital world. It’s all about grabbing attention out there—think ads on Instagram, Google search results, or that weirdly specific banner ad for shoes you looked at once.

AdTech tools (like programmatic ads or TikTok’s ad platform) use data to target strangers at scale, shouting, “Hey, you might like this!” It’s the first date: quick, broad, and focused on making a spark. Metrics here are straightforward—clicks, views, conversions. But once someone clicks, AdTech waves goodbye.

MarTech, on the other hand, is the cozy coffee shop where relationships deepen. It’s the tech that helps you keep people around after they’ve noticed you. Tools like email platforms (Mailchimp), CRM systems (HubSpot), or loyalty apps quietly work behind the scenes to say, “Remember that thing you liked? Here’s more.”

MarTech nurtures leads, personalizes experiences, and turns one-time buyers into regulars. It’s less about shouting and more about listening—using data like purchase history or website behavior to build trust.

The big difference?
AdTech is the megaphone for finding new people.
MarTech is the glue that keeps them loyal.

But they’re better together: Imagine a coffee shop using Instagram ads (AdTech) to lure you in, then sending a personalized discount email (MarTech) once you’ve visited. One finds the crowd; the other makes them feel like family. Both? Essential for winning hearts and wallets.

Mass marketing won’t cut it anymore. Marketers must be precise. How can marketing teams leverage ad tech for efficient digital advertising?

Increased awareness, traffic, leads, and sales – are all benefits you can expect when mixing digital ads with your current marketing strategies.

There was a time when marketers used to advertise to as many people as possible, now we show the right ad to the right consumer in the right moment – the road was definitely a long one. Adtech occupies a unique place in digital advertising due to its ability to deliver the right message at the right time to the right audience and track the results.

First of all, let’s understand how ad tech is affecting the digital advertising industry.

Role of Ad Tech Platform in Digital Advertisement

The role of Ad Tech in digital advertisement is significant and it changes advertising by automating processes and increasing target meeting abilities.

Ad Tech is a comprehensive collection of systems and channels that help marketing professionals with powerful tools for campaign operation and optimal ad placements in real-time. It enables advertisers to collect vast amounts of audience data, define target audiences more accurately, personalize advertising communications, and optimize ad spend effectively.

Here are some of the most popular tools and platforms:

Supply Side Platform (SSP)

A supply-side platform helps sites sell ad inventory by placing available ad space on ad exchanges, DSPs, and other networks. The demand-side platform (DSP) purchases the ad as a brand based on pre-established selection criteria. Brands bid on impressions through an auction called real-time bidding (RTB). This allows site owners to select which brands will appear on their site, at what price, and in what location.

Demand Side Platform (DSP)

On the opposite side, demand-side platforms simplify media buying for ad agencies and advertisers. These platforms allow advertisers to buy ad space from different sites and media owners and target users who match their brand’s needs. Site owners submit offers to the Supply-Side Platform (SSP), which sends the request to the ad exchange. The exchange selects the best option for the advertiser, and the demand-side platform analyzes all the possibilities to give the best bids for displays in milliseconds.

Agency Trading Desk (ATD)

The Agency Trading Desk is a body of services specialized in advertising provided by advertising agencies. It is used for making the ads plans, getting the ads done and responding to the real time situation generated in the course of the ad campaign. It can also be understood as a mini DSP which is showing the same activities as a DSP one.

This approach is perfect for advertisers who are still adopting ad tech and want to work with a concrete DSP, or expand their sales teams. Nevertheless it should be remembered about its magnify limitations on the contrary of the demand side platforms where the deal is made thorough simple click. Thus, it could become a drawback that the platform wouldn’t be able to provide the best-quality ads available in the market.

Customer data platform (CDP)

A CDP (Customer Data Platform) is a unified database tool that combines data from multiple different platforms into one place containing information on all aspects of customers’ interactions with your product or service. Linking with these storages help to segment the marketing database in many ways and create personalized campaigns.

Ad exchanges

Ad exchange is a virtual arena where advertisers along with publishers are on a virtual auction to Buy and sell of the advertising space. As real-time auction is mostly their main purpose, the communication among them is based on them. Ad formatting can go from a person’s computer screen with a banner ad to a mobile device with an ad. Digital trading platforms pool together publishers’ supply-side bids presented by the supply-side platform (SSP) they selected and advertisers’ demand-side demand for ad impressions through the demand-side platform (DSP) they picked.

 Respective buying and selling processes used by advertisers during the real-time auctions is called RTB (real-time bidding) technique. Instantly, when a user visits a website associated with the appropriate platforms, the auction is committed.

The buyer’s platform analyzes the user’s previous interactions and interests to determine the relevance of the bid for the display. The size and appropriateness of the bid are based on the characteristics of the site visitor.

Ad servers

An ad server is a web-based technology platform used for direct ad placement on websites. It translates advertising material to the publisher’s site, tracks the number of impressions, clicks, and other elements of RTB, and has tools for advertising campaign optimization.

There are different ad servers for publishers and advertisers, but they work on the same principle: they store and sort data from either side. Publishers use ad servers to control their resources, organize ad placement, optimize ad delivery, and provide statistics. Advertisers use them to control their creatives and the progress of their ad campaigns.

Ad servers can be self-service or managed service. Self-service servers offer more features and settings but require a significant investment in human resources. Managed service allows you to delegate this work to outsourcers and forget about this problem.

Ad servers can be local or remote. Local ad servers are physically accessible to you and are usually owned by the publisher. Remote servers allow you to use the capabilities of an ad server by buying remote access to it. Typically, remote servers provide access to multiple webmasters and work independently.

Ad Networks

An advertising network is a group of advertising platforms that share a common system for placing ads. Though the term “advertising network” can refer to any type of network, it is often used to describe online ad networks. Online ad networks differ from traditional ad networks in that they use an ad server to deliver ads to the public. By using a central system to place ads, business owners gain access to a variety of audience targeting, tracking, and reporting methods that traditional media alternatives lack.

Ad networks work with publishers over the internet, and can help those with untapped resources or advertising platforms, as well as those who want to monetize their offers. Ad networks aggregate these resources, package them, and sell them to advertisers. Advertising networks can be categorized as horizontal, vertical, or premium.

Horizontal networks work with many publishers, and have low entry thresholds, making it easy for publishers to join. Vertical ad networks are designed for high-precision niche targeting, which makes them more likely to bring in conversions. Premium networks work exclusively with premium publishers. Joining such networks is difficult, but the quality of service is of a higher standard.

In addition to all this, Ad Tech provides advantages like focused advertising, helping advertisers to target particular audiences according to different measures, resulting in improved campaign efficiency and higher conversions. Ad Tech platforms offer data-driven insights that help advertisers improve campaign effectiveness, increase engagement, and boost ROI by utilizing valuable information about user behavior and other metrics.

Ad Tech is vital in digital advertising as it enables communication among advertisers, publishers, and other participants in the advertising process, ultimately leading to the effectiveness of online marketing strategies.

Navigating the Future of Advertising in the Digital Era through AdTech

• Utilize programmatic buying and selling to automate ad delivery processes, ensuring efficiency and precision in targeting the correct audience.
• Utilize real-time insights from AdTech to make data-driven decisions and create personalized ad experiences based on detailed user information.
• Utilize AdTech for rapid campaign launches, allowing brands to remain flexible and quick in the dynamic digital environment.
• Increase your advertising impact quickly by utilizing automation, streamlining processes, and expanding reach without compromising effectiveness.
• Focus on accurate targeting to make the most of your ad budget with AdTech’s precise targeting features, reaching the most appropriate audience segments for your message.
• Remain flexible to user preferences AdTech firms must constantly modify their approaches to changing user tastes, providing a smooth and customized advertising experience that connects with specific customer groups.
• Stay updated on regulatory changes and adjust strategies in advance to meet customer privacy expectations and adhere to tracking limitations.
• Invest in solutions that prioritize privacy in AdTech by investing in tools and technologies that uphold user privacy and produce successful advertising results.

The bottom line is while businesses adapt to changes in digital advertising, AdTech is seen as a crucial partner that provides necessary tools and plays a significant role in shaping the future of advertising.