Programmatic display advertising is already taking the UK by storm. According to a study conducted by eMarketer, the UK is a market leader and programmatic display advertising will account for £2.03bn of digital ad spend by 2018. But what is programmatic display, why is it important and how is it changing the travel advertising market? Read on to find out more.

What is 'programmatic display advertising?'

Programmatic display advertising is the automation of buying digital ads. Previously, digital display advertising was purchased by ad buyers in much the same way that traditional media is bought or by real time bidding, which is where a salesperson would purchase digital space at an online auction.

In plain English, it basically means using machines to target relevant ads on appropriate websites, based on specific demographics such as age, salary, interests, job role and their recent web browsing history.

What are the advantages of programmatic display advertising?

You may be wondering why programmatic is such a big deal. The main advantage is that programmatic advertising makes display ads more efficient and relevant, by using huge amounts of data to show internet users ads that are based on their online behaviour or customer profile.

The marrying of big data sets and the ability to be highly targeted means that using programmatic display adverting can lead to impactful results. Also, as programmatic is fairly new, competition is still relatively low compared to other forms of display advertising.

What programmatic means for the travel market

For the travel market, it means you can access greater data to create highly targeted and optimised display ads to your customers. For example, as a travel company you can show travel deals to Canada, while someone is reading a blog about holidaying in the Rockies. You can also deliver tailored ads to someone an hour or a day after they’ve abandoned their shopping cart on your website. Furthermore, you are able to link your display ads to events or weather; for example, a seaside town can link its display creative to trigger within a certain geographical location, if the weather is due to be warm and sunny that weekend. 

The travel industry, with its competitive nature and dynamic customer base, lends itself well to programmatic display advertising. As with any advertising campaign, knowing your audience is key, but in this form of display advertising knowing where they are in their customer journey is also essential. This is where the data comes in; using the huge amount of available data you can get via programmatic, you can ensure the right creative is served at the right time, giving your travel company a competitive advantage.

Basically, programmatic display advertising is all about being relevant and identifying moments that matter to your target audience, so you can get those all-important conversions.