I’m not at a programmatic company anymore so maybe I’ve missed posts or haven’t heard all the conversations you may be having…
But isn’t this Apple update going to completely change programmatic? They seem to want to block all targeting and attribution on safari which is 50% of mobile traffic.
Are people panicking on your teams or rapidly changing strategy because of this?
Came across a piece on Pixalate’s latest CTV programmatic data and the 57% figure stood out.
57% of US open CTV programmatic spend went to large-screen devices like smart TVs. The remaining 43% went to mobile, tablets, and other smaller screens. What’s interesting is that all of this is still being grouped under CTV programmatic. If the device mix is this different, Are buyers getting enough transparency into what they’re actually buying and measuring? or Does the broader CTV label still make sense?
Open RTB also represents only around 18-19% of total CTV spend. So there’s another question around how much of the market buyers can actually see through programmatic?
There’s a measurement issue here too. An ad being served doesn’t necessarily mean it was viewed and a viewed ad doesn’t necessarily mean it got attention.
How are agencies/DSPs and Pubs handling the CTV vs. OTT distinction in actual buys?
Once our paid media budget got into the million I expected automation to make the whole thing feel safer so it made execution faster a DSP can pace perfectly bids can look efficient and reporting can stay green while the signal underneath is a little off at that level a small mistake in attribution, audience quality or what the system is optimizing toward can quietly turn into a lot of wasted spend before anyone notices.
Marketer is one of the things we’ve been using on the broader paid side and it’s made me think differently about where automation should stop so I’m fine letting systems handle more of the repetitive execution testing and reporting but I still want people looking across the channels before meaningful budget moves and checking whether the spend is turning into the business outcome we care about. Once the budget gets large enough the bigger issue isn’t whether the machine can do the work, it’s whether someone is still accountable for what it’s doing.
Hello friends,
I’ve been working in the marketing agency world since graduating from university. At my previous employer, I got hired as a coordinator & later got promoted to an associate manager. At my old agency, I knew the process, my tasks, inside out & excelled at all my assigned tasks. I always got good results during my performance appraisals & during my 1 on 1’s.
I loved my old agency & the team I was on. The client was part of an Industry I really took interest in, so it made working on our marketing campaigns even more enjoyable. I enjoyed signing on my computer every morning & never used any sick days unless I needed to. Best part was my position was permanently full time remote, so I had a great work/life balance.
I worked at this agency for 5 years. Unfortunately, my salary staged stagnant & wasn’t keeping up with inflation. There was no room to grow as our agency lost a big client which resulted in an hiring, promotions & salary freezes. So I made the tough decision to start job searching.
Through a recruiter, I got hired at another agency for a manager position. The team I’m on is extremely fast paced beyond what I can handle & theres a campaign launch every week. The worse part is this role is client facing, which I do not have any experience in. On top of that, I also have 2 other clients accounts I work on. So all together, I’m working on 3 accounts. Even with the account weekly time allocation of 60%/ 30% / 10%, I’m still struggling in my day to day. I often feel that I’m not able to keep up. I’ve been at this position for 7 months, & I’m feeling like either this role isn’t a great for me or maybe I’m not a great fit for the role as the management role is completely different from my previous agency.
This job has started to take a toll on my body as well as my mental health, and having more worked everyday piled on just adds more stress. Worst part is my director, expect me to work past 5pm & this agency has really made working past 5pm normal. I can’t even count the amount of time I get emails after 5pm. I’ve even had emails send to me at 1am.
I don’t know if I may be the problem possibly not being qualified for the position I was hired for or I’m stuck in a extremely fast toxic work environment where my managers & colleagues only care about the client & launching their campaigns on time. I want to give my resignation, but then I wouldn’t qualify to get unemployment insurance. The thought of getting fired doesn’t bother me at all.
I’ve come to realize that in order to leave my current agency, I’ll need to find another job. My only worry is where else am I going to find a job outside the agency world with only programmatic experience. I’m at the age or in financial condition to start over with an entry level job again.
For those who are in the same boat as me, how did you escape toxic agency world & what are some career opportunities I may be qualified with my programmatic background.
Hi Guys,
I am in ad ops from last 10 years. Spent almost 6 years working on Google Ad Manager(nowadays). I am willing to learn new skills for better growth opportunities. Could you guys suggest something?What can I pick up?
Also, my complete 10 years of experience is on programmatic sell side.
Hey everyone, quick question for those in the Canadian programmatic space: what price ranges do you consider too expensive or suspiciously cheap when buying high quality CPMs through a private marketplace (PMP) here in Canada? I’m curious!
Most resources in our industry are content marketing for someone's SaaS product or agency. For the last few months I've been building the opposite: dayparter.com. It's still new, but I think it can genuinely make your job easier, and I'm adding to it every week.
Totally free, no signup, no email capture, not tied to any agency or ad tech company. AI helped with the code; the design, writing is mine (AI statement). It'll hopefully carry a light amount of programmatic display down the track but at the moment its just something i am doing to be helpful.
I really hope you give it a look, would love any feedback or missing features you'd like to see.
Hi team,
I'm soon to be leaving my current agency in a search for my next move and was just wondering on some advise of those of you who have tried your hand/currently working as a freelancer across prog.
My current experience (10+ years) has all been agency side, a mix of delivery/activation, strategy and planning. I'm looking to move over to the ad-tech side of things, but have also had a few people suggest looking into freelancing. Leaving my current role has, unfortunately, come against my decision due to budget cuts across the agency, so it's not something I've thought too much about up until now.
I guess my question for you guys (who are UK based) is, how do you begin to become a freelancer? How do you find the work balance? The pay looks like it could be great, but is the security a worry?
A very broad discussion, I guess I'm just looking for some advise and reassurance!
Thanks so much.
Howdy - quite versed in social and search buying, with 10 years of experience, currently managing a little over $1 million a month on social alone.
I own and run a business in the telehealth space, and a close competitor has posted articles on how successful they've been on CTV, which has certainly piqued my interest, given how successful we've been thus far on social. We don't have massive budgets yet for other platforms outside of social (maybe $50K a month to start). I've heard mixed reviews about self-serve platforms like Vibe and MNTN.
Given we're not dropping millions a month and ultimately need both strong attribution and decent ROAS / direct response, (not just brand awareness) are there any platforms or avenues you guys would suggest? Appreciate all the help and guidance.
I’ve been working with Publicis since 2022. Over the last few years, I’ve received roughly 16–20% increments annually, so financially things were moving in the right direction.
However, I’m now at a point where I feel quite stuck.
The biggest issue is that my day-to-day work has become very repetitive. I don’t feel like I’m learning much anymore, and there isn’t much new exposure or a clear career path within my current role/account.
This year, the appraisal process has also been stopped, which has made me rethink my situation even more.
At the same time, I’m seeing a lot of uncertainty across the media/advertising industry — agencies losing clients, restructuring, and people being asked to leave. That makes me hesitant about simply resigning and moving to another agency without being sure about the stability of the next company.
Interestingly, even my manager has basically told me that I need to think about whether I want to stay stuck here or move to another company.
I have around 6+ years of experience in performance marketing, mainly across paid search and programmatic/QA, so I feel I should be moving toward more responsibility and learning rather than continuing with the same work.
What would you do in my situation?
Stay at Publicis until the market becomes more stable?
Start interviewing while continuing the current job?
Move to another agency?
Try to move toward an in-house/client-side role?
Upskill first and then make the switch?
Would especially appreciate advice from people who have worked in agencies for 5–10+ years and have gone through a similar situation.
I'm asking this because I've seen two camps:
Camp 1/ People who say they'd never hand over budget control.
Camp 2/ People already running fully automated spend with zero daily oversight.
The gap between these camps seem to be less about the technology and more about who gets blamed when it goes wrong.