Each month, 50 million people turn to POLITICO for its global insight on politics and policy. In 2017, the US-based news platform turned to Programmatic Guaranteed with Google Ad Manager in hopes of providing a broader suite of services to their advertising clients. Investing in Programmatic Guaranteed has streamlined access to POLITICO’s inventory, opening doors to new advertiser deals and increasing revenue for the company.
Internal shifts to support operational efficiency
POLITICO adopted Programmatic Guaranteed with the goal of becoming platform-agnostic for buyers. It wanted to offer advertisers their preferred methods of media buying while expanding its array of client services. Once POLITICO began using Programmatic Guaranteed with Ad Manager as its consolidated platform, its team noticed a greater efficiency in campaign execution. Programmatic Guaranteed deals ranged from same-day to 48 hour delivery, while Direct Deals could take up to 72 hours or more. The operations, accounting, and account management teams also saw significant savings in time and resources.
The news publication began investing in programmatic resources across operations and sales, such as in-house experts equipped to train direct sales teams. “All direct sellers are empowered to sell programmatic campaigns,” says Daker. Not only did these internal investments strengthen existing client relationships, they also attracted new advertisers by allowing POLITICO to execute all types of programmatic campaigns seamlessly, most of which were centered around brand, advocacy, and political campaigns.
Between 2018 and 2019, revenue from Programmatic Guaranteed deals grew 38 percent year over year. Today, Programmatic Guaranteed has become a core growth strategy for POLITICO’s programmatic team and an extension of its holistic sales strategy.
“Our ability to transact on Programmatic Guaranteed provides the transparency our buyers need to achieve a wide variety of goals, including; viewability, audience engagement, and scale,” says Phil Vavelidis, Programmatic Business Development Manager at POLITICO. Even partners who weren’t previously buying programmatic started to get curious about the new opportunities. “Clients who have never run programmatically are now asking about programmatic,” says Vavelidis.
Revenue boosts and new relationships
Beyond the operational successes and internal investments, Programmatic Guaranteed has also improved POLITICO’s bottom line. About 25 percent of total programmatic ad revenue now stems from Programmatic Guaranteed deals, and these types of campaigns run up to 66 percent faster than their Direct Deals on average.
Through Programmatic Guaranteed, POLITICO also developed new partnerships. As a result of its new offering, the company secured over 25 new advertiser clients, and they look forward to growing these relationships through their expanding suite of buying methodologies. “As media buying evolves, we’ll continue to stay on the leading edge and provide our clients with whatever buying tools they need,” says Jeff Daker.