Programme overview
Introduction:
Programmatic advertising, covering DSPs, real-time bidding and ad verification, is a 5-day course for digital marketing, media planning and ad operations functions that ends with a Programmatic Media Plan and Measurement Framework for a case campaign. Organisations lose working media to opaque fee layers, non-viewable impressions, invalid traffic and audience data that no longer survives privacy changes, then cannot show which spend produced incremental results. Nominees already plan, buy or report digital media and work through case studies on bid logs, deal terms and campaign reports. CoreConcept Training Center delivers this programmatic advertising course.
Course Objectives:
- Map the programmatic supply chain from advertiser to publisher and quantify the fees taken at each intermediary layer
- Explain how real-time bidding auctions, bid shading and header bidding set the price paid for each impression
- Select open auction, private marketplace or programmatic reserved deals and optimise supply paths for each campaign goal
- Build audience strategies from first-party data, data clean rooms and cookieless contextual signals within applicable privacy rules
- Configure DSP line items for display, video and connected TV with frequency, pacing and verification settings
- Measure programmatic results against viewability, invalid traffic, brand safety and incrementality criteria and recommend an in-house or agency operating model
Target Audience:
- Digital marketing functions that plan and approve programmatic display, video and connected TV budgets
- Media planning and buying functions that select deal types, inventory sources and DSP settings
- Ad operations and trafficking functions that set up line items, creative tags and verification
- Agency account and trading functions that run programmatic campaigns for several advertisers
- Marketing analytics functions that report programmatic delivery and measure incremental results
- Publisher and media owner sales functions that sell inventory through SSPs and private deals
Course Outline:
Day 1: Programmatic Ecosystem and Supply Chain Foundations
- Programmatic Value Chain Map of Advertisers, Agencies and Publishers
- DSP, SSP and Ad Exchange Role Comparison Matrix
- Programmatic Direct Versus Programmatic Auction Transaction Types
- Ad Tech Fee Stack and Working Media Ratio
- Current Programmatic Spend and Supply Path Baseline Audit
Day 2: Auction Mechanics, Bid Requests and Deal Structures
- OpenRTB Bid Request and Bid Response Field Walkthrough
- First-Price and Second-Price Auction Bid Shading Logic
- Header Bidding Wrapper and Publisher Floor Price Mechanics
- Open Auction, Private Marketplace and Programmatic Reserved Deal Selection
- SupplyChain Object and Supply Path Optimisation Review
Day 3: Audience Data, Privacy and DSP Campaign Set-Up
- First-Party, Second-Party and Third-Party Audience Data Taxonomy
- Data Clean Room Matching Workflow for Advertiser and Publisher Data
- Cookieless Targeting with Contextual Signals and Publisher Identifiers
- DSP Line Item Set-Up with Frequency Caps and Pacing
- VAST Video Tags and Connected TV Ad Pod Planning
Day 4: Verification, Brand Safety and Measurement Problem Cases
- MRC Viewable Impression Guidelines Applied to Display and Video
- General and Sophisticated Invalid Traffic Detection Indicators
- Brand Safety Exclusion Lists and Contextual Suitability Tiers
- Multi-Touch Attribution Versus Conversion Lift Incrementality Tests
- In-House Versus Agency Programmatic Operating Model Scorecard
Day 5: Case Study Practice and the Programmatic Media Plan
- Case Campaign Brief Review with Objectives and Audience Data
- Deal Type and Supply Path Mix for the Case
- Verification Thresholds and Optimisation Rules for the Case
- Incrementality Test Design and Key Performance Indicator Tree
- Programmatic Media Plan and Measurement Framework Completion
Skills You Will Gain:
- Supply Chain Fee Analysis
- Auction Dynamics Interpretation
- Private Marketplace Deal Negotiation
- Privacy-Safe Audience Planning
- Connected TV Inventory Planning
- Ad Verification Management
- Incrementality Test Design
- Operating Model Assessment
Why Attend This Course:
- Deliver a Programmatic Media Plan and Measurement Framework to the head of media and the budget owner for approval
- Choose which deal type, supply path and audience data source each campaign objective justifies
- Avoid paying for non-viewable impressions, invalid traffic and unsafe placements hidden in opaque supply chains
- Share bid request checklists, verification thresholds and test designs with planning, trading and analytics colleagues
Conclusion:
Back at work, the participant hands the Programmatic Media Plan and Measurement Framework to the head of media and the marketing budget owner. They use it to approve the deal-type mix, the verification thresholds that release payment to partners and the incrementality test that will judge the next budget increase. After the first full campaign flight, the media unit should compare delivered viewability, invalid traffic rates, supply path fees and measured lift against the plan, then revise supply choices, data sources and the in-house or agency split where results diverge.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
What should participants know before a programmatic advertising course?
Participants should already plan, buy or report digital media and understand basic metrics such as CPM, click-through rate and conversions. Bringing anonymised campaign reports, deal lists or DSP exports lets them apply supply path, verification and measurement methods to their own activity.
How does a programmatic advertising course differ from a media planning or social media advertising course?
It focuses on impression-level buying through DSPs, SSPs and ad exchanges: auctions, deal types, supply paths, audience data and verification. Media planning courses set reach and frequency across channels, while social and search advertising courses work inside single closed platforms.
How does real-time bidding work in programmatic advertising?
When a page or app loads, the SSP or exchange sends a bid request describing the impression to many DSPs. Each DSP values it against campaign rules and audience data and returns a bid within milliseconds, and the winning bid serves the ad.
What do participants take back from a programmatic advertising course?
A Programmatic Media Plan and Measurement Framework for a case campaign, plus a supply path audit template, deal selection matrix, verification threshold sheet and incrementality test design that can be reused on their own campaigns.