Artificial Intelligence: The Next Frontier of Programmatic Buying

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning are on the verge of revolutionizing programmatic media buying, and the reason is simple: In today’s marketplace, AI has the ability to do far more than humans can handle on their own. Machine Learning, a broad area of computer-aided decision making, has been used in many aspects of marketing for years. Now in 2017, more powerful Deep Learning technology, often synonymously referred to as Artificial Intelligence, has become increasingly valuable for marketers with useful products like chatbots and insight tools.

For the first time, humans are successfully teaching machines to learn because we’re getting smarter at building them. Human limitations and inefficiencies are mitigated thanks to AI and machine learning, which work around the clock and continuously improve: When a machine is wrong, it can now correct itself, further improving its accuracy, speed, direction, and ability to avoid future mistakes.

HUMANS ARE KEY TO UNLOCKING AI’S POTENTIAL TO MAXIMIZE PROGRAMMATIC BUYING

While efficiencies from AI will help revolutionize programmatic jobs, human intelligence is still crucial to unlocking its potential while maximizing programmatic buying. Although tech and other industry leaders have raised concerns about the potential negative effects of AI development on jobs, in media, it serves an enhancement rather than a replacement. Humans are instrumental in feeding data and innovation into DSPs to oversee and power AI algorithms, and have the ability to hand over operational tasks to AI in order focus increased attention on strategizing refined and more sophisticated ways of measuring performance across channels and screens to drive efficiencies faster than ever before.

AI-POWERED PROGRAMMATIC BUYING IS DELIVERING

At Spark Foundry, our Ad Tech team and partners have been actively working at the forefront of this new wave of advanced prediction technology by testing out new ways to more effectively spend clients’ media budgets. Our team works with programmatic partners like Cognitiv that are incorporating deep learning into their algorithms. These efforts effectively harness the power of AI to dynamically score each user, allowing them to accurately differentiate, bid on the most valuable consumers, and drive more efficient conversions.

 

Through the development of Deep Learning buying technologies from partners like Cognitiv, we’ve been able to make large improvements in clients’ ROI. Another big advantage Deep Learning provides is the ability to automatically build separate, custom buying algorithms for each client that scale and learn on their own. The more data given to one of Spark Foundry’s Deep Learning algorithms, the better the results – meaning over time, the algorithm gets older and “wiser.” These technologies also provide the ability to automatically adjust activations in response to changing market dynamics – including amending new creative, changing website content, or incorporating seasonal differences. Early successes have shown that robots working while we sleep identify audiences who are more likely to convert or yield an action faster than a human, given the fact that humans take time to do basic things like eat and sleep. We have seen early-stage efficiency gains and are working with our partners to scale the buys and tweak the algorithms accordingly.

THE NEXT FRONTIER

Throughout the rest of 2017 and beyond, brands and advertisers need to embrace the power and opportunities that AI, bots, and digital assistants provide. While these products represent a new and somewhat daunting evolution in the industry, leveraging these technologies is easier than it seems. Marketers who explore this new frontier will realize significant enhancements that maximize ROI for their brands and clients utilizing the latest and greatest technology the industry has to offer.