Source – adageindia.in
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning are no more just the stuff of futuristic sci-fi movies. It is here and it is as real as it can get. It is shaping our lives. It is transforming the way business is done. It has empowered us by helping us harness the power of data. It has multiple takeaways for a wide range of industries and Programmatic Advertising is no exception. So let’s dive deeper into its significance for programmatic advertising, and see what more it has to offer.
Predicting and planning:
AI and machine learning have become a crucial part of the prediction and planning stage of the ad campaigns. The algorithms analyze and mine huge sets of past data to draw insights from it, which are then used to accurately plan the ad campaigns to drive better results. AI can predict factors like the audience classification and the best-performing websites for the campaign, based on the past data. Using AI and machine learning, one can predict how likely an impression is to result in an actual conversion and would buy only the ones that are likely to convert. This reduces the costs to a large extent. This improved performance along with decreased costs results in higher Return On Advertising Spends (ROAS) for the brands.
Campaign Optimization:
AI can completely automate the optimization of the ad campaigns, driving results like never before. With the help of AI, ad campaigns can be executed with an expertise equivalent to that of a seasoned ad buyer. Or maybe even better! Imagine accurately predicting things like the minimum price that an ad impression can be bought for and bidding only at that price! With insights from AI, one can even determine the impressions that are unlikely to win and avoid bidding on them. It can even find when during the day a campaign is likely to perform the best and running the campaign during that time to optimize the results.
Better targeting capabilities:
Better targeting capabilities require better analyzing abilities. Tons of consumer data can be gathered today through multiple sources like social media, website visits, tracking device usage patterns, etc. Gathering this data is however only the first step. It has to be further processed, analyzed, and segmented for discovering the best potential audience.
AI can mine through all this data and determine the best target audience. AI helps brands target the right customers, across the right channels and display the right content. This results in better targeting capabilities, which are difficult to achieve without the help of AI and machine learning.
AI-driven ad creative:
The Ad creative is one of the most crucial aspects of the ad campaigns and may even be the deciding factor in the success or failure of the ad campaign. It is therefore necessary that brands pay attention to it and optimize it to the best of their capabilities. Generally, DCO (Dynamic Creative Optimization) is used for this purpose. AI and machine learning can be used to notch-up the level of DCO making it even more customized. It can be used to change the ad units shown to targeted users in real time. Thousands of highly relevant ad copies can be made by forming multiple permutations and combinations of the creatives and taglines. These combinations are decided based on the audience insights learned from the data sets. AI and machine learning can also be used to generate interactive ad copies like the ones wherein the users can ask questions to the ad copies and the ad copies can give users different answers, based on the question asked. This will result in more engagement, a better brand recall, and improved sales.
Data-driven insights:
There is no questioning the power of data that AI brings in. In today’s digital world, every individual has a digital footprint, that speaks volumes about the person’s likes, dislikes, attitude, lifestyle, etc. This data is invaluable and can be collected, processed and the insights from its analysis can be used to influence the customers’ buying process. Churning through the gigantic volumes of such fresh data everyday and uncovering meaningful and valuable insights from it requires the application of AI and machine learning algorithms.
Real-time optimization through continuous learning:
AI and machine learning algorithms are specifically programmed for a continuous learning process. As they are exposed to the real time data from the ongoing campaigns, they continuously absorb it, process it and come up with strategies optimized in real-time, in reaction to the changes in campaign performance. This leads to continuously improved campaign results. The real-time insights also enable brands to target the consumers who are more likely to convert, resulting in increased conversions over time.
A better ROI:
AI means faster and better work and fewer potential errors as compared to humans. These two combined can help companies save a lot of money. For the advertising industry, this means a faster, better and more efficient media buying process. This frees up the media buyers from the tedious work, allowing them to focus their time and energy on the creative and strategic tasks. Thus, as the strategy improves, the campaigns will drive better returns.
In spite of a slew of benefits, AI has been perceived as a threat. It is being said that AI is costing humans their jobs. However, it is important to note here that AI is doing only the monotonous and mechanical work, leaving us to do the more creative and strategy focused tasks. Contrary to the popular fear of AI-generated unemployment, AI is bettering our work processes, bringing in efficiency, improving the ROI and driving better results. The ideal future would be where the advertisers only input certain factors like their budget, the CPC, and the target location, and wait for the results while, AI executes the entire campaign, giving better returns. This would enable the media planners to utilize their time in more productive tasks, instead of getting into the nitty-gritty of campaign optimization. AI is acting as more of an enhancement rather than a replacement. As brands continue to grasp the concept and capabilities of AI, they are realizing its potential to mechanize some of their mundane, manual tasks so they can focus on performing the more strategic ones, resulting in a more productive use of our thinking capabilities.