Programmatic advertising is now the norm when it comes to omnichannel media planning and buying, but some are questioning whether programmatic platforms are really able to help brands reach diverse and underrepresented audiences.
The conflict in media is that it deals with issues like defining audiences by age, gender and postal codes, while requiring detailed targeting to demonstrate that money is spent efficiently. However, the methods for which audiences are defined leave the door wide open to ethnic, racial and gender bias. Once the parameters are set and embedded in platform algorithms, the bias informs the spend of millions of brand dollars. The demise of cookies and new privacy regulations further complicate the ability for specific targeting of people of colour or LGBTQ+ audiences, for example.
There are ways that programmatic platforms can integrate diversity into media planning and buying, according to Luc Marsolais, COO of Sharethrough. He says, “I think there’s two ways of trying to reach a more diverse audience. One is contextual targeting. I’m Hispanic and I want to go on sites that would have more of my values and culture, so I could go on sites with Hispanic language or content. The other is through the ownership of the publisher but sometimes this is a bit more complex.”
Marsolais says an omnichannel SSP (sell side platform) would generate a package of properties owned by specific underrepresented communities for the media buyer or a buying platform. For contextual targeting, the SSP would use data from a research company like Comscore to produce an enhanced inventory package or PMP (private marketplace) for reaching an LGBTQ+ audience or other diverse groups.
Diversity and inclusion have become an important part of corporate culture and representation in media and TV programming is moving in the right direction. Marsolais says now is the time to look at the process of advertising to identify what can be done to shift the needle on inclusive and culturally relevant media, and more specifically, the role programmatic advertising can play in it.
“I think the question is less about the supply, and more about the audience,” says Marsolais. “It’s about context – a group of publishers that best represent the Black community or LGBTQ+ community. Work still needs to be done packaging for a more diverse audience and context. There’s still room for improvement.”
According to Statista Research, programmatic advertising spending in Canada amounted to US$9.49 billion in 2021 and the company predicts that number will increase to US$16.74 billion by 2026.
