Spotify launches SAX Ad Exchange powered by The Trade Desk
By Megan Price, Programmatic Supervisor
Spotify has announced the launch of SAX (Spotify Ad Exchange), its supply-side ad platform (SSP) that will offer video ad inventory before moving into audio. Their first partner in this venture is The Trade Desk, one of the largest demand-side platforms (DSP) available. The aim is to offer access to more automated ad inventory, especially for small to medium-sized businesses.
What does this mean for advertisers?
This is another show of confidence from The Trade Desk in their ability to show ad tech leadership in a post-cookie world. Even with the announcement of the cookie deprecation from Google earlier in the year, signal loss is real, and it is wise for advertisers to prepare for a privacy-first future. In the last 6 months alone, we’ve seen partnerships with other big hitters like Roku and even a move to build a TV Operating System with Sonos
Megan Price, Programmatic Supervisor.
With privacy changes looming, market fragmentation will continue to lead to further complexity. Historically, any brand making the foray into offering advertising inventory has typically gone the ‘walled garden’ route.
However, the continued opening up of these inventories (think Disney+, Netflix, Uber, etc.) to the programmatic space signals the broader macro shift the industry is taking. This shift is to move away from competition for the sake of it and instead see the opportunity strength in numbers brings. For example, working together rather than competing is better for the industry as a whole.
This makes sense for advertisers, with fewer barriers to entry for marketers who want to ensure their budget is spent effectively rather than fragmented within specific networks.
Rather than being restricted to minimums with Disney, Netflix, and Uber, which means they have little flexibility to move budgets between platforms, advertisers can now spend budgets programmatically, tapping into their programmatic inventory (and more). This enables ‘connecting the dots’ between inventory sources.
Thanks to DSPs, the inventory is accessible in one place. Therefore, advertisers have greater flexibility in buying placements across networks rather than being tied to one ecosystem, and thus, budget can be moved seamlessly where optimizations show campaign success. This approach provides a far greater degree of granular control and enables a holistic view of campaigns
Why does this matter?
Partnerships like The Trade Desk and Spotify launching SAX will utilize UID2.0 (likewise with Roku ) and share the holy grail of first-party audience data.
This is a huge benefit to marketers because, again, in this rapidly changing privacy-centric ad tech world; first-party data enables the ‘dots’ to be connected between audiences and behavior. In a cookieless world (which will roll around at some point)this data being utilized by DSPs effectively and in privacy secure ways, is the gold standard of performance marketing.
What happens next?
There is a certain level of skepticism about the growing number of partnerships that are being announced and what this means for the market.
“The open web has always been exactly that – open. In the antithesis of walled gardens, we like to think of programmatic being akin to perfect competition, with ample buyers and sellers, allowing for balanced efficiency and lots of innovation. If any one buyer or seller gets too big, or, in the case of Google, they attempt to do both – this threatens the delicate balance.”
The Trade Desk has always served to protect and push for a truly open internet, opening up UID2.0 to all players in the market to come together for a harmonious, privacy-first future. It’s vital that this competition remains and that advertisers have a choice of how to reach their audiences and where to spend their media budgets.
Even with the future of cookies remaining unclear, there are likely to be plenty more changes to come. One thing we believe is how crucial it is for advertisers to prepare for more changes, for example, building a unified measurement framework, especially regarding the accurate understanding of the measurement of Programmatic media.
At M&C Saatchi Performance, our approach to programmatic has always been tech-agnostic. By not being tied to any one specific DSP, we can customize solutions exactly according to our client’s needs, which means we can be incredibly agile.
Our programmatic experts continuously analyze data signals to ensure you reach the right audience through the most efficient supply path, minimizing unnecessary costs and reducing acquisition costs. It’s important to adopt a test-and-learn approach to gain a comprehensive understanding of what works best.
In Summary
Future-proofing measurement is essential for marketers across all channels. The tech ecosystem will undergo ongoing changes, and advertisers do not want to be left without measurement solutions if the tech landscape suddenly changes. Without a foolproof approach, it’s impossible to understand what works best, and this will become considerably harder as privacy challenges evolve.
Contact us to learn how we help clients win in a highly competitive digital landscape, including programmatic audio.
Case Studies
Raising brand awareness for TickPick through programmatic audio
Leveraging full-funnel programmatic for TickPick
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