Programmatic advertising

Programmatic advertising is the automated buying and selling of advertising impressions by software, with each purchase decided in real time from data about the page, app or screen and often the viewer.

In a manual deal, a buyer and a seller agree a price and a volume, and an ad server delivers the campaign. In programmatic advertising, machines do that work one impression at a time. A publisher's supply-side platform (SSP) describes each available impression in a bid request. Demand-side platforms (DSPs) acting for advertisers decide whether to bid, and an exchange picks the winner in milliseconds.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority adopted the IAB's definition, "the use of automated systems and processes to buy and sell inventory". It added that the defining feature is a real-time decision on each impression (CMA, Appendix M, paragraph 11, 1 July 2020).

Programmatic is a way of buying, not a channel. It covers open auctions, private marketplaces, preferred deals and programmatic guaranteed contracts. It runs on display, video, connected TV, audio and digital out-of-home screens, and most trades use the OpenRTB protocol. Each company between the advertiser and the publisher takes a fee, so buyers track how much of every dollar reaches working media.

Example: In the ANA's Q2 2026 Programmatic Transparency Benchmark, 45.1% of tracked programmatic spend reached measurable, viewable, fraud-free and non-MFA impressions. Connected TV made up 41.6% of tracked spend (ANA via Fiducia, 6 August 2026).

Related terms: real-time bidding, DSP, SSP, ad exchange, OpenRTB, working media.

Authoritative source: UK CMA, Online platforms and digital advertising market study, Appendix M: intermediation in open display advertising (final report, 1 July 2020).

Read the full guide: What is programmatic advertising? A complete guide.