Following a six month beta testing period, involving 200 media buyers and 200 publishers, Google has confirmed the roll-out of its programmatic direct publisher-to-buyer transaction, Programmatic Guaranteed.

 

 

Google claims that the trial period saw impression volumes double every quarter via this method of media delivery.

All publishers using DoubleClick for Publishers and all marketers and buyers using Double Click Bid Manager have access to Programmatic Guaranteed. The aim is to reduce concerns over mis-delivery of ads and low inventory prices due to auction based selling.

“Initial steps to bring the benefits of programmatic to direct deals have been focused on automating the deal booking process,” said DoubleClick senior product manager Kurt Spoerer in a blog post. “While that’s a good start, it only scratches the surface of what programmatic technology can do.”

“The true value of programmatic direct will be achieved when the power of real-time, data-driven decisions is combined with access to brand safe, reserved publisher inventory currently available through direct sales,” Spoerer added.

“This will not only shorten the time it takes to book and execute high value reservations type deals, but also improve advertising performance.”

Media owners including VOX Media and Condé Nast have voiced their support following the trial period.

“With Programmatic Guaranteed we can lock in revenue by selling a guaranteed number of impressions at pre-negotiated rate,” said VOX Media vice president for revenue product and operations Joe Alicata. “We’ve seen great success with an initial batch of advertisers so far.

“Programmatic Guaranteed is simple and effective, and it’s ideally suited to the direct sales environment because clients really understand it.”

Programmatic Guaranteed is set to compete with rival AppNexus’ recent investment in Yieldex and Rubicon Project’s iSocket and Shiny Ads.