Case Study: The Programmatic Company

Watch the video of our webinar with Bruno Vannod, CEO @ The Programmatic Company (French version here).

We hear it time and time again – experienced programmatic buyers that are blocked from leveraging their intelligence with their current DSP (Demand Side Platform). Although it must be said that over the past few years legacy DSPs have opened up slightly, leaving their blackbox ajar for buyers to peer into. They’ve started offering some limited log level data, custom bidding strategies etc. These can work well, but for the more sophisticated buyers it’s not enough – they want an uninhibited view in a fully transparent system.

The more sophisticated the customer, the more they require this to truly shine. The Programmatic Company is a perfect example of this trend, which we’ve been seeing since we first offered the Bidder-as-a-Service.

Initially when we were speaking to The Programmatic Company, they were concerned with three shortfalls in their current DSP:

• Lack of raw log availability beyond win logs, inhibiting their data science team from achieving their true optimization potential.
• Limited API, resulting in sprints getting blocked, workflows less automated and disgruntled engineers.
• % of media charge, resulting in them getting penalized when their campaign budgets or CPMs increased. Given that their business was going through a growth phase, the budgets were increasing and, as a result, so was their providers’ take rate.

Our initial conversations were centered around these three components, and after analyzing our documentation on the API and logs they realized Beeswax was an ideal fit. We started working together last year and their traders and campaign managers seamlessly shifted their campaigns, which ran across all formats (video, web, In-App and native), to Beeswax without any issues. 

The team has made excellent progress with our easy to use, completely open API as well optimized campaigns and built a reporting dashboard using our robust log level data. Additionally, they have reaped the rewards of our commercial model – resulting in reduced cost for them and more scale for their advertisers. However they have also noticed some other, unexpected, benefits from working with us:

• First off, they’ve noticed that InApp simply works better on Beeswax. Previously, they had been working with one of the first major DSPs on the market and, as such, it didn’t have In-App in mind when it was built. With Beeswax, they get access to all of their desired supply sources, as well as measurement and tracking partners from day 1.  Many of these were missing from their previous provider. But the ease of running InApp is not at the expense of running in web environments. Their traders found that they were able to easily setup and deliver their campaigns across both environments. Since we launched our European HQ at the beginning of 2017, we have been continuously working on adding supply across all formats and as of today we are integrated with over 50 direct exchanges globally. To add to this, TPC takes advantage of Advanced Filtering (™) in order to hone in on the exact traffic they want to buy – through app lists, domain whitelists and 1st party data segments. 
• Secondly, their team has managed to improve performance for their advertisers by 25% using Bid Modifiers. Using the win logs, their data scientists along with their traders have analysed the OpenRTB indicators that are most indicative of driving performance, whether it’s a CPA, CTR, CPC goal or other. From there, they use the API to setup, execute and manage bid modifiers on each line item. This results in both an automated optimization process and more granular optimizations, since they can assign a specific value to modify their bid by everytime one of the identifiers is present.

The Programmatic Company is a great example of a successful media business who recognised the danger in being dependent on major multinational conglomerates. Whether it’s the lack of raw insights, lack of customization abilities or simply the lack of support, the shortfalls of using these companies have been well documented. At Beeswax, our focus is on building long lasting, trusted partnerships through independent, agile and completely transparent technology. This, along with our highly experienced global support team, means we can help customers navigate the ever-changing programmatic ecosystem and allow you to focus on what makes your business unique.

Learn more about The Programatic Company and their experience here: