I can’t either and many of the companies I’ve been working with base their businesses on programmatic ad buys.
Basically, programmatic ad buying is when computers buy and sell ads instead of humans. One in five ads are bought and sold this way today. The more the computer understands the content on the page you are browsing, the more relevant the ad is that you see.
Here are some terms to know:
Data Management Platform (DMP)
A huge database of customer information that big companies have.
In many of these systems, Marketers can also buy 3rd party data directly from within the system or sell their own data to other systems.
Ex: BlueKai (Oracle)
Demand-Side Platform (DSP)
Software used by Advertisers to purchase ads in an automated way targeted at specific users based on their location and browsing behavior.
Ex: Google’s DoubleClick Bid Manager
Ad Exchange
A Publisher (a big website with lots of traffic) makes ad space available through ad exchanges.
Ex: AppNexus Here’s a list of the top five exchanges
Hopefully now you an give a quick overview and hang with a conversation about programmatic ad buying! For further reading, checkout these articles:
WTF is a demand-side platform?
What is an Ad Exchange?
Kelly Taylor's Blog 