While the "buy" happens programmatically, the ad can appear in several different TV environments:
Content delivered via the internet to smart TVs or devices like Roku and Apple TV. This makes up roughly 75% of all CTV transactions today.
What the Power of Programmatic Means for TV Ad Buying - Paramount what is programmatic tv buying
When a viewer starts a stream on a service like Hulu or YouTube TV, an automated signal is sent to an Ad Exchange .
The shift from traditional to programmatic TV is often described as moving from to audience-first . While the "buy" happens programmatically, the ad can
Within milliseconds, various advertisers’ software—known as Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) —evaluate if that specific viewer matches their target audience (e.g., "dog owners earning over $75k").
Automated buying applied to traditional broadcast and cable schedules using set-top box data to insert relevant ads into live feeds. The shift from traditional to programmatic TV is
Historically, TV ad buying was a manual "spray-and-pray" process involving phone calls with network sales reps to secure 30-second spots for broad demographics like "females under 35". Programmatic buying replaces these negotiations with software and algorithms that decide in milliseconds which households see which ad, at what price. How the "Deep Story" of Programmatic TV Works