Detailed definitions of programmatic guaranteed and Automated Guaranteed

Programmatic guaranteed: An automated transaction that takes place in the context of OpenRTB.

Publishers that make guaranteed deals and sell utilizing programmatic auction technology such as deal IDs are, in effect, selling through programmatic guaranteed. When this occurs, publishers and buyers negotiate a fixed price for reserved inventory, with the publisher linking the deal to said inventory in the RTB platform. The transaction is processed with a solution that was initially designed for real-time bidding, but that has been pushed to its limits to support “direct sales”.

To complete such a sale, the publisher needs a holistic view of both direct commitments and programmatic sales. Therefore, this type of transaction is limited to platforms like Smart RTB+.

Automated Guaranteed: A transaction designed to automate direct sales through a publisher’s ad server’s API.

The IAB OpenDirect specification, which standardized APIs and accelerated their development, allowed publishers to package and market their inventories at guaranteed volumes. Within a buying interface, marketers have direct access to a publisher’s packaged inventories. They have the ability to search and filter inventory offers based on site, format, device, targeting, pricing, and other desired criterion. They can browse the goods, just as they would on an online shopping website. In addition, they can check available inventory, send booking requests, traffic campaigns and access reports all from a single interface. Moreover, publishers can accept or refuse booking requests, validate creative files and even propose a discounted price. In short, with the help of an ad server, a publisher can keep control of their inventory while leveraging additional sales.