Author : Mia El Jamali
Display advertising refers to visual ad spaces (banners, videos, ad units) that internet users encounter on websites and apps. Although this is the historical format of digital advertising, it has had to evolve over time to counter ‘ad fatigue’ among internet users, who have now become accustomed to unconsciously ignoring traditional banners.
To capture users’ attention, Display has therefore turned to hyper-personalisation. Historically, this mechanism relied on cookies (small files stored by the browser on the user’s computer). While first-party cookies allow brands to track their own customers as they browse their site, third-party cookies track users across the entire web to identify their interests. Today, the gradual phasing out of these third-party cookies to protect privacy is shaking up the market. Faced with this lack of data, technology has adapted: it is now predictive Artificial Intelligence and real-time bidding systems that enable qualified audiences to be targeted in a contextual and respectful manner. This is the true power of programmatic.
Programmatic has thus become a key business consideration for advertisers. Before its advent, display advertising involved selecting websites where ads could be shown to reach the most relevant prospects. Now, it is the algorithm that decides on which site the ads are displayed, based on the target audience. The aim is therefore no longer simply to buy ad spaces, but to buy profitable audiences by adapting to changes in real time, while maintaining total control over one’s brand image. Here are the technical and strategic mechanisms for mastering this lever:
📌 Key takeaways
1. Maximising profitability through programmatic advertising: From buying ad space to buying audiences: programmatic advertising and AI now make it possible to bid in real time (RTB) solely on the most profitable customer profiles. clients les plus rentables.
2. Algorithm control: Complete control over ad delivery: we strictly regulate the AI (whitelists, semantic exclusion) to guarantee your brand’s brand safety and ensure that your ads are actually seen (viewability).
3. ‘Beyond the Banner’ innovation: Going beyond the simple web banner: your brand appears on all your prospects’ screens thanks to Connected TV (CTV), Retail Media (Amazon) and even digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising.
Media buying: our role as a multi-DSP and direct trading desk
Originally rigid, Display has been transformed by Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs). A DSP is a platform that centralizes and automates the purchase of advertising space via the Real-Time Bidding (RTB) protocol. In practical terms, when a user visits a web page (a news site or media platform, for example), within a few milliseconds—the time it takes for the page to load—the ad inventory on that page is auctioned off and automatically purchased by DSPs based on the criteria of the targeted audience.
Furthermore, each DSP has its own algorithms and provides access to specific ad inventory. It is therefore crucial to be able to select the platform that suits you best, without being forced to work with a single partner that would limit your results. This is why ESV Digital operates as a multi-DSP trading desk. We refuse to rely on a single tool and actively collaborate with three major platforms: Display & Video 360 and Amazon DSP to harness the power of the Google and Amazon ecosystems, and StackAdapt for agile activations within an innovative AI-powered platform.
This approach allows us to constantly challenge the algorithms to maximise the value of your budget. Campaign after campaign, our consultants analyse the data to identify the most effective DSP for your specific objectives, enabling us to gradually reallocate your budgets toward the channels that generate the most value. In addition to this automated buying, we also activate Direct Display, meaning we work in collaboration with ad networks that have a large number of high-quality partner sites and allow us to purchase ad placements at pre-set prices. We negotiate advantageous and secure deals on your behalf to guarantee visibility on carefully selected sites.
The four fundamental pillars for managing the algorithm
To maximize the effectiveness of your investment, a programmatic campaign managed using the RTB model must not be left unmonitored. Our support is based on four strategic pillars designed to maximize your conversion rate and protect your brand image:
- The campaign’s stated objective (a full-funnel approach): Display advertising is traditionally favored for brand awareness (top of the funnel). However, thanks to programmatic, it is now highly effective for retargeting (bottom of the funnel). It allows you to target users who have already visited your site by showing them the exact product they spent time looking at. To effectively activate this comprehensive strategy, we set up a high-performance tracking system capable of utilising all available data.
- High-precision data targeting: To optimise your investment and implement alternatives to third-party cookies, there are various highly precise targeting methods available. Our methodology is based on the sophisticated use of first-, second-, and third-party data. Targeting is primarily based on data collected by the website via its first-party cookies. However, we also specialise in cutting-edge targeting methods—cookieless, semantic, and contextual. Cookieless targeting refers to server-to-server tracking, meaning that the anonymised data collected by the website is sent to a third-party server, thereby avoiding the use of cookies while still obtaining precise data on website visitors. Contextual and semantic targeting allows us to analyze the underlying meaning and subject matter of a web page’s content. This enables us to match your ads in a highly relevant way, while automatically excluding articles covering topics that are unrelated or contrary to your values. We rely in particular on an exclusive partnership with the leading data provider, SirData.
- Complete control over Brand Safety: Left unchecked, an algorithm may place your ads on low-quality websites solely to maximise impression rates. Through highly precise targeting and semantic and geographical exclusion, we ensure that your creative assets are displayed only on high-quality channels. Blacklists prevent your brand image from being associated with illegal or irrelevant content, while whitelists identify websites that meet your standards. We thus impose a strict distribution framework on the algorithm to ensure that every dollar invested delivers a return.
- Viewability: KPIs can sometimes be misleading, particularly when it comes to Display campaigns. Indeed, a very high impression rate does not always indicate good performance, as an ad that has loaded is not necessarily one that has been seen—for example, if it is located right at the bottom of the page. It is therefore essential to exclude all ad placements that will not consistently appear on the user’s screen, so that your budget is spent only on impressions that are actually visible.
Beyond the banner: our drivers of engagement and innovation
To overcome the unconscious tendency that leads internet users to ignore traditional banners, modern Display takes the form of entirely new formats and screens. We build your strategy around major, innovative distribution channels:
- Connected TV (CTV), Catch-up TV & Streaming: Your video content can be delivered right at the heart of your prospects’ viewing habits, guaranteeing you premium visibility and a massive audience on leading streaming platforms (Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+) as well as on national catch-up TV services.
- The power of Retail Media (Amazon DSP): For e-commerce and retail players, Amazon DSP allows you to harness the power of Amazon’s transactional data to display your ads directly on the leading marketplace or its subsidiaries, targeting users based on their actual purchasing habits.
- Exploring contextual AI: With the emergence of generative AI, it is crucial to incorporate cutting-edge technological opportunities into your campaign, such as the recent contextual ad formats featured within ChatGPT (in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), aligning the ad directly with the user’s immediate intent.
- Native Ads: This type of Display campaign allows ads to be integrated in a highly natural way within the editorial feeds of major media sites. By collaborating with leading networks Taboola and Outbrain, it is possible to serve formats that are fully integrated into the feeds, featuring an image and a caption that boost consideration and click-through rates.
- DOOH (Digital Out-of-Home): Thanks to DOOH, digital displays are now making their way into the physical world, showcasing your campaigns on digital billboards in urban areas, in shopping malls, or directly around your retail outlets to create effective cross-channel synergies.
- Disruptive creativity and DCO (Dynamic Creative Optimization): Creativity has become the key driver for maximizing campaign results. The main objective is to overcome the “ad fatigue” experienced by most prospects by implementing disruptive content. By this we mean ads that break away from what they are used to seeing and surprise them, in order to leave a lasting impression and maximize your engagement rates. In collaboration with our partner Mozoo, custom visuals that break the mold of traditional Display are designed to surprise. To push profitability to its maximum, we combine this creativity with DCO: your creative assets are personalized in real time based on predefined parameters (the user’s location, weather, product stock levels, etc.), ensuring maximum impact on the prospect.
Programmatic Display now offers unprecedented opportunities for targeting and creativity to reach your future customers, whatever screen they’re using. To unlock the full potential of this channel and safeguard your advertising budgets, put your trust in ESV Digital’s multi-DSP, custom approach. Please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Questions frequently asked
Display or SEA (Google Ads): which channel should you prioritise?
Display and SEA are not opposing channels, but are entirely complementary.
SEA (Search Engine Advertising) enables businesses to maximise their presence within the paid links that appear at the top of the page when a user performs a Google search. This strategy is highly effective in the middle of the funnel, when the prospect has already formed a purchase intention and is looking for the ad that best meets their needs.
Display, on the other hand, helps build brand awareness and therefore serves a top-of-funnel objective. This is reinforced by retargeting: Display retargets prospects who have not yet converted.
Together, these channels form a Full-Funnel approach that is essential for maximising conversions: Display generates interest, the prospect eventually types the brand name into the search bar, and SEA presents them with the link they’re looking for first, capturing that purchase intent. This is why, at ESV Digital, we prioritise synergy between marketing channels.
How long does it take to measure the return on investment of a campaign?
A programmatic Display campaign relies on machine learning algorithms that analyse the best placements and audiences in real time to maximize your results. To perform effectively, this algorithm must go through a learning phase. This usually takes a few days to a week. During this time, the technology runs tests to understand precisely which placements and which audience respond best to your content. It is therefore perfectly normal not to achieve maximum profitability within the first 48 hours. However, once this calibration is complete and the algorithm has identified the most effective methods, results stabilise, acquisition costs fall, and your campaign’s profitability is maximised.
