How to Measure the Value of B2B Programmatic Advertising in Marketing

Introduction to B2B Programmatic Advertising

Programmatic advertising has revolutionized the digital marketing landscape, enabling marketers to automate ad buying processes and precisely target audiences. By leveraging advanced advertising strategies, businesses can enhance B2B sales through programmatic advertising and Account-Based Marketing (ABM). While its primary strength lies in delivering cost-effective branding opportunities at the top of the funnel, programmatic advertising also provides advanced targeting capabilities that make it invaluable for reach and awareness campaigns. For businesses, especially in the B2B and SaaS sectors, assessing the ROI and effectiveness of programmatic campaigns from a branding perspective is key to ensuring resources are allocated wisely.

In this article, we’ll explore the key metrics, tools, and strategies you can use to measure the value of programmatic advertising with a focus on reach, impressions, and cost efficiency.

What is Programmatic Advertising?

Programmatic advertising is a transformative approach in digital marketing strategy that leverages automated technology to buy, sell, and deliver ads to specific audiences across multiple platforms and devices. This method allows advertisers and digital marketing agencies to precisely target their audiences, using sophisticated data and algorithms to optimize ad campaigns in real-time. Whether it’s display ads, video ads, native ads, or mobile ads, programmatic advertising ensures that your message reaches the right people at the right time, enhancing the effectiveness of your ad campaigns.

Measuring The Value of B2B Programmatic Advertising in 7 Steps

1. Focus on Top of Funnel Objectives

Programmatic advertising is best suited for awareness and branding campaigns due to its ability to deliver a low cost per thousand impressions (CPM) while maintaining quality targeting. Advertisers can efficiently purchase ad space inventory in real-time from various global sources, enhancing control and targeting capabilities. Define clear top-of-funnel objectives such as:

• Building Brand Awareness: Evaluate the extent to which your campaign reaches your target audience.
• Maximizing Reach: Focus on unique reach to measure the breadth of exposure.
• Ensuring Cost Efficiency: Use CPM as a core metric to assess campaign value.

A well-defined marketing strategy is crucial in guiding campaign objectives, ensuring that all marketing tactics align with overarching business goals such as brand awareness and lead generation.

Unlike performance-focused channels, programmatic campaigns are not primarily designed for driving conversions but for creating visibility and recognition among your audience, as well as building your broader remarketing list in a cost effective way.

2. Measure Reach and Impressions

Programmatic advertising excels at delivering high volumes of impressions at a competitive cost by connecting advertisers to various ad exchanges, whether its Google Ads, LinkedIn ads, or a different platform. Key metrics to track include:

• Impressions: The total number of times your ad is displayed.
• Unique Reach: The number of unique users exposed to your ad.
• CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions): A key indicator of cost efficiency, programmatic often delivers some of the lowest CPM rates among digital channels. Our clients at Avid Demand often see CPMs of $8 or less, while still ensuring that they’re only serving impressions to relevant industry verticals.

3. Monitor Engagement and Build Remarketing Lists

Again, while programmatic ads are not typically geared toward conversions, they provide a cost-effective way to build remarketing lists by understanding target audience intent. By targeting a broad audience at a low CPC, you can drive traffic to your site and retarget previous visitors for more focused campaigns. Key engagement metrics to track include:

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): While often low for programmatic, CTR can still indicate how well your creative resonates.
• Interaction Rates: For rich media and video ads, monitor user interactions like clicks on embedded elements or view time.

Remarketing efforts benefit from programmatic’s ability to capture a large audience pool efficiently, enabling future campaigns to focus on higher-intent users.

4. Optimize for Programmatic Ad Spend Efficiency

Programmatic’s competitive advantage lies in its ability to provide cost-efficient branding at scale. Key cost-related metrics to track include:

• CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions): Monitor this metric to ensure you are achieving cost-effective reach.
• Frequency: Balance exposure by capping the number of times an individual user sees your ad to avoid fatigue.

5. Utilize Advanced Analytics Tools for Ad Inventory Management

Many programmatic and demand-side platforms (DSPs) provide robust analytics to measure and refine your efforts. Programmatic Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is particularly efficient in targeting high-value accounts through data-driven, automated ad buying, enabling tailored advertising that significantly boosts conversion rates and customer engagement. Connect these to your broader analytics stack or CRM with UTMs to make it easier to:

• Track reach and viewability metrics.
• Analyze audience overlap and unique reach.
• Adjust bidding strategies in real-time for optimal performance.
• Retarget highly qualified individuals.

Role of DSP in Programmatic Advertising

Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) are pivotal in the realm of programmatic advertising, serving as the technological backbone that enables advertisers to efficiently buy ad inventory across various ad exchanges and networks. These platforms provide a centralized interface where advertisers can manage multiple ad campaigns, set targeting parameters, and optimize ad spend in real-time. By leveraging DSPs, marketers can access a vast array of digital ads, including display, video, and native ads, ensuring their messages reach the right audience at the right time.

DSPs utilize sophisticated algorithms, machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyze first-party data, CRM data, and other audience segments, allowing for more granular targeting and precise delivery of highly relevant ads. This automated buying process ensures cost efficiencies and enhances campaign performance by adjusting real time bidding based on audience engagement and campaign goals. Additionally, DSPs integrate with data providers to offer enriched targeting capabilities, making them an essential strategy for optimizing programmatic ad spend.

6. Measure Brand Lift

To truly gauge the success of programmatic branding campaigns, focus on measuring brand lift. A brand lift study involves collecting data on key metrics such as brand awareness and favorability before, during, and after your campaign. Here’s one way to measure impact:

• Set a Baseline: Analyze your branded search traffic using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console before launching your campaign to establish a point of comparison.
• Track Search Volume: Monitor increases in branded keyword searches during and after your campaign to evaluate heightened brand interest.
• Analyze Trends: Look for sustained growth in branded search queries and site visits, as this indicates lasting impact from your campaign.

By focusing on branded organic search traffic, you can gain actionable insights into how programmatic advertising is driving brand awareness and influencing audience behavior.

7. Real-Time Optimization

One of the advantages of programmatic advertising is the ability to adjust campaigns in real time. Programmatic ad spending is expected to increase significantly, offering financial advantages and efficiency for B2B companies. Use data from reach, impressions, and viewability metrics to:

• Refine audience targeting.
• Optimize creative elements.
• Reallocate budget to high-performing placements.

Conclusion

Programmatic advertising’s true value lies in its ability to deliver cost-efficient branding and awareness at scale. By focusing on reach, impressions, and CPM—rather than conversions—you can effectively measure and optimize your programmatic campaigns to maximize brand awareness. For B2B and SaaS marketers, this approach ensures that programmatic remains a vital component of a balanced full funnel digital strategy, delivering visibility and engagement where it matters most.

Invest in robust tools, focus on meaningful KPIs, and embrace programmatic as a cornerstone of your top of funnel tactics.

Partner with Avid Demand for Programmatic Advertising

Ready to supercharge your B2B ad campaigns? Discover how tailored strategies can drive results for your business. Contact Avid today to transform your marketing approach and achieve measurable success.

tcampbell April 3, 2025

Todd Campbell is a Senior Paid Media Manager at Avid Demand. He has extensive experience managing successful campaigns across nearly all ad platforms.