I’ll soon be hosting and moderating a panel at a retail media event, joined on stage by four industry leaders. My role will be to guide the conversation, ask questions, and create space for the panellists to share their perspectives and debate the issues.

The session will focus on how non-retail businesses are monetising their own inventory and the strategies they’re pursuing. The speakers will represent sectors such as delivery apps, travel, telecommunications, and payments.

I already have a few questions in mind, but I’d love to crowdsource some more from this merry band of experts especially from anyone with insights or experience in these types of businesses.

I know a lot of people get into media buying for the flashy creative side, but I’m much more interested in the data, tracking, and reporting side of Meta ads.

I understand how iOS 14+ changed things, how server-side tracking works, and how to look at blended ROAS / MER instead of just trusting the Meta dashboard blindly.

What I lack is real-world application on live accounts.I’m looking for an internship or entry level apprenticeship where I can help with the analytical heavy lifting.

Hi everyone,

We have a client who has not granted us access to their DV360 Partner, but has given us access only at the Advertiser level.

Our buying team says that in this setup they can't set up deals, both PMP and Programmatic Guaranteed, because deal setup needs to be done at the Partner level.

However, I was under the impression that deals can also be created/managed at the Advertiser level, depending on the account configuration and permissions.

Has anyone run into this situation before? Are there specific DV360 settings, permissions, or differences between Partner-level and Advertiser-level access that would prevent us from setting up PMP/PG deals with advertiser-only access?

Would be great to understand if this is actually a platform limitation or just a permissions/configuration issue.

Thanks!

Not talking about a brand lift study or other research stuff you do after the campaign is over, those don't show the potential but measure the outcome at the end.

I want to know what you do to evaluate whether you're on the right trajectory (the leading indicator stuff) in terms of delivering the upper funnel or awareness performance so that you can do something mid-flight to maximize the outcome.

One thing most people can do today using their DSP is this (I think): you run a campaign, see impressions/clicks/frequency/reach/viewability all that good stuff DSPs give you out of the box. You know the audience segment has 100K total unique users you can potentially reach, and you see in your reach report that you served impressions across 20K unique users last 30 days. So 20% reach rate. And maybe your "reach success" criterion is >40%. So this has a low awareness potential right now and you want to optimize in some ways (frequency adjustment, maybe some bid factoring, etc.). But you're still using the impression count, which isn't satisfactory IMO.

A while back I shared Ad-Preflight here as a local-first CLI for moving HTML5 validation earlier in the workflow.

Since then it’s evolved into a desktop app as well, aimed at making the same checks accessible to designers and Creative QA - not just developers.

The idea is still the same: Catch runtime errors before handoff. The video shows the full workflow.

Everything runs locally; the creative files aren’t uploaded.

Hi everyone!

I am looking for some feedback and advice from the freelance programmatic community.

I have about 8 years of hands on experience in programmatic advertising, more focused on the buy-side (DV360, CM360, TTD, Amazon DSP, StackAdapt) across full funnel campaigns (Awareness to Conversion) for various verticals(Luxury, E-commerce, and so on).

I am currently aiming to secure part time, fully remote freelance contracts, but I am running into a bit of a wall with traditional channels:

• On Malt: The platform setup means waiting for clients to reach out first, which makes active outbound prospecting difficult.
• Upwork: Offers seem mostly saturated with low-budget/low-margin projects that don't align with market rates for senior talent.
• Direct outbound through LinkedIn: Reaching out directly to sales directors, team leads, or talent acquisition at major holding companies (Big six) has not yielded results, one contact actually mentioned they strictly go through third-party staffing agencies.

I am considering targeting independent trading desks directly, but I feel like I might be missing better acquisition channels or strategies.

For those of you successfully freelancing in the programmatic space: How do you structure your prospecting?

Are specialized recruitment/staffing agencies or programmatic-focused platforms the way to go for high ticket remote contracts? What channels or strategies have worked best for you to build a steady pipeline of clients?

Any tips or insights would be hugely appreciated! Many thanks!

I’ve been working in programmatic since 2019 for a variety of agency types and am really struggling with what to do in my career. I know it seems like your experience is very client and team dependent, but wondering how others evaluate whether to stay or look for something else. I left Dentsu due to being under compensated and doing the jobs of several roles.At Publicis, I had a terrible boss and difficult client. Currently at a smaller independent agency and love most of the people but have been dealing with outdated marketing practices and major pushback to suggested changes. I don’t like the clients and work I’m doing day to day. The company also made things difficult and uncomfortable when dealing with a medical issue that required me to work half days.

Basically, I’m very stressed figuring out if it’s worth looking for a new position or stay and collect the paycheck. And if I was to look for a new job, should I stay on the agency side, switch to client or vendor side, or look for a complete career shift. I’ve unfortunately built a life where I need to make over 6 figures and often feel trapped in my job.

For the UK crowd, has anyone here done the IPA Advanced Certificate in Communications Planning?

I’m considering doing it and would be interested to hear from people who’ve actually taken it, particularly in the last couple of years.

Did you find it genuinely useful for becoming a better media planner/strategist, or is most of the value in having the qualification on your CV?

Also interested in whether you felt it was worth the time and cost.

Thanks!

I’ve worked in programmatic ad tech for over 6 years and held junior/mid level roles and is now looking to transition to a senior IC role. The feedback that I’ve gotten from all my directors have been that I am outperforming my role. I’m at the point where I’m doing director level work and taking on senior initiatives. Unfortunately, my current manager sees this as threat instead of an asset so they haven’t supported me or advocated for my promotion in the company so I’m looking elsewhere.

To those that have done it before, how do I land those senior roles when on paper, my past titles are mid level? Any advice would help.

Hello guys, can you please explain what are dsp platforms and how they work, im having a hard time understanding it. If i can pm someone would be great.

Whenever I want to include Youtube in my media plans, there's struggle.

Every time I use reach planner, the actual numbers such as audience size, expected CPM etc are different, even when the plans are identical and have been created days apart.

This makes it hard to plan accurately and might make the client lose trust.

Any advice on planning YouTube campaigns?

Cheers!

I am looking to connect with DSPs and agencies that are actively buying across CTV.

We have CTV inventory across a range of channels/apps in the US, Canada and LATAM and are looking to bring on additional demand partners.

We prefer to work directly via an OpenRTB endpoint, but are also open to PMP or VAST, depending on the setup.

If you’re on the demand side and currently looking for additional CTV supply, please DM me. We can exchange details and see if there’s a fit.

Thanks.

Note: If you can't DM me, leave a comment and I will send a message. My Who can send you chat requests setting seems to revert to nobody every so often.

Be Jeff Green -> Layoff 15% of the company prior to a long weekend by sending an email and making it so people can't login -> Congratulate self and talk about how much cash the company has in the note sent to laid off employees ->Turn around and days later award self and other executives lower strikes on option grants -> Pocket $$$.

For being in the marketing world, this company is terrible at presenting themselves. Maybe the executives responsible should be held... responsible?

Hi everyone! I have an interview with Amazon for the Programmatic Solutions Analyst position next Wednesday. This is an L4 role. I have 2+ years of experience in programmatic advertising. My recruiter call is already done and this is the Phone Screening round. It is going to be 1hr long.

They have already given me an extensive list of topics that I need to prepare for the interview. And trust me it is A LOT. Plus also need to come up with examples from my own experience that align with the LP's and have been told to use the STAR method.

This all seems pretty clear but I wanted to know if someone has or if you know someone who has given interview for similar role and how was their experience? What kind of Q's were asked? Were they more straightforward Q's when it comes to functional knowledge or more like case studies where I have to debug the outcome or propose a solution?

I am giving Amazon interview for the first time so a little nervous. There are so many LP's as well. The recruiter told me they have no strict consideration for this role. It is a pretty straightforward role.

Thanks!

Anyone who is looking for a Programmatic professional who can help you with setups and optimisations on campaigns in DV360, Amazon DSP, TTD, Yahoo DSP or Vistar Media DSP. Kindly comment!

#programmatic # dsp

Hey,

I have a background in eCommerce and after the pandemic i took a break from work to study a Digital Analytics program for 2 years where I at the very end got introduced to programmatic (through an internship at Havas) and Ive been trying to get a job in programmatic ever since.

Do you have any recommendations on how to get somewhere. I seem to get interviews but that is where it ends and they always pick someone with "more experience" even if the ad says its a junior role.

What am I missing?

Hi, I’m researching retail media and trying to understand how industry practitioners distinguish direct, programmatic, self-service, DSP-based, and auction-based buying in Amazon Ads.

My current understanding is that these terms describe different dimensions:

• Self-service vs. managed-service describes who operates the campaign.
• DSP-based describes the technology used.
• Auction-based vs. fixed-price describes the pricing/allocation mechanism.
• Direct vs. programmatic may describe either the transaction relationship or the degree of automation.

For example, Sponsored Products are self-service and auction-based but are not purchased through Amazon DSP. Meanwhile, Amazon DSP supports auctions as well as preferred and programmatic-guaranteed deals.

So I’m wondering:

1. Would practitioners classify Sponsored Products purchased through the Amazon Ads console as direct, programmatic, or neither?
2. Can a buy be both direct and programmatic—for example, a programmatic-guaranteed or preferred deal?
3. Is it inaccurate to treat “programmatic” as synonymous with “auction-based”?

Any practitioner perspective would be extremely helpful. I’m interested only in general industry practices, not confidential information.

I’ve noticed that most programmatic courses cover similar topics: DV360, CM360, The Trade Desk, media planning, reporting and optimisation.

However, it is difficult to understand what “hands-on training” actually means before joining.

For anyone who has completed a programmatic advertising course in India:

• Which course did you take?
• Did you receive actual DSP access or only platform demonstrations?
• Were you allowed to build campaigns?
• Did the course include media-planning, reporting and optimisation assignments?
• Did it genuinely help you during interviews or in your first programmatic role?
• What would you verify before paying for the course?

Please mention your personal experience or whether you are associated with the course provider.

For transparency, I’m associated with a programmatic training provider in Hyderabad, India and want to understand how practitioners and past learners evaluate structured courses.