Simply put, Digital Advertising is a transaction between a Buyer and Seller within a Digital Platform.
Buyers are Advertisers, who wish to reach out to audiences who meet their demographic.
The goal is that by putting their products/services in front of their demo-audience, it will help introduce and influence potential customers to make
a purchase, or at the very least build on an Advertisers branding.
Now in this scenario, Sellers are Publishers, typically website owners, whose goal is to create captivating content to attract their demo-audiences.
If we go back to the buying side, Advertisers typically use an Ad Agency to help find Publishers whose audiences match the demo-audience they wish to reach, also referred to as Targeted Audience. Ad Agencies work with Advertisers to develop a Media Plan, which is a plan outlining budget, audience and other criteria. Criteria can be anything from Age Group (Adults 25-54), Geography (NYC, Chicago or all of the United States), as well as reaching specific content categories, such as Sports or Fashion.
The Media Plan, via a Media Planner, will submit a Request-for-Proposal (RFP) to one or many Publishers. Publishers, via a Sales Planner, will identify areas of the site that meet the criteria outlined in the Media Plan and will submit an RFP. The Media Planner will review all RFPs, choose those Publishers who have provided the highest Return-on-Investment (ROI) and send over an Insertion Order (IO).