Embracing Web3 Programmatic Ad Networks: What can they actually do for your marketing campaign?

What Are Programmatic Ad Networks in Web3?

Programmatic ad networks in Web3 are automated platforms that utilize blockchain technology to facilitate the buying and selling of digital advertising space. Unlike traditional ad networks, these platforms leverage smart contracts to ensure transparency, efficiency, and security. Web3 programmatic ad networks provide a decentralized environment where advertisers can reach their target audience without intermediaries, ensuring that ads are served to the right people at the right time.

How Do They Differ from Web2 Ad Networks?

Web2 ad networks operate in a centralized manner, often plagued by issues like high fees, lack of transparency, and potential ad fraud. In contrast, Web3 ad networks use blockchain technology to decentralize the ad ecosystem, offering more transparent and secure transactions. Key differences include:

• Transparency: Web3 networks provide an immutable ledger of transactions, making it easy to verify ad impressions and clicks.
• Security: Smart contracts ensure that all parties adhere to the agreed terms, reducing the risk of fraud.
• Efficiency: The elimination of intermediaries reduces costs and speeds up the ad placement process.

What You Need to Know as a Marketer

Most Web3 programmatic ad networks are self-serve, empowering marketers to manage their campaigns directly. This self-service model provides several benefits:

• Control: Marketers can adjust their campaigns in real-time based on performance metrics.
• Cost-Effectiveness: By cutting out the middlemen, marketers save on fees and can allocate more budget to ad spend.
• Flexibility: Self-serve platforms offer a variety of tools to customize targeting, bidding, and ad formats.

To effectively use these platforms, marketers should familiarize themselves with the following:

• Blockchain Basics: Understanding how blockchain works will help you appreciate the transparency and security of these networks.
• Platform-Specific Features: Each ad network has unique features and interfaces. Spend time learning the ins and outs of the platform you choose.
• Analytics: Use the data provided to continually optimize your campaigns.

How to Integrate Programmatic Ads into Your Marketing Campaign

Integrating programmatic ads into your marketing strategy requires a thoughtful approach. Here’s a suggested allocation of your budget and attention:

• Budget: Allocate 20-30% of your digital marketing budget to programmatic ads. This ensures you have enough resources to test and optimize without overcommitting.
• Attention: Dedicate a portion of your team’s time to monitor and adjust campaigns regularly. Automation is powerful, but human oversight is essential for maximizing results.

Steps to integrate:

1. Set Clear Goals: Define what you want to achieve (e.g., brand awareness, lead generation).
2. Choose the Right Network: Select a platform that aligns with your goals and target audience.
3. Create Compelling Ads: Develop ads that resonate with your audience and adhere to the platform’s guidelines.
4. Monitor and Optimize: Use analytics to track performance and make necessary adjustments.

What to Expect from a Programmatic Ad Campaign

When using programmatic ads, set realistic expectations and understand when to use them:

• Community Growth: Ideal for attracting new members to your community. Be aware that your cost per acquisition might be lower than doing other types of activities and these ads go only to your target audience ( so expect higher conversion rates)
• Brand Awareness: Perfect for increasing visibility and recognition – Web3 audiences will notice you.
• Audience Testing: Great for experimenting with different segments and messaging to see what works best.

Top Web3 Programmatic Ad Networks

Here are three leading Web3 programmatic ad networks (that we’ve tested):

1. Slise
   • Pros: User-friendly interface, strong analytics tools.
   • Cons: Limited ad formats compared to others.
2. Persona3
   • Pros: Excellent targeting capabilities, robust data privacy.
   • Cons: Slightly higher costs.
3. AdEx
   • Pros: Highly transparent, low fees.
   • Cons: Smaller network size, fewer integrations,but targets Web2 audiences interested in Web3 

Case Study: OOO Podcast and Persona3

Out of Ordinary podcast is the only Web3 marketing podcast out there. It has been running for the last 18 months, with a B2B target audience of Web3 marketers and founders and listeners from 52 countries. It features marketers and founders from Web3 agencies, Web3 Marketing tools or projects talking about campaigns and growth examples. 

Several weeks ago Persona3’s growth Director Eva came on the OOO podcast to talk about “How to get in front of top 3% of Web3 users”. Persona3 is used by companies like Paypal, Metamask, Immutable, Hashflow, Bitget and many more. 

We then used Persona3’s ad network to promote the episode. We used the Youtube link of the episode as a landing page, a dynamic banner.

By placing the YouTube link of the episode as a landing page, we achieved impressive results:

• Impressions: 346,000
• Clicks: 907
• Ad Spend: $1,440
• Total episode plays: 971
• Users from countries reached: 191
• Highest conversion: Philippines with 128.683 impressions 
• Highest CTR: Switzerland, with 19.3 %
• Lowest conversion: Latam

Keep in mind this data does not apply to you, as everyone’s target audience/budget/ expectations are different. Also keep in mind that that your banners should differ, testing on different audience sizes should be done, as well as different budgets to fit your perfect match. 

This campaign highlights the potential of programmatic ads in driving traffic and engagement.

Conclusions

Programmatic ad networks in Web3 offer a revolutionary way to reach your target audience with enhanced transparency, security, and efficiency. 

As they are quite new to the market, they should be tested out and integrated in a marketing strategy for best results. By integrating these networks into your marketing strategy, you can maximize your ad spend, achieve your marketing goals, and stay ahead in the ever-evolving digital landscape (and even come on the podcast to talk about the results you’ve had).

Now, with a bull market approaching, is the perfect time to embrace this technology and take your marketing efforts to new heights.