--- title: "What Is Programmatic Advertising? Definition and Examples" description: "Programmatic advertising is the automated buying and selling of ad slots, impression by impression. See the deal types and what a streaming service needs." url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/programmatic-advertising" markdown_url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/programmatic-advertising.md" category: "Advertising" updated: "2026-10-05" --- # What is programmatic advertising? Programmatic advertising is the automated buying and selling of ad impressions through software, in place of orders negotiated by sales teams. Each ad opportunity is offered to buyers and sold, often by auction, in the fraction of a second before the ad plays. ## How it works When a viewer reaches an ad break, the publisher's ad server or supply-side platform sends a bid request describing the opportunity: the app, the type of content, the device, the country and any audience information the viewer has consented to share. Advertisers' demand-side platforms respond with bids. The winning ad is returned and played. ## Types of programmatic deal - Open auction: any buyer can bid; the widest demand and the lowest prices - Private marketplace: an auction limited to invited buyers, with a price floor - Preferred deal: a fixed price offered to one buyer before the auction - Programmatic guaranteed: a fixed price and a committed volume, a direct deal carried out through programmatic pipes ## What a streaming service needs - A connection to one or more supply-side platforms or ad networks - Ad break markers and a player or stitching service that can request ads - An app-ads.txt file listing the companies authorized to sell your inventory - Accurate signals in each request: app identity, content genre, device type - Consent handling that meets the privacy law of each market - Enough viewing volume for buyers to bother with ## Programmatic vs direct sales Direct deals pay more per impression and need a sales effort. Programmatic needs none and fills what direct sales leave unsold. Most services use both, with direct campaigns taking priority and programmatic as the backfill. ## Programmatic advertising on RentAnOTT AVOD is included on every RentAnOTT plan. Advanced advertising ($169/month) adds deeper targeting, frequency control and ad reporting, and specialized ad platforms connect through premium integrations. [See pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing). ## Related terms - [Ad server](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/ad-server) — An ad server is the system that decides which ad to show each time a player or stitching service asks for one, delivers the details of that ad and counts the result. For a publisher it is the control center of an advertising business. - [CTV advertising](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/ctv-advertising) — CTV advertising is video advertising delivered inside streaming apps on connected televisions: smart TVs, streaming sticks, set-top boxes and consoles. It combines the full-screen impact of television with the targeting and measurement of digital advertising. - [CPM](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/cpm) — CPM (cost per mille) is the price an advertiser pays for one thousand ad impressions. It is the standard unit for pricing video advertising, and the rate a streaming service earns for each thousand ads it shows. - [eCPM](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/ecpm) — eCPM (effective cost per mille) is the advertising revenue a publisher actually earns per thousand impressions, across every ad source and pricing model. It converts mixed and partly unsold inventory into one comparable figure. - [Fill rate](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/fill-rate) — Fill rate is the percentage of ad requests that are answered with an ad. If a service requests 1,000 ads and receives 700, its fill rate is 70%. Unfilled requests earn nothing. - [VAST](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/vast) — VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) is the industry standard, published by the IAB Tech Lab, for how an ad server describes a video ad to a player. A VAST response is an XML document that tells the player which media file to play and which tracking addresses to call. ## Further reading - [Add-ons](https://www.rentanott.com/features#addons) - [Content monetization platforms compared](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs/content-monetization-platforms) - [OTT revenue calculator](https://www.rentanott.com/tools/ott-revenue-calculator) ## Frequently asked questions ### Is programmatic the same as real-time bidding? Real-time bidding is one form of it: the open auction. Programmatic also covers fixed-price and guaranteed deals that are transacted automatically. ### Can a small streaming service sell programmatically? Yes, though demand and prices grow with audience size. Smaller services often begin through an ad network that aggregates many publishers. ### Why do programmatic ads pay less than direct deals? Several intermediaries take a share, and buyers in an open auction know less about your audience than an advertiser you sold to directly. All 163 terms: [Streaming and OTT glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary). ## Book a demo Tell RentAnOTT what you are launching. The team walks through the platform and maps the path to go-live around your catalog, markets and revenue model. Book a demo: https://www.rentanott.com/contact ## More from RentAnOTT - [Home](https://www.rentanott.com/index.md) — What RentAnOTT is, what every plan includes, and how launch works - [Features](https://www.rentanott.com/features.md) — Every core feature and optional add-on - [Pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing.md) — Platform tiers, apps, add-ons, usage rates and example bills in INR and USD - [Free tools](https://www.rentanott.com/tools.md) — OTT app builder and calculators for streaming revenue, bandwidth, bitrate and pricing - [Insights](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs.md) — All streaming business articles - [Glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary.md) — Definitions of streaming and OTT terms - [Book a demo](https://www.rentanott.com/contact.md) — Talk to RentAnOTT about your launch Full site in one file: https://www.rentanott.com/llms-full.txt