Dive Brief:

• Target has created an internal data management platform to take more control over its programmatic advertising, according to reporting by Digiday.
• The Target Guest Access private ad marketplace for its supplier brands is based on providing inventory that best fits its objectives according to Brent Rosso, VP of digital media for Target.
• The idea behind the private exchange is it accesses Target’s consumer data to offer better return-on-investment for its brand partners than other programmatic options.

Dive Insight:

Programmatic advertising is big business with eMarketer predicting spending will surpass $22 billion this year, a dramatic increase over 2015’s $14 billion. One issue around the automated ad buying process is inventory, and Target’s private exchange solution directly addresses poor programmatic inventory. The move suggests that additional private marketplaces could start to appear. 

The retailer joins Walmart and Amazon as companies that are in the advertising business, largely built on the back of their traffic and the wealth of consumer data each collect. For Target that data includes transactions, loyalty card use, coupon redemption from email promotions and even data from credit card sales. The company has an in-house team of around 25 that turns that data into consumer insights for its media buying business Target Guest Access and for Target’s own programmatic program.

Within its ad business, Target works with a number of partners across different platforms including GroupM, Acxiom, LiveRamp, MediaMath, Merkle and DoubleClick Bid Manager.