Programmatic Advertising
By the AdFlint research team · Last reviewed July 2026
Automated buying of ad inventory through real-time auctions and demand-side platforms, instead of negotiating placements directly with individual publishers.
The machinery of automated media buying: a demand-side platform bids for individual impressions across exchanges covering websites, apps, audio, and connected TV. It suits larger budgets that want reach and audience control beyond the walled gardens. The common problem is supply-chain opacity, including layered fees, made-for-advertising sites, and fraud, which makes inventory allowlists and log-level reporting essential rather than optional.
Programmatic Advertising compared with
The settings this gets confused with, and how to tell them apart.
You should not need to know this to advertise.
AdFlint handles the settings for you, inside the Google and Meta accounts you already own.
Try AdFlint free