Key Takeaways

• Advertisers are companies, brands, or individuals who pay to promote their products or services

• They set campaign goals, create ads, and allocate budgets to reach specific audiences

• Advertisers use various platforms and intermediaries like DSPs to buy ad space

• Publishers earn revenue by displaying advertiser content to their audience

• The relationship between advertisers and publishers forms the foundation of the adtech ecosystem

What Actually is an Advertiser?

When you see an ad for Nike shoes while browsing a sports website or a McDonald's commercial before a YouTube video, you're seeing the work of an advertiser in action.

Simply put, an advertiser is any brand, company, organization, or individual willing to pay money to get their message in front of potential customers. These are the folks with something to sell or promote, and they need your audience's eyeballs to make that happen.

Advertisers exist across all media - from digital platforms like websites and mobile apps to traditional channels like TV, radio, and billboards. But for those of us in digital publishing, we're mainly concerned with the ones spending money in the online space.

How Advertisers Work in the Adtech Ecosystem

In the past, advertising was pretty straightforward - an advertiser would call up a newspaper or TV station and buy some ad space. Today's digital advertising landscape is a bit more complicated (ok, a lot more complicated).

Modern advertisers typically follow these steps:

1. Set campaign objectives - like increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, or generating sales

2. Create ad content - including images, videos, text, and interactive elements

3. Define target audiences - based on demographics, interests, behaviors, or other factors

4. Allocate budgets - determining how much to spend and how to distribute it

5. Select channels and platforms - deciding where ads will appear

6. Measure and optimize - analyzing results and adjusting strategies

Most advertisers don't handle all these tasks themselves. Many work with advertising agencies that manage campaigns on their behalf, while others have in-house marketing teams.

The Technology Advertisers Use

To reach the right people at the right time, advertisers rely on various adtech tools and platforms:

Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs)

DSPs are software systems that allow advertisers to purchase ad inventory across multiple publishers and ad exchanges through a single interface. Rather than negotiating with each website individually, DSPs let advertisers buy ads programmatically using real-time bidding.

As Amazon Advertising explains, DSPs help advertisers:

• Automate ad buying across thousands of websites

• Target specific audience segments

• Set bid prices and budget caps

• Access performance metrics in real time

Some popular DSPs include Google's Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk, and MediaMath.

Ad Servers

Advertisers also use ad servers to store their creative assets, deliver ads to websites, and track performance. These platforms ensure ads display correctly and collect data on impressions, clicks, and conversions.

Data Management Platforms (DMPs)

DMPs help advertisers collect, organize, and activate audience data for better targeting. Using a DMP, an advertiser can identify valuable audience segments based on past behaviors and preferences.

According to Clearcode's AdTech Book, this data-driven approach helps advertisers reach more relevant audiences and reduce wasted ad spend.

Types of Advertisers You'll Encounter

Not all advertisers are created equal. As a publisher, you'll likely work with several types:

Brand Advertisers

These are usually larger companies focused on building awareness and consideration rather than immediate sales. They tend to have bigger budgets and longer-term campaigns, and they often care about context and brand safety.

Direct Response Advertisers

These advertisers want immediate actions, like sign-ups, purchases, or app installs. They're highly focused on conversion rates and ROI, often bidding based on performance metrics rather than flat CPM rates.

Local Advertisers

Small businesses looking to reach nearby customers. They typically have smaller budgets but might pay premium rates to reach local audiences.

Self-Service Advertisers

These are often small to medium businesses using platforms like Google Ads or Facebook Ads to create and manage their own campaigns without agencies or large marketing teams.

Why Advertisers Matter to Publishers

If you're running a website, app, or any digital property, advertisers are essentially your customers. They're the ones paying to access your audience, either directly or through ad networks and exchanges.

Understanding what advertisers want helps you create more valuable inventory. For instance, knowing that certain advertisers target specific demographics might influence your content strategy or how you package your ad units.

As SmartClip notes, publishers who can deliver engaged, relevant audiences to advertisers typically earn higher CPMs and attract more premium campaigns.

Final Thoughts

Advertisers are one half of the equation that makes digital publishing viable (with audiences being the other half). Without them, most of the free content we enjoy online simply wouldn't exist.

As you continue your journey through adtech, remember that successful monetization isn't just about understanding the technical components—it's about appreciating the goals and challenges of the advertisers funding the ecosystem.