Programmatic buying platform Rocket Fuel has introduced audience guarantees in Canada, so Canadian clients will be able to pay for campaigns based on the number of viewers they actually reach. The move makes Rocket Fuel the latest company to offer programmatic buying on a guaranteed-reach basis in what has become a pervasive trend across the market.
Lindsay Fordham, Rocket Fuel director of brand product marketing, says the audience-based pricing model, which has been available to U.S. clients for the past year, will appeal to brand advertisers that are progressing from a broadcast-focused strategy to a screen-agnostic combination of TV and digital video advertising. The GRP measurement used for Rocket Fuel’s guarantees can be provided by either Nielsen or comScore, and is directly comparable to TV metrics, making it easier for TV planners to incorporate programmatic video into their media plans.
“As we see video strategy starting to shift from a siloed mindset to a more video-neutral approach, we’re seeing marketers demand a new level of accountability for their digital spend,” Fordham said. “This solution offers the same level of cross-platform comparability they get with offline media, in terms of verifying which audiences were reached and optimizing more effectively.”
Audience guarantees align digital inventory pricing with pricing models used in television buying. Just as broadcast advertisers pay based on ratings points, with an audience guarantee programmatic advertisers can pay based on reach and frequency within their target demographic, rather than the raw number of impressions that are delivered.
Fordham said that although guaranteed buying is available for display, digital and mobile, it has seen the most uptake among broadcast advertisers, and is used by almost all of Rocket Fuel’s U.S. clients that are invested heavily in TV. Demand for guarantees isn’t limited to any one category, but extends across CPG, dining, financial services and even energy brands, she added.
A growing number of publishers and platform providers, beginning with Brightroll in 2011, have offered audience guarantees to demonstrate their effectiveness at reaching target audiences and ease clients’ transition from TV to digital. Such guarantees have become especially important in video, where CPMs are higher and the demand for accountability stronger.
Fordham said Rocket Fuel delayed the rollout of audience guarantees in Canada and other markets in order to ensure the platform was capable of optimizing effectively against local target audiences. In some markets it was also delayed by the availability of Nielsen and ComScore measurement panels, which are required to back guarantees.
Product focus doesn’t impress investors
Following the announcement last week, Rocket Fuel’s Q4 2014 earnings report Friday showed that its loss had widened to $20.5 million, up from $2.2 million in the same quarter the previous year. The news disappointed investors and sent shares plummeting 27% to a new all-time low.
CEO George John said in an earnings call that part of the reason for Rocket Fuel’s weak Q2 guidance was competition with agency trading desks. He said that media agency teams were facing increasing pressure from management to use centralized agency trading desks rather than third parties like Rocket Fuel, an issue that could continue to impact the tech firm’s bottom line.
But if demand among clients remains strong, it may offset the beating the company has taken in the markets. A recent report by AdGear and Marketing found that Rocket Fuel is the fifth most-used RTB buying platform among Canada’s top 500 online advertisers.
