Programmatic · also called agency trading desk, ATD, programmatic desk
Trading desk
A trading desk is a specialist team, usually inside an agency or advertiser, that plans and executes programmatic buying on DSPs on behalf of campaigns and clients.
A trading desk is where programmatic buying happens as a job. Traders set up campaigns in one or more DSPs, manage bids, deals, targeting and pacing, and optimise toward KPIs. The term borrows from finance, where traders buy and sell securities on a desk.
Agency trading desks (ATDs) grew in the early 2010s, when each big holding company built one to pool programmatic spend: WPP's Xaxis, Publicis's former VivaKi/Audience On Demand, Omnicom's Accuen and others; names and structures have changed repeatedly since. Independent trading desks sell the same service to smaller agencies and advertisers. Many brands have brought programmatic in-house with their own desks.
Trading desks can operate on a fee basis or on a principal basis, reselling media at a margin. Advertisers are advised to understand which model applies, what data and log files they receive, and who owns the DSP seat.
Think of it like this
A trading desk is like the floor traders at a commodities firm: they do not own the grain, but they spend all day buying it at the right price for their clients.
An example
An advertiser's in-house desk of four traders manages US$12 million a year across two DSPs, 40 PMP deals and an inclusion list of 3,000 sites.
Related terms
DSP (demand-side platform)
A DSP (demand-side platform) is software that advertisers and agencies use to buy ad impressions automatically across many exchanges and publishers, deciding which impressions to bid on and how much.
Agency
An agency is a company that plans, buys, creates or manages advertising on behalf of advertisers, in exchange for fees, commissions or a margin on the media it buys.
Holding company (agency holdco)
An agency holding company (holdco) is a parent group that owns many advertising, media, creative and marketing agencies, such as WPP, Publicis Groupe, Omnicom, Dentsu and Havas.
Principal-based buying
Principal-based buying is when an agency buys media for its own account and resells it to clients at a price it sets, instead of buying at cost as the client's agent.
Managed service
Managed service is an arrangement in which an ad tech vendor's own team runs campaigns on the client's behalf, usually for a higher fee than using the platform self-serve.