7 Ways to Increase Black Friday Programmatic Revenue

Ah, Black Friday, the shopping extravaganza of the year! This is the time for publishers to cash in on programmatic advertising and maximize revenue. It’s not rocket science but requires a few clever strategies to make your Black Friday season successful. 

In this guide, we’ll dish out some tips to help you increase Black Friday programmatic revenue. Ready? Let’s dive in!

What happened on Black Friday last year?

Black Friday 2022 boosted retailers, with shoppers eagerly hunting for deals. Barclaycard, a significant processor of UK debit and credit card transactions, reported a notable 3.2% increase in transactions compared to the previous year. Moreover, Nationwide revealed that the prior year’s Black Friday had become their busiest day on record.

Across the Atlantic in the US, Black Friday 2022 raked in an impressive $9.12 billion in sales, while Cyber Monday smashed records with a remarkable $11.3 billion in sales, surpassing all previous years. 

Given these encouraging figures from 2022, we anticipate that this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday will continue to be successful for retailers, with increased sales and heightened website traffic. As consumers become more accustomed to online shopping and continue seeking great deals, robust sales during this holiday shopping weekend are expected to persist and possibly reach new heights in 2023. As you may guess, it will be an excellent opportunity for digital publishers to earn extra programmatic revenue.

7 Tips To Increase Black Friday Programmatic Revenue

1. Check Your Inventory

Publishers need to prepare in advance, just like the shoppers who camp out for those sweet Black Friday deals. Analyze your website’s performance and identify the most profitable ad slots. Ensure your ad spaces are ready and optimized for the big day. 

Don’t let outdated and underperforming ad units clutter your website. Do some spring cleaning (well, it’s technically autumn) and declutter your inventory. Focus on high-quality, engaging ad formats to attract more advertisers and increase your CPM.

2. Enhance Targeting Strategy

In the quest for higher CPMs, publishers must align their inventory with advertisers’ needs. Yet, without a sound targeting framework, delivering excellent ad exposure, encompassing viewability, impressions, and clicks, becomes challenging.

Despite industry concerns about third-party cookie tracking and ID solutions, this holiday season emphasizes the value of a targeting strategy grounded in first-party data. A blend of behavioral and contextual advertising, driven by first-party data, is poised to captivate various audience segments effectively.

To augment contextual targeting, publishers should harness Google Ad Manager’s key values. These additional parameters empower precise targeting criteria, such as content categories, sub-categories, or age ranges. It simplifies advertisers’ efforts to reach specific consumer groups while equipping publishers to make data-driven choices and assist advertisers in Google Ad Manager.

3. Curate High-performing Inventory Packages

With brands at the peak of their holiday campaigns, advertisers seek top-tier platforms for optimal brand visibility and conversions. Publishers can seize this opportunity by showcasing their most rewarding, high-performing inventory to secure superior CPMs.

While private auctions serve a purpose, direct deals shine when it comes to achieving higher CTR and conversion rates. By bundling their top-performing inventories into packages, publishers position themselves for fruitful negotiations with advertisers, yielding maximum returns during the holiday season.

4. Prioritize UX and Website Performance

In the holiday shopping rush, shoppers have no tolerance for slow-loading websites. Every second delay can cost publishers up to 2% of their impressions, with the actual impact likely exceeding this figure during peak holiday periods.

The key to greater engagement lies in delivering a seamless user experience through the right balance between ads and UX. It’s wise to remember about loading speed because the more content the website has to load, the more time your website needs, and more customers will flip away, annoyed by waiting. It is paramount during holiday campaigns, requiring publishers to leverage consumer insights for optimized websites.

5. Explore the Benefits of Ad Refresh

Amid the holiday frenzy, ad refresh solutions prove invaluable for publishers aiming to surpass their targets and expectations. In isolation, ad refresh increases a publisher’s revenue, even without accounting for the viewability booster effect. The timing couldn’t be better, with RPMs surging during this period. 

Refresher is a solution that empowers publishers to exercise complete control over their ad refresh rules, a valuable asset for those keen on adjusting their strategy during Black Friday.

6. Adjust Direct-Selling Approach

Publishers that primarily rely on programmatic channels will experience heightened RPMs due to the dynamism of real-time bidding. However, those who engage in direct selling must revise their rate cards and pricing strategies upwards to capitalize on the potential additional revenue advertisers are willing to offer for impressions during this festive period.

7. Optimize for Mobile Shoppers

With the rise of mobile shopping, ensure your website is mobile-friendly. It’s essential to provide an excellent user experience for shoppers on the go. Google loves mobile-friendly sites, and so do your potential advertisers.

Get Prepared to Black Friday

* Three months for free with a limit of up to 500 million ad requests. The contract must be concluded by December 31, 2023.