Ep. 106 Why It’s the Right Time to Consider Investing in a DSP

While the cost of no-ID traffic on iOS remains low, there's a large opportunity on the table for performance marketers in the mobile app industry. Today’s guest focuses on programmatic DSPs for one of the largest game developers in the world. She discusses the barriers of getting into DSP investment, the advantages, and how to vet managed DSPs or go the in-house route.

Alexa Wieczorek is the Growth Marketing Manager for Electronic Arts (EA). Previous to EA, Alexa was the Growth Marketing Analyst at DraftKings, and a Data Analyst at Glu Mobile. She is based in San Francisco.

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• Do you have any thoughts on why EA, one of the largest game developers in the world, had not made any significant investments in DSP as part of their strategy until you joined?
• Why do you think it is important to be investing in the programmatic landscape? What are some of the advantages?
• What more data do you get from a DSP?
• What do you find yourself gravitating more towards: the self-service or the Bidder-as-a-Service as a managed service?
• You mentioned that DSPs that offer creative services can be more appealing. Is there anything else when you’re looking at DSPs that really matters? When you’re vetting DSPs, what are you looking out for?
• Have you found that most programmatic partners have been ready for the challenges presented by the ATT prompt and the lack of access to the IDFA? Are you confident that DSPs are doing the right thing?

• 6:17 Alexa’s professional background
• 9:46 Barriers to investing in DSP
• 11:05 Advantages of a DSP
• 11:56 The data you get from a DSP
• 13:21 What you’re in for with managing DSPs
• 15:05 Self-service or Bidder-as-a-Service
• 19:15 Vetting managed DSPs
• 21:41 Shifts in what DSPs are offering
• 22:45 Tackling ATT and IDFA changes

(13:34-13:45) “I think it comes down to two things: a lack of understanding and I think it’s a lack of resourcing, because going through a managed DSP is a lot more hands-on than a lot of Facebook or Google campaign management is.”

(15:15-15:34) “The self-service option can be a little more cost-effective. The fees are a lot lower and they’re transparent. Whereas depending on the manager service partner, the fees aren’t always transparent. So I think that when you’re spending at a certain level of scale it makes sense. But if you don’t have the internal support, or you’re a smaller company, I think managed services are a great option.”

(21:59-22:18) “I think that’s why a lot of people are moving toward a self-service or an in-house approach. I think also just being transparent about the data is important. All the DSPs don’t share exchange and publisher-level reporting, just to some degree. So I think working with a DSP that will share that level of data with you is also super important.”