February 26, 2026
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For all the years I have spent in the digital industry, media efficiency was measured through reach, frequency and cost metrics. These indicators still do matter but they no longer tell the full story.
As a Founder who is working in proximity with brands, supply and technology partners, I’ve witnessed closely how programmatic advertising has evolved over the years into a powerful engine for smarter, more efficient decisions.
At its core, programmatic advertising replaces manual decision making with intelligence. Instead of relying on broad assumptions, it relies on real-time data, AI-driven algorithms and predictive models to determine where, when and how media investments should be positioned.
This shift has entirely changed how efficiency is defined in our digital world, especially when it comes to spending less but smarter. However, this shift has only been possible owing to a few core pillars.
One of the most impactful changes that I have seen programmatic bring is precision targeting. Media efficiency today is about relevance. Programmatic prioritizes that relevance and empowers us to reach the right audience at the right moment rather than running behind scale, just for the sake of volume. By leveraging contextual signals, behavioral insights and real-time performance data, it also makes campaigns far more adaptive and effective.
Building on this multi-channel foundation, one of the most transformative applications of programmatic precision has emerged in Connected TV (CTV). As streaming continues to replace traditional television, CTV advertising combines the brand-building power of television with the precision and measurability of digital. By leveraging CTV, we can now deliver household-level targeting and real-time optimization on premium content that audiences are actively engaging with.
CTV works well because it carries the ability to bridge the gap between awareness and action. Viewers engage with content on large screens in immersive environments, making it ideal for storytelling. This simultaneously enables result-driven outcomes through addressable targeting and attribution.
While precision targeting through CTV delivers the right message to the right audience, the true competitive advantage of programmatic lies in its ability to optimize these decisions in real time. This is where agility comes in the picture. Whereas traditional media planning often locks decisions weeks in advance, programmatic enables campaigns to evolve in real time. Almost everything like creative elements, placements, bids and targeting, can all be optimized dynamically based on what's working and what's not.
Staying ahead in this space also means embracing and exploring new layers of the ecosystem. Ad CP (Ad Context Protocol) is one such emerging layer within the programmatic landscape that we are steadily exploring. Still new to the market, Ad CP represents a shift toward context-led intelligence, where media decisions are informed by real-time environments, moments and relevance. By structuring contextual signals across platforms and channels, Ad CP enables more adaptive, privacy-safe and intelligent optimization.
As this framework of Ad CP evolves further, we see strong potential for it to play a key role in driving the next phase of programmatic efficiency.
The role of creative intelligence is another important and a personal favourite pillar in programmatic efficiency. Data cannot drive performance by itself. Thus, when dynamic creatives are layered into programmatic strategies, media becomes more responsive.
This integration of Rich Media with programmatic infrastructure means that creative can now scale with the same intelligence as media buying. Dynamic creative optimization (DCO) powered by Rich Media formats allows hundreds of creative variations to be generated and tested automatically. This ensures that each audience segment receives the most relevant, engaging message possible making media more impactful.
This kind of flexibility reduces waste and ensures that every impression is able to serve a purpose.
My experience has taught that beyond everything, media efficiency is deeply connected to transparency and accountability. These insights are what has helped us build a powerful inhouse programmatic platform, AudienceConnect. A space that has truly revolutionized how we enable brands to make safer and smarter decisions. Programmatic platforms like ours provide visibility into performance at every stage of the funnel which empower marketers to move beyond vanity metrics while focusing on meaningful outcomes like -
- Engagement quality
- Conversion impact
- Long-term value
This empowers brands to make informed decisions rather than impulsive ones.
The Future
Looking ahead, the future of media efficiency will be defined by integration. Programmatic will continue to evolve by bringing together AI, first-party data, privacy-safe targeting and creative automation into a single ecosystem.
Efficiency will cease to be about cost reduction and would further become about maximizing relevance, impact and return on investment at every touchpoint.
In my view, brands like ours that have begun embracing programmatic beyond a tool, as a strategic capability will be the ones that achieve true media efficiency, today and in the years to come.
