Target digital ad platform enters programmatic advertising space

6/17/2019
Roundel, Target’s rebooted in-house media company, is partnering with a digital ad exchange.

Roundel and Index Exchange have co-engineered a customized product providing media buyers access to Target’s first-party data paired with inventory using their existing platforms. This partnership marks Roundel’s first major foray into programmatic advertising, an automated method of buying, selling or fulfilling digital ads. Publishers make media inventory available via ad exchanges and buyers use tools called demand side platforms (DSPs) to purchase media.

Target aims to enable Roundel clients to leverage its customer data to reach custom audience segments with relevant advertising. Roundel has partnered with Index Exchange on various aspects of its business since 2017, and the companies have been working together to build a customized product for about a year.

The new programmatic advertising tool will permit media buyers to use their existing DSPs to gain access to Target’s customized audience segments, such as “electronics purchasers” or “women’s apparel purchasers,” paired with brand-positive media inventory from Index Exchange publishers. Buyers will not have to log into an entirely new system. Target’s first-party data only includes audience segments, not personally identifiable information files or individual customer information.

Roundel and Index Exchange are currently testing the tool with select partners, including Meredith, Café Media, Leaf Group, and MediaVine, and plan to roll it out fully in July.
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