What Is Programmatic Advertising?
Programmatic advertising is projected to reach $725 billion by the end of 2025, which is nearly 75% of all online ad spending. But what is it, and how does it work? It is the automated way of buying and placing digital ads online. Instead of you negotiating directly with publishers, AI-powered software and data decide when, where, and to whom to show an ad. Think of it like online shopping for ads: you set your budget, audience, and goals, and the system automatically finds the best ad spaces for you across websites, apps, videos, and even smart TVs. There are various programmatic advertising examples we’ll provide to you later on to help you understand how this type of advertising can help with SaaS lead generation.
Real-time bidding campaigns matter for eLearning and HR tech brands because they help them reach the right audience efficiently, reduce acquisition costs, and scale globally. By using AI-driven targeting, you can show personalized ads to students, professionals, or HR decision-makers across multiple channels while optimizing campaigns in real time. This means that you can build awareness, retarget prospects, and nurture leads through the long decision-making journey, ensuring your message stays relevant and impactful in competitive markets.
Are you ready to leverage programmatic advertising for your eLearning and HR tech business?
Contact us to explore how eLearning Industry can optimize your programmatic campaigns: audience targeting, creative A/B testing, and reporting support tailored to HR tech and L&D.
In This Guide, You Will Find…
What Are The Benefits?
If you take a look at programmatic advertising examples, you’ll see that marketers and advertisers can see exactly where their ads are showing, who is viewing them, and how they are performing. They have full control of the inventory and placement.
Traditional advertising involves requests for proposals (RFPs), negotiations, and insertion orders. With AI-powered advertising, you don’t have to think about any of those. Everything is automated and streamlined, meaning you buy ad space quickly through real-time bidding (which we will analyze later), avoiding human errors and delays in communication.
With programmatic ad campaigns, you don’t have to guess and experiment to see what works. You can check whenever you want key metrics, including click-through rates (CTR), impressions, views, conversions, and more. This way, you only spend money on spaces you know bring you results. It’s the same with PPC campaign management services that personalize your message to target only the most high-value audiences.
Many eLearning and HR tech brands get inspired by programmatic advertising examples for adopting lead generation techniques that stick. Why? When you know where your audience is and how to appear in these spaces, it’s easier to deliver your message where it matters the most.
How Does Programmatic Advertising Work?
Real-time bidding (RTB) refers to the practice of buying and selling ads in real time through live online auctions. To perform this, you need a supply-side platform (SSP), which is software that allows publishers to sell various ad impressions, including video, mobile, and display. This happens automatically in real time without any communication needed between marketers and publishers.
The process of showing programmatic ads on specific sites through RTB is quite simple. Advertisers bid on publishers’ inventory on a single impression. The highest bid wins and is shown to users visiting the site. Fine-tuning your targeting helps you generate high-quality business leads.
Private marketplace (PMP) falls under the wide umbrella of RTB, as it also allows you to execute your programmatic advertising examples. Here’s how it differs: instead of advertisers bidding freely on the ad spaces they want, publishers invite specific advertisers to make their bid for their top spaces. It’s a win-win scenario, as advertisers get featured in top spots and publishers get top dollar for these spaces. PMPs give you even more control of the inventory you want to bid on.
If you’re looking for a more fixed deal for your HR tech digital ads, programmatic guaranteed may be what you need. You have the chance to reserve ad space directly from a publisher. They offer you a fixed number of impressions, and you pay a fixed price. You don’t have to go on a bidding war, but instead purchase your ad space in hopes of generating new leads.
This is another way you can do eLearning programmatic advertising. With preferred deals, publishers give certain advertisers preferential access to their inventory with agreed impressions and CPM. Then, advertisers agree on whether they want to buy or not. If publishers can’t make an agreement, they may then sell their inventory on PMPs or auctions.
Some of the most popular and major platforms are The Trade Desk, Google Display & Video 360 (DV360), and MediaMath.
8 Programmatic Advertising Examples To Inspire Your Next Campaign
1. Lacoste
One of the brightest programmatic advertising examples belongs to the clothing designer company Lacoste. In 2016, the company wanted to increase summer sales in Germany, the United Kingdom, and France. Its marketers utilized the existing customer data to build detailed profiles for their users’ personas. This way, they segmented audiences to personalize ads and reach potential buyers at their preferred locations. They didn’t just run programmatic ads, waiting for miraculous results.
Through continuous campaign performance optimization and iterative testing, they evaluated every aspect of their campaign, including ad spend, creatives, marketing channels, and banner ad formats. Their optimized personalized content resulted in 19,749,380 impressions and 2290 sales in their target market. Split-testing was a key element of their strategy, too. The same strategy can be applied to SaaS display ads to turn programmatic advertising into a powerful tool.
What can you learn from this?
A/B testing can help you understand what works.
Leveraging consumer data is key.
Real-time adjustments are lifesaving.
2. Audi
Audi’s programmatic campaign case study is one of the most well-known in the automotive industry, and for good reason. The campaign centered around the Audi Q2, which is a customizable luxury SUV, featuring the company’s slogan, “Advancement Through Technology.” Existing consumer data was once again the starting point, helping Audi personalize their marketing approach. On their website, they featured a tool that allowed users to fully personalize their vehicle. People’s choices helped the company identify style preferences, which allowed them to craft powerful programmatic display ads for retargeting.
Based on each person’s unique preferences and position on Audi’s sales funnel, the company created personalized ads with creatives that suited each buyer’s style. This way, they merged account-based marketing with programmatic advertising. The result? Audi boosted conversion rates by 400%.
What can you learn from this?
Use data to build specific audience segments.
The more you personalize, the more you engage.
An omnichannel approach increases reach.
3. The Economist
The famed business magazine was looking for ways to attract more readers. However, The Economist covers a wide range of topics and had to find a way to make its ad campaigns topic-specific. They first analyzed their customer data to understand how users interacted with their content, what attracted people to their website, and when they mostly visited. So, the magazine focused on 7 key topics, including finance, politics, economics, careers, good deeds, social justice, and technology.
Then, they built lookalike audiences for each one of these categories and crafted programmatic display ads tailored to these interests. They created over 60 ad versions, and the results were magnificent. They gained 6 million unique actions, $650,000 in ad revenue, 650,000 potential new readers, and a 10:1 ROI.
What can you learn from this?
You can regain lost audience segments with programmatic advertising.
Engage with your readers on their preferred platforms.
4. Google
In 2014, Google was not happy with how its Google Search app was performing. So, they focused on a different type of online marketing, creating one of the most inspiring programmatic advertising examples. They utilize both first- and third-party data to reach targeted leads. Through real-time campaign performance optimization and recycling advertising data, the company kept improving its approach. The ad ran in 20+ countries, which was the largest programmatic effort at that time. Based on each person’s interests, the ads were hyper-personalized. For instance, a student would see online course ads, while an Instructional Designer would get LMS ads.
Additionally, Google resorted to an omnichannel approach, utilizing various types of banner ads that appeared across display, mobile, and video. This way, they achieved a 50% increase in brand awareness and 30% lower CPM.
What can you learn from this?
Programmatic advertising isn’t only good for clicks, but also for branding.
Google said that programmatic buying was significantly cheaper than traditional ad buying.
5. Minute Media
Minute Media is a digital media company that owns websites like Mental Floss, FanSided, and The Players’ Tribune, among others. Their issue was lagging ad revenue, and for that, they decided to enforce a programmatic advertising strategy. As a solution, they connected their websites to programmatic exchanges so advertisers could bid on ad space in real time and used data about their readers (like favorite teams, interests, or regions) to help advertisers reach the right audience. Additionally, they also used programmatic video ads, which fit naturally into their sports and lifestyle content.
As a result, more targeted leads started joining their platform, bringing in more revenue for Minute Media. Programmatic opened up its ad space to many more buyers, increasing competition and ad prices. Advertisers reached exactly the fans or readers they wanted, making ads more relevant. The best part was that Minute Media could sell ad inventory globally without needing a massive sales team.
What can you learn from this?
Programmatic ads help you reach global audiences without relying on manual sales reps.
6. Amanda Foundation
The Amanda Foundation is a nonprofit organization with the goal of uniting strays with their forever homes. Knowing how hard it is for people to find the right companion, they resorted to programmatic digital advertising in order to make their ads targeted and specific to people’s preferences. Their approach was very clever, as they featured images of adoptable animals accompanied by their breeds, hobbies, and personality traits. Using customer data, they managed to reach the right audience members and increase their adoption rates.
For instance, older people were shown less active, calmer pets, while younger people were shown more active pets ideal for outdoor activities. You can also use this sort of personalization for your eLearning business banner ads, promoting specific services to certain audience segments.
What can you learn from this?
When you target specific segments, you increase your conversion rates.
The more creative you get with your images, the more engagement you achieve.
7. IHG
IHG owns some big hotel chains, including the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza. Everything started when the company analyzed how travelers booked their accommodation, finding that many of them preferred third-party sites, thinking they were getting a better deal. However, IHG knew that this was not true, and customers were paying 15–30% more on these third-party sites. So, they started creating programmatic banners, showing people how much cheaper it was to buy directly from their hotels’ websites.
This way, people knew exactly how much they would pay per night without worrying about hidden costs. Not only that, but the ads featured a “book direct” option, which increased website traffic significantly.
What can you learn from this?
Transparency and honesty regarding prices gain people’s trust.
With creativity, you can educate audiences and disrupt the market.
8. Yettel
As a telecommunications company, Yettel operates in a very demanding, competitive, and always-evolving industry. Their programmatic display marketing approach focused on Connected TV (CTV), which is growing rapidly. By partnering with trusted CTV marketplaces and publishers, the brand ensured its ads appeared in relevant, high-quality environments, boosting visibility with the right viewers. Yettel’s 17-second video campaign delivered remarkably strong results, including a 94% view-through rate and 78% completion rate.
Also, the promotional campaign prioritized brand safety by running ads only with established CTV partners. Beyond placement, Yettel gained access to detailed performance insights, including audience demographics, devices used, and viewing patterns by time of day, allowing the company to refine future campaigns with data-driven precision. Their programmatic advertising example shows us how powerful the right strategy for your needs can be.
What can you learn from this?
CTV programmatic goes beyond basic demographics and connects you with niche audiences.
Premium placements protect brand image while advanced analytics fuel continuous optimization.
How Can You Start Working On Your Own Programmatic Ad Campaign?
Stay Updated Regarding Ad Changes
Display advertising programmatic marketing is evolving quickly, meaning new GDPR and cookie deprecation rules arrive regularly. Additionally, new innovations in targeting, including AI-driven bidding and contextual targeting, may push you to adopt new strategies and AI workflows. You need tech-savvy marketers who will identify these innovations swiftly and incorporate them into your campaigns.
Use Your First-Party Data
As the programmatic advertising examples we saw earlier showed, your first-party data is your lifeline. It shows you what people have already done with your brand. But it becomes even more powerful when combined with survey data and customer insights that reveal why they behave that way.
Keep Optimizing Your Campaigns
Being part of your B2B lead generation strategies, programmatic media buying is dynamic and flexible. You can test different ad creatives, placements, and frequencies, then quickly adjust based on real-time analytics. For example, if one message performs better with professionals on LinkedIn while another works on YouTube, the system can prioritize accordingly.
Identify Customer Insights
You can’t gain business opportunity leads unless you know what motivates your audience, where they spend time, and which messages resonate. eLearning and HR tech brands can achieve this by blending surveys, focus groups, and digital listening tools to identify the key touchpoints (such as mobile apps, streaming platforms, or search queries) where ads will have the most impact.
Check How Effective Your Data Is
Measuring marketing performance isn’t simply about impressions and clicks. Use analytics to measure your campaign’s performance (CTR, conversions, cost per lead), but also enrich this data with survey feedback to see how the campaign changed perceptions or intent. If needed, go deeper with custom brand lift or impact studies that measure how well your ads influenced actual people.
3 Programmatic Advertising Use Cases For eLearning Industry Vendors
1. Money20/20 – Event Registrants
Money20/20 is a networking platform providing news regarding payments, fintech, and financial services. Their challenge was acquiring new event registrants and retaining past attendees. That’s why they turned to programmatic display advertising and developed a multi-touch media strategy, going beyond Google and LinkedIn campaigns. They created ultra-focused buyer personas with specific job titles in finance, payments, and fintech.
They used personalized ads to retarget and re-engage previous attendees who didn’t repurchase any new event pass. The results were 1241 new pass purchases, a $47 cost per order, and a 47x ROAS.
2. DigiCert – Renewals
Another bright programmatic advertising example involves DigiCert, a provider of scalable identity and encryption solutions. The company needed to improve their B2B marketing strategy to increase brand exposure after they acquired new and exciting technological tools. They focused on their ideal customers, their media preferences, and accounts that were up for renewal. Also, they used dynamic-creative optimization technology to test messaging in 7 different languages, geotargeting 13 countries across the globe.
As a result, DigiCert received 6000 high-value conversions. Not only that, but they noticed a 7% increase in brand awareness and a 5% boost in unaided awareness.
3. Publicis Media’s IQ Academy – Training & Internal Learning
Back in 2014, Publicis Media moved programmatic advertising out of a central unit and placed it directly into its agency teams. This shift made programmatic a natural part of every client’s media plan. To help staff gain the right expertise, they launched IQ Academy, an eLearning platform powered by Adobe Learning Manager.
Through interactive courses, assessments, and gamified learning, IQ Academy quickly gained traction. In just five months, more than 2200 people signed up, turning it into a go-to hub for building programmatic advertising skills across the network.
How eLearning Industry Helps Vendors With Programmatic Advertising
The eLearning Industry PPC platform helps vendors connect directly with a highly targeted audience of L&D, HR, and training professionals. Through our PPC directories, you can showcase your solutions to decision-makers actively looking for eLearning and HR tech products. The bidding system works on a pay-per-click model, meaning you only pay when someone clicks on your listing. By choosing to upgrade your PPC listing, you secure better visibility, higher rankings, and more qualified traffic that’s already in-market for your solutions.
In addition to PPC, we also offer banner ads, a great solution for building brand awareness in the eLearning and HR space. Unlike broad networks, our community provides a niche, highly engaged audience. Combined with programmatic advertising examples, our display ad options ensure your brand is seen by the right people at the right time, maximizing both visibility and ROI.
Key Takeaway
Programmatic advertising has transformed the way eLearning and HR tech vendors connect with decision-makers. By combining smart PPC strategies with automation, personalization, and data-driven targeting, businesses can reach the right people at the right time while reducing wasted spend. The power of audience segmentation ads means your campaigns speak directly to learners, HR leaders, or professionals who are already in-market for solutions like yours. Looking at proven programmatic advertising examples, it’s clear that personalization, testing, and real-time optimization deliver higher engagement and conversions across industries.
At eLearning Industry, we provide vendors with powerful tools to grow, whether through our PPC directories, banner ads, or upgraded listings. Partnering with a trusted SaaS PPC agency ensures that your campaigns are continuously optimized for results. The future of advertising is programmatic, and the time to harness it for growth is now.
FAQ
What is programmatic advertising in eLearning?
Programmatic advertising in eLearning uses AI-driven platforms to automatically buy and place ads across digital channels, helping education vendors reach the right learners at the right time.
How can programmatic advertising help eLearning companies?
Programmatic advertising enables precise targeting, retargeting, and personalization, allowing eLearning companies to attract new students, increase course enrollments, and boost retention with tailored campaigns.
What are some examples of programmatic ad formats for eLearning?
Common formats include display banners, video ads, native ads, connected TV (CTV), and audio ads, each helping eLearning vendors engage learners across multiple devices.
Why is programmatic advertising cost-effective?
Since it uses real-time bidding (RTB) and AI optimization, programmatic advertising ensures budgets are spent on high-intent audiences, reducing wasted ad spend and increasing ROI.
Can programmatic advertising support global expansion for eLearning vendors?
Yes. With geotargeting and localization features, eLearning companies can run multilingual, region-specific campaigns to attract learners worldwide.
Is Google Ads programmatic?
Google Ads offers programmatic advertising through its Display & Video 360 (DV360) and Google Display Network (GDN), but standard Google Search Ads are not programmatic, as they’re based on keyword bidding.
