Programmatic Isn’t Your Social Ads Rival—It’s Your Secret Weapon

I’ve seen so many programmatic sales and activation specialists compare a DSP with Meta or Google Ads. It’s a losing battle. “Don’t talk like one of them, you’re not.”

Yes, that’s a Heath Ledger Joker quote. No, I couldn’t resist.

That line always jumps to mind when I hear people trying to sell programmatic as a direct competitor to social ads. It’s not. Programmatic is a separate channel with its own strengths, and when used alongside social and search, it complements and enhances the overall strategy.

So why do some in the industry keep making this comparison? Either they don’t fully understand the space themselves, or they’re hesitant to talk about it openly.

The Role of Programmatic in a Multi-Channel Strategy

Yes, search is fantastic for conversions—people are actively looking for products to buy. Yes, social is excellent for engagement.

But there’s a lot that those channels can’t do. Programmatic brings high-end reporting solutions, advanced optimisations and access to a vast range of channels that social and search simply don’t touch.

Yet, I often see people hesitate when talking about post-view conversions.

You need the knowledge, trust, and confidence to educate clients on why post-view (aka view-through, but I hate that phrase) matters. Shift their focus toward incremental uplift—the real measure of success.

It’s about painting the bigger picture: See an ad, Google the brand, make a purchase. Understanding multi-touch attribution and analysing new, incremental users is key. Yes, it takes more effort, but that’s the job.

The Importance of Testing and Adaptation

And don’t even get me started on people who panic over poor instant results. Not everything is positive right away. If it were, we’d all be retired by now.

Continued testing and optimisation are what drive success. Programmatic isn’t about instant gratification—it’s about long-term impact.

So, get your hands dirty. Do the work. Educate your clients.

Don’t be a Joker. Be THE Joker.