Triton Digital
Summary
Triton Digital is an audio ad exchange with inventory worldwide across radio, music streaming services, and podcasts, on desktops, mobile devices, smart speakers, and more.
As of January 2019, there were 1.2bn monthly ad requests in the US, 1bn in LatAm, and significant volume elsewhere. Inventory is available both open market and by private marketplace deal.
See the Marketplace Overview for more details.
At a Glance
| Top Geos | Traffic Types | Formats |
|---|---|---|
|
US - 69% MX - 5% CA - 4% BR - 2% Other - 20% |
Mobile App - 49% Web - 22% Mobile Web - 21% CTV - 8% |
Audio - 100% |
For the most up-to-date information on avails and specific inventory, go to the Inventory Directory in Basis.
Technical Considerations
Server-Side Tracking
Impression tracking pixels are fired server-side on all placements. The client IP is conveyed by the X-Forwarded-For HTTP header, which is consumed by most ad servers. Google (DCM) will accept this and should report geo correctly.
Ad Specs
Placements exist which allow a variety of ad durations, but 15 or 30 second creative is recommended for the greatest scale.
As with all audio ads, we recommended that customers upload audio ads directly to Basis. Upload the best quality file available in any supported format. All audio ads uploaded to Basis are transcoded to a format supported by Triton.
Third-party VAST is supported. If third-party VAST is used, there must be a media file with the following characteristics:
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MP3, WAV, WMA, or OGG format
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At least 128 kbps bit rate/44100 Hz sample rate
Companions are also supported on some inventory. However, due to limitations of the VAST spec, the DSP will not track companion activity on third-party VAST.
Inventory Types
Podcasts
Podcast inventory has the ad stitched into the audio stream at the time of download, providing the listener with a seamless experience. Accordingly, the ad may be played back at some later time, possibly in some later geo. The impression reflects the download. Given the nature of podcasts, it isn't possible to track that the ad has been played back. This inventory is available in open and private marketplaces or via Programmatic Guaranteed.
Global publishers include: iHeart Media, Warner, Grupo Globo, ARN, Red FM, Mirchi, DPG Media, Nostalgie, NRJ, Observador, Prisa, Audioboom, B9 Podcasts, Grupo Globo, Acir, Radio Centro, Bell, Quebecor, CBC, Bloomberg, All Things Comedy, and more.
Representation of Apps
Most app inventory is represented as though it is web inventory. There might be a mobile advertising ID even though it is represented as web inventory. This can have the strange side effect of an audience with mobile app data appearing to spend on web.
User IDs
Relatively few Triton bid requests come with any sort of user IDs - 20% at the most. Audience targeting, target trackable users, and such is not advised. Use PMP deals from Triton for audience curation.
Basis Frequency Reporting
When I look at the frequency report, the majority of impressions have a frequency of 1. How is this possible?
The nature of Triton inventory means that impressions are often delivered in untrackable environments. This is especially true for podcast downloads, which are almost 100% identityless. There is no cookie user ID or mobile advertising ID in the bid request. On serving the impression, we attempt to set a cookie user ID. This cookie user ID is stored in the impression record. However, it is never seen again because the impression pixel is fired server-side; there is no cookie to store. That is the reason you see a frequency of 1 for the majority of impressions.
Do note that frequency capping at targeting time is handled differently; we generate a statistical ID as a proxy when there is no ID in the bid request and f-cap on that. This enables the frequency capping to be approximately respected despite the untrackability.
Programmatic Guaranteed
Programmatic Guaranteed (PG) is supported on Triton Digital.
Negotiations are handled manually between the buyer and the seller. The seller will provide the deal ID to the buyer, who can then put it into their My Deals library. Seats are assigned 1:1 with DSP Advertiser IDs. If a publisher asks which seat to send a deal to, inform them of the DSP Advertiser ID.
Buyer should inform the seller of the adomain (known as the Brand Domain in Basis) that the ads will use. Ideally, if the ads are already uploaded Basis and approved by our reviewers, Basis can be checked to see what the configured adomain is.
Sensitive Categories
Cannabis - Permitted via Open Market and PMP
CBD - Permitted via Open Market and PMP
Broadcast Radio
Programmatic buying of broadcast radio is supported on Triton Digital. Buyers can place ads that play out over the airwaves on broadcast AM/FM radio stations. Basis is the only launch partner for this unique offering.
iHeartMedia is Triton Digital's initial publisher partner. With over 860 radio stations in 160 markets, iHeartMedia is the largest broadcast radio network in the United States, reaching 90% of the US adult population each month (276 million people). A list of iHeartMedia’s stations are available on their website. A substantial portion of iHeartMedia's radio ad inventory in their stations across the US is available. Other US publishers are expected to join the marketplace later this year via Katz Radio Group, their exclusive sales house.
As this product is new, only programmatic guaranteed execution is supported in this initial phase. Basis anticipates adding support for additional buy types in the future, as well as improved automation and future targeting and reporting capabilities in Basis DSP.
Special Characteristics
One-to-Many Medium
Broadcast radio is a one to many medium. Similar to Digital out of Home (DOOH), each request is for multiple impressions based on the estimated listenership for the ad. Generally, users do not need to concern themselves with this detail; it is handled automatically by the DSP, but like with DOOH, third-party ad serving is not recommended. This is because the third-party ad server will count impressions based on the number of times the ad serves, not based on the estimated listenership. The third-party ad server will grossly underreport impressions and thus it cannot be used as the basis for delivery reporting.
Because of the one-to-many nature, there are no user IDs of any sort, conversion tracking is not available, and frequency capping is not available. However, the publisher can estimate reach and frequency when they create the plan, and manage it through the weekly spot load field.
For PG deals with audience targeting, the number of impressions counted represents the number of listeners that were in-target. For example, a given placement has an expected listenership of 5,000, and the campaign targets women. Suppose that of the 5,000 listeners, it is believed that 3,500 are women. 3,500 impressions will be counted by the DSP—though because of the one-to-many nature of the medium, all 5,000 listeners will hear it. See the publisher's reporting for more specific advertising spot totals.
Radio Station Constraints
Spots are pre-scheduled in the broadcast radio traffic system. Shortly before the scheduled airtime, some bid requests are sent to the DSP. If they are bid on, the booked ad is aired by the broadcast radio playout system, and impression tracking is triggered. Generally, the expected delay between bid request (auction) and impression is a maximum of around 30 minutes. DSP reporting and day parting works on time of auction.
Ads must be exactly 15 seconds or 30 seconds to conform to the actual broadcast time available. If an ad is not precisely 15 seconds or 30 seconds, it will be automatically sped up or slowed down by Triton to a maximum of +/-10%. If the duration difference exceeds that, the bid will be rejected.
Time is always local to the radio station. This means that if you book a campaign nationwide, with a flight end of 2023-03-31, it means the end of 2023-03-31 in the time zones of each stations. Basis DSP always operates in Eastern Time. Accordingly, a spot running on a Los Angeles station at 11:30pm PT on 2023-03-31 is happening at 2:30am ET 2023-04-01 from our DSP's perspective.
Ensure the flight end date set in the DSP accounts for this by adding a day if the campaign includes stations not on Eastern Time. In this example, the flight end date set in the DSP should be 2023-04-01.
Creative Handling
You must e-mail the ad creative file to the publisher manually; this is because there is a review process that must be followed due to FCC regulations. If approved, it will be booked into the broadcast radio traffic system. Upload the ad in the DSP and inform the publisher of the ad ID. The ad ID is used as a trigger; when our DSP bids with that ad ID, the broadcast radio system will trigger play out. The actual audio file that the DSP returns at bid time is not used.
Don't change ads unexpectedly. You must negotiate this with the publisher and provide audio file and DSP ad ID to the publisher before launching a new ad. Bids with an unexpected ad ID will cause whichever ad the publisher set as default to play instead. The DSP will not know this; it will report based on the ad ID used in the bid.
Executing a Broadcast Radio Buy
Since this is all executed using programmatic guaranteed, the general concepts and process for executing a programmatic guaranteed buy apply. See Programmatic Guaranteed for more information.
You will negotiate directly with the publisher.
Like with any programmatic guaranteed buy, customers must tell the publisher the following and get a deal ID:
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Brand/advertiser in question
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DSP seat or Advertiser ID and that the DSP is Basis
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Flight dates for the campaign
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Budget (in impressions or spend)
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Desired pacing
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Any and all targeting criteria you would like, such as geo targeting, reach, average frequency, first-party audience targeting, and so on
Perform additional special steps for broadcast radio:
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Upload the audio ad(s) to the DSP to get DSP ad ID(s) assigned.
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Send the audio file(s) to the publisher and inform them of the DSP ad ID(s).
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Ensure that all ads in the campaign tactic are of the same duration; mixing durations is not currently supported.
After the publisher has confirmed setup and provided the deal ID, allow several days between the end of negotiation and flight start to ensure everything is set up correctly. For example, a flight intended start April 1 should have all arrangements in place by around March 28.
iHeartMedia
For iHeartMedia inquiries, contact ProgAudioOTA-inquiry@iHeartMedia.com directly to discuss an order with iHeartMedia Sales using the following template:
Hello,
I would like to request a programmatic broadcast radio campaign:
DSP: Basis
DSP Seat ID: [Customer's DSP Advertiser ID]
Brand/Advertiser: [Identify name of advertiser, i.e. "Ford"]
Flight Dates: [Start Date] to [End Date]
Desired Budget: [$_____ or _____ impressions]
Desired Pacing: [Describe desired pacing—because of the spot-based nature it will inherently be approximate, but you can request approximately even through the flight or heavy-up at specific times]
Desired Targeting: [Describe desired targeting, including geo (Country, State, or DMA), audience, station format, daypart, reach/frequency target, etc.]
An iHeartMedia salesperson will respond to discuss further. iHeartMedia will provide a detailed media plan for approval before launch, which will include details about which stations the ads will run on and when. After the plan is agreed to, iHeartMedia will provide a deal ID. You can now configure the PG deal, campaign/tactic, and ad in the DSP and bring them online.
Finally, add the iHeartMedia trafficking team (ihmdspandsmartaudiocopy@iheartmedia.com) to the thread and attach the ad(s) to an email using the following template:
Hello,
Here are the ads for:
DSP: Basis
Deal ID: ______
[Table of Filename(s) and DSP ad ID(s)]
An iHeartMedia trafficker will confirm that they have been booked. The campaign is fully set up at this point and ready to bid and successfully serve impressions.
Negotiations must conclude no later than four days before flight start, however more lead time is strongly recommended as inventory may be limited by this point. Booking as early as possible will ensure best availability and smoothest execution.
A campaign can have multiple ads, as long as they have all been provided to the publisher as described above. The DSP ad ID is used as a trigger to serve the correct ad that was shared with the publisher, so DSP reporting will reflect the corresponding ad.
| iHeartMedia Avails, Pricing, Minimums, Inventory Details, and Targeting Options | |
|---|---|
| Avails | Approx. 30 billion impressions/month across 9 million ad spots |
| Pricing | $4-8CPM for RON, higher with targeting, during peak periods, etc. Expect $15CPM or more for local (DMA) campaigns with audience targeting not including Basis fees. |
| Minimums | $12,000 total commitment; recommended minimum $1,200/week |
| Targeting Options |
|
There are no specific campaign minimums, however because this inventory is one-to-many, there is a practical lower limit on viable campaign size. Hypothetically, the smallest buyable unit is one ad spot, which can comprise thousands of impressions by itself. But, this would be one single ad spot at one moment in time. A campaign that spans many days or a month will need to have multiple ad spots over multiple days. Also, due to the business process overhead involved in setting up a campaign, iHeartMedia will not want to do particularly small campaigns. Thus, a recommended minimum budget for a campaign is approximately $15,000/week, however this is only a guideline, and all campaigns are subject to publisher acceptance.
Audiences are modeled, meaning spot selection occurs based on iHeartMedia's data about the listenership, so spots selected for the ad maximize the reach against the target audience. OTA is a one-many medium so the actual listenership (P12+) will be larger than the audience the plan is optimized against, such as Auto Intenders. See Special Characteristics for more information.
Other options may be available during negotiation. Frequency management is indirectly available; controls for the weekly spot load are available. This is the minimum/maximum number of spots per week per station. When a publisher creates a plan, they can adjust this number to affect the estimated reach and frequency of the campaign. An estimation of the reach and frequency is available when the plan is composed by the publisher.
A sample set of off-the-shelf iHeartMedia SmartAudio audience segments is attached. Custom segments can be built and planned against. Please refer to an iHeartMedia sales representative for details.
Campaign Reporting and Stats in DSP
This inventory is treated like web inventory by the DSP. Delivery and performance reports will work as usual; domain is used to convey the station the ad is played on.
As this is a one-to-many medium, user IDs are not available in the bid request. Accordingly, any reports depending on a user ID will not produce any usable output. You can run them, however the result (where there is any) is without meaning. The following reports will not produce any usable output:
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Data Segment Report
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Data Segment Group Report
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Cross-Device Report
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Frequency Report
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Conversion Report
The following reports will not produce useful output because the necessary information isn’t available or does not apply:
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Device Report
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Geo Report
At present, geo information is not provided in bid requests. In a future improvement, Triton anticipates sending basic geo information.
Reporting Available from Seller
Here are samples of plan and reporting documents available from the seller on request:
Some terms you'll find in these:
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IRPs: iHeart Rating Points, based iHeart SmartAudio data. This is a GRP-like metric based on iHeart's proprietary audience data
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CPP: Cost per point
Exchange Provided Documentation
iHeartMedia Numbers Made Easy March 2023