Digital advertising has become an essential component in local media sales. The 11th Annual Borrell-RAB digital benchmarking report revealed that digital sales by radio stations would approach $2 billion in 2023. With 2024 slated to see increases in local digital ad spend, media sellers will need to be effective and efficient in selling third-party digital advertising as a complement to radio spots.

To make gains here, you and your sellers must understand what it is (and isn’t) along with what you need to sell it seamlessly.

What Is Third-Party Digital Advertising?

In a nutshell, it’s any digital advertising tactic you don’t own. Those you do own are your O&O (owned and operated) inventory, such as banner ads on your website. You have complete control over where these display ads serve, making them distinct from those you traffic to third-party sites.

Types of Third-Party Digital Advertising

Third-party digital ads are sellable in many different tactics. They represent any ad type that you don’t control the trafficking of, including:

  • Programmatic display: Static or video ads on websites
  • CTV/OTT (connected TV/over-the-top): Ads that show while streaming content on Hulu, Netflix, etc.
  • Social media ads: Ads on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.
  • SEM (search engine marketing): Ads that appear on search engine results pages on Google or Bing that say “sponsored”

There’s a wide variety of third-party tactics, and they can each be an excellent component for an integrated ad campaign that is inclusive of digital and linear. Each has different considerations, including costs, creative, compliance and targeting.

Download How to Explain Digital Advertising Tactics to Your Advertisers for a review of each.

How Do You Sell Third-Party Digital Ads?

Finding success in selling digital advertising to local businesses requires a unique recipe. First, sellers must be knowledgeable and confident in presenting it to customers. It’s a dynamic landscape with constant change, but the basics remain the same. While most of us are aware of digital ads, you’ll need to establish an upskilling and training program.

Second, you need to be able to operationalize digital ad sales. It’s too cumbersome and expensive for your station to do this without a third-party digital platform. Otherwise, you’d have to bid for programmatic ad space manually and have accounts on social media sites, Google Ads and others to manage these ad buys.

A third-party digital technology solution streamlines all this for you. It connects to a DSP (demand-side platform) and SSP (supply-side platform), both necessary for trafficking programmatic and CTV/OTT, respectively.

It also includes these features:

  • A proposal-building tool with the option to add radio spots and include geographic and demographic targeting attributes
  • Conversion of proposals to orders with trafficking of ads completed by the technology company’s ad operations based on the scope of proposals
  • Campaign analytics and reporting that are transparent, real-time and easy to access
  • Billing for digital ad campaigns

Much of the time, these solutions are overly complex and designed more for agencies than for broadcasters. When comparing options, look for one that’s broadcast-centric.

How Do Third-Party Ads Work?

Trafficking of each ad type has its own workflow. Here’s a simple explanation of these.

  • Programmatic: Display ads (static and video) are the tactics in this category. The trafficking of these ads is usually automated when using a third-party solution. The connection to the DSP provides the inventory of websites and apps where ads may appear. A bidding process occurs based on the targeting of the ad and the budget.
  • CTV/OTT: Execution of these ads occurs via an SSP. This software system works similarly to a DSP, with the functionality to bid and traffic on streaming inventory.
  • Social and SEM: Trafficking for these occurs on each site, such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Google.
  • Exceptions for programmatic: Some display ads fall under restricted categories, which means a standard DSP is not feasible. An alternative one is necessary to sell these ads and is subject to their rules. Examples include cannabis, CBD, alcohol, gambling and political.

Learn more about ad operations by reading our e-book: You’re Selling Digital Advertising — Now What?

Third-Party Digital Advertising: A Robust Platform Puts You in a Position to Succeed

Digital advertising can be complicated. Upskilling your sellers is only part of this, and you need a way to make it easy, not more work for them. It’s possible with the right third-party digital platform. It’s more than software — a team of experts is behind it for ad operations. A solution that provides training and access to experts helps your sales team become adept at proposing and answering advertiser questions.

It’s a turn-key system that integrates with your traffic software, so you can propose, order, track, measure and invoice in one place.

The future of local media sales is linear and digital, and your team is in a great position to deliver both. Third-party digital amplifies linear revenue and sets you up for growth and success.

See where your organization ranks in selling digital by taking the quiz: Does Your Digital Sales Strategy Make the Grade?