Paid social reaches audiences on specific platforms like Meta, LinkedIn, and TikTok. Programmatic reaches audiences across the open web, connected TV, and streaming audio, wherever they go outside of social platforms. The two channels complement each other: programmatic builds broad awareness and pipeline at scale, while paid social drives deeper engagement with warmer audiences. For brands running full funnel strategies, both channels working together consistently outperform either channel alone.

Programmatic works at the upper portion of the funnel, which means its view through impact shows up downstream in other channels rather than directly in conversions. A prospect who sees a CTV ad may search for your brand days later, engage with a social ad weeks after that, and convert through paid search months later. Traditional last-click attribution misses all of that upstream influence. Incrementality testing and cross-device tracking are the most reliable ways to measure what programmatic is actually contributing to pipeline.

Programmatic is one of the few channels where you can reach specific target accounts across the open web, not just on platforms like LinkedIn. By loading a target account list into a demand-side platform, you can serve ads to specific companies and stakeholders wherever they browse, across CTV, audio, display, and video. This makes programmatic a powerful complement to ABM strategies that need broader reach than social alone can provide, at a fraction of the cost per impression.

Programmatic advertising is the buying and placement of digital ads across the open web, connected TV,  out-of-home,  and streaming audio. Rather than negotiating with individual publishers, programmatic uses technology to reach specific audiences at scale across thousands of domains and platforms simultaneously. While it operates primarily at the top of the funnel, it builds more than just awareness; it creates a pipeline and builds buyers from prospects who have not yet engaged with your brand. It can also be a powerful tool to re-engage users who have dropped out of the funnel.