How Programmatic Media Buying Fuels Full-Funnel Growth
When there’s market uncertainty, brands often default to what’s familiar – the channels that deliver immediate results. For most, that means Paid Search and Social. These lower-funnel performance tactics offer reliable short-term wins. But what happens when CPAs rise, leads plateau, or scale becomes impossible?
The answer isn’t always “spend more.” It’s to spend smarter – and that means looking beyond just performance channels.
The Limits of Traditional Performance Channels
- Search captures demand, but only from those already in-market. It doesn’t build long-term interest or brand preference.
- Social helps expand reach, but has diminishing returns when audience saturation hits.
- Both channels are reactive, not proactive. They’re essential, but alone, they won’t generate future demand.
To future-proof performance and build a healthier sales funnel, brands need to layer in upper and mid-funnel tactics – and that’s where programmatic media buying comes in.
Why Brands Avoid Upper-Funnel Investment
We get it. Investing in top-of-funnel activity often feels risky:
- Large broadcast media buys are expensive, inflexible and hard to measure.
- It’s difficult to directly connect brand awareness to performance metrics.
- Audience targeting is often broad and imprecise.
- Consumer media habits are constantly shifting – from linear TV to on-demand, and radio to streaming.
But these are the exact problems that programmatic media buying is designed to solve.
How Programmatic Solves Key Media Challenges
Programmatic advertising allows marketers to build brand awareness without sacrificing flexibility or accountability. It brings the precision and agility of digital to traditional media formats.
- Efficiency – Plan and buy media across multiple formats from a single platform.
- Targeting – Reach the right audience with rich 1st and 3rd party data.
- Measurement -Track brand and performance outcomes in near real-time.
- Agility – Optimise campaigns as they run, reallocating budget to what’s working best.
- Creative Personalisation – Serve messaging based on behaviour, geography, time of day and more.
Programmatic Channels for Brand Campaigns
Bench runs full-funnel programmatic brand campaigns across:
- Connected TV (CTV) & BVOD – Reach engaged audiences on platforms like 7plus, 9Now and SBS On Demand
- AVOD (Ad-Supported Video on Demand) – Access premium audiences through ad-enabled platforms like Prime Video, Netflix, and Binge
- Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) – Deliver brand messages in high-traffic areas such as shopping centres, airports, gyms and billboards
- Audio Streaming – Reach audiences in screenless moments on Spotify, LiSTNR, iHeartRadio and more
- Display – Build awareness using high-impact creative formats
- Online Video – Extend reach through YouTube and premium video networks with skippable and non-skippable formats
All programmatic buys are supported by transparent reporting, real-time optimisation, and clear attribution metrics.
Smart Media Buying with Bench
At Bench, we partner with all major OOH and DOOH vendors across Australia, including JCDecaux, QMS, and more. We also leverage programmatic platforms like Perion and Vistar to maximise scale, targeting, and pricing efficiency.
Thanks to our long-standing relationships and media buying power, we secure competitive rates across all formats, giving our clients access to premium inventory with better ROI.
Why Programmatic Media Buying Is Essential for Modern Marketing
If your performance is plateauing, it’s time to expand your strategy, not just your spend. Programmatic brand campaigns give you the tools to drive awareness, fill the funnel, and supercharge your ROI – all with the accountability and agility of digital.
Want to learn more about how Bench Media can unlock the full potential of programmatic buying for your brand? Get in touch with us today.
