Connected TV, Streaming and Programmatic Advertising in Melbourne
Connected TV and streaming, digital billboards, online video, display and streaming audio, bought by audience and postcode through one platform, with the creative made in-house and every fee shown line by line.
Who uses programmatic advertising in Melbourne
Programmatic is the channel businesses ask about when they want to reach a specific kind of person wherever that person is, rather than buy one channel and hope. Usually one of three things is true:
You want to be on the streaming services your customers actually watch, by postcode, without a broadcast budget.
You’re already running Meta and Google and have reached the edge of what those audiences can do.
You’re running out of home or TV with us and want the digital screens and streaming inventory bought the same way.
Programmatic means buying ad space through software, in real time, by audience rather than by placement. The same person watches a streaming service at night, drives past a digital billboard in the morning and listens to a podcast on the way home. Buying each of those channels separately means paying three times to reach them and hoping the overlap works out. Buying the person means one message, one frequency cap and one report across all of it. We buy through StackAdapt, which reaches ad-supported streaming services, the networks’ streaming apps, online video, websites, digital billboards and streaming audio from one platform. Which streaming services are available changes as publishers open their inventory, so we show you the current list on the planning call rather than printing one here.
The catch is that programmatic pricing is hard to read. The platform’s fee is built into the price of every impression, data for targeting is charged on top, and most agencies then add their own percentage and present one number so you can’t tell what the media cost and what everyone else took. That’s the part of programmatic that gets a bad name, and it’s the part we do differently.
How we run programmatic
We start with the person, not the channel. The same team that shoots your TV and social creative decides who should see it, then buys whatever that person watches, drives past or listens to, from one platform, with the fees on one page.
Audiences, not channels
We start with who you need to reach and where they live, then buy whichever screens and speakers that person actually uses. The streaming service, the billboard on their commute, the podcast, the sites they read: one audience, one message, one frequency cap across all of it, so nobody sees the ad fifteen times and nobody who matters is missed because they weren’t watching the channel you happened to buy.
Fees on one page
Media at the platform’s rate, data and verification as their own lines, and our flat management fee as another, all shown before you commit. We don’t mark up the media, we don’t add a percentage, and the number on the plan is the number on the invoice.
Creative made for the screen it’s on
A connected TV spot is a TV ad: 15 or 30 seconds, landscape, sound on. A digital billboard is seven words and one image. Streaming audio is a script and a voice. Each comes from the same team and the same shoot, cut for where it runs.
Brand-safe by default
Inventory bought from known publishers and the premium streaming services through private deals where they exist, with fraud and viewability verification on. No open-exchange junk, no made-for-advertising sites.
Reported on what matters
Three numbers. Reach and frequency for the buy, from the platform. A pixel on your site that connects the people who saw the ad with the people who later visited, enquired or bought, so you see what the campaign drove rather than guessing from timing. And a baseline on branded search, direct traffic and enquiries for the lift the pixel can’t catch. Reported alongside Meta, Google, TV and OOH where you run them, so nothing is counted twice.
What’s included
Fit check: whether programmatic will do anything for you at your budget
Audience and catchment planning
Channel plan across connected TV, streaming, online video, display, digital out of home and audio
Private deal negotiation with publishers and streaming services where it improves price or placement
Campaign build, bidding and frequency management on the platform
Creative for every format from the same shoot: TV spots, display sets, DOOH artwork, audio scripts
Brand safety, fraud and viewability verification
Measurement setup: site pixel for view-through attribution, plus search, traffic and enquiry baselines
Integration with your Meta, Google, TV and OOH campaigns
Monthly or post-flight report with reach, frequency, the lift against baseline, and every fee shown
What programmatic advertising costs in Melbourne
Programmatic has three costs: the media, any data and verification bought on top of it, and the agency’s fee for running it. Most agencies quote one percentage and keep the split to themselves. Here’s ours.
Media, data and verification. Media is billed at StackAdapt’s rate, which already includes the platform’s own fee; we pass it through at cost and never mark it up. Third-party data for targeting and verification for brand safety are charged per thousand impressions on top, and each appears as its own line on the plan so you can see what it adds and decide whether it’s worth it.
Management. A flat fee: $2,500 a month or per four-week flight for one channel, $4,000 for two or more. Not a percentage of media. A bigger budget doesn’t cost more to manage; more channels do, because each one is its own creative and its own setup.
Creative. Connected TV spots come from the TV shoot if you’re running one with us; otherwise a 15 or 30 second spot from $8,000. Display sets, digital billboard artwork and audio scripts from $1,500 per campaign.
Minimum campaign. Around $10,000 in media for a four-week flight or an always-on month. Below that the platform minimums and data costs take too much of the budget, and the money does more on Meta and Google.
Example. A connected TV and digital billboard flight for a property launch, four weeks, buyer suburbs only: $20,000 in media at the platform rate, around $1,500 in audience data and verification, $4,000 management for two channels, creative from the TV shoot. About $25,500 all in, every line shown.
What to expect back. Reach and frequency for the buy, the pixel’s view of who saw the ad and then visited or enquired, and the baseline we set on branded search, direct traffic and enquiries. We’ll give you a realistic picture before you commit.
How it starts
1. Fit check
Catchment, budget and what you’re already running. We’ll tell you if programmatic won’t add anything yet.
2. Audience and channel plan
Who you’re reaching, where they are, which screens and services reach them, and what each will cost with fees shown.
3. Deals and setup
Private deals negotiated where they help, verification switched on, frequency caps set across channels.
4. Creative
Spots, artwork and scripts cut for each format, from the shoot where there is one.
5. Launch
Baseline tracked, digital campaigns matched to the footprint, campaign live.
6. Measure and report
Reach, frequency, the lift against baseline, every fee, and what we’d change next flight.
Programmatic and everything else, one team
Programmatic is where the other channels meet. The digital billboards from your out of home plan, the streaming services your TV campaign can’t reach, the retargeting that follows a Google search. When one team runs all of it, the creative matches, the frequency is capped across channels instead of within each one, and the report shows one picture instead of five.
See how we run out of home, TV, Google Ads and Meta ads.
Who you’ll work with
Two senior people and nobody in between. William runs creative. Brittany runs media. You’ll deal with both.
William
Creative. Cuts the TV spots, display sets, DOOH artwork and audio from the same shoot, each for the screen it runs on.
Brittany
Media. Plans the audience, negotiates the deals, runs the platform and owns the number. Has bought programmatically, including digital out of home, since before Hypr.
What we run
Connected TV and streaming
Ad-supported streaming services on the big screen, bought by audience and postcode. The list of services open to programmatic buying changes as publishers release inventory; we show you what’s available when we plan.
Programmatic BVOD
7plus, 9Now, 10 Play and SBS On Demand bought through StackAdapt rather than direct, including live sport, for campaigns that want one buy across every service.
Online video
Pre-roll and in-stream video on YouTube and publisher sites, bought by audience.
Digital billboards, roadside panels and retail screens bought by audience, daypart and conditions.
Display
Banners on known publishers, mostly for retargeting people who’ve already visited.
Streaming audio
Spotify, podcasts and streaming radio, bought by audience and postcode.
Who we work with
Property development
Connected TV and digital billboards to buyer suburbs for launches, with the spot cut from the project shoot.
Builders and home improvement
Streaming and online video to homeowner postcodes, frequency-capped, backed by Google for the search it creates.
Retail and ecommerce
Connected TV for reach, display and video for retargeting, with the creative matched to what’s running on Meta.
Gyms and fitness chains
Streaming audio and connected TV around each site for launches and January, by postcode.
Professional services
Connected TV and premium publisher video for credibility with business decision-makers, without the metro broadcast budget.
What we don’t do
Charge a percentage of media. Our fee is flat, and a bigger budget doesn’t mean a bigger fee.
Mark up the media or hide what’s in it. The platform’s rate is what you pay, data and verification are their own lines, and our fee is the only thing we add.
Buy open-exchange inventory to make the numbers look cheap. Known publishers, premium streaming, verification on.
Report impressions as the result. You’ll see reach and frequency, and you’ll see what moved in search and enquiries.
Questions we get asked
What is programmatic advertising?
Can I advertise on Netflix?
What's the difference between this and the TV page?
How do you charge?
What's the minimum budget?
Can you target by postcode?
Is it brand safe?
Do you make the creative?
Can you measure it?
Do you only work in Melbourne?
Related services
Book a planning call
Tell us who you want to reach and where, and we’ll come back with the channels, the reach and every fee on one page. If programmatic won’t add anything at your budget, we’ll say so on the call.