Angie Singh, our Head of Revenue Operations, has over 20 years' experience in Advertising Operations (Ad Ops). She knows more than most that it's an ever-changing discipline with new challenges regularly popping up.
We spoke to her about the Ad Ops industry, her background and how important experience is in a field that can't be taught.
"Ad Ops is not something you can learn from school or university, it is critical that Ad Ops professionals support each other and pass their experience through mentoring, training, communities."
You’ve been working in advertising operations for the best part of twenty years. What have the biggest or most impactful developments been in that time?
I started in Ad Ops when the internet was only just beginning to gain some traction, we were considered the back-office function that no one really cared about and just got things done.
I would say the biggest development has been the acknowledgment that Ad Operations is the backbone and success to any digital business.
It is all well and good having sales teams, but if your contracts cannot be delivered as required then you will not get repeat business.
Over the years, Ad Ops has really evolved into Revenue Operations or Technical Operations.
You used to be Head of Programmatic Trading and Ad Ops at Mumsnet. Planet Sport exists in a completely different industry. What has that transition been like? Are there similarities that made it easier?
There are many similarities between the technical side of the programmatic business; the setup is more or less the same.
When looking at the actual business then of course there are many differences. Mumsnet had many processes to go through before testing of any product could commence which could take over 6 months, causing loss of revenue in the interim.
You are right when you say the landscape is ever changing. Employing good people in this field is very tricky and I often find they are experienced in one thing but not another.
However, I would argue Planet Sport is run more efficiently. We take advantage of our multiple titles and testing can commence relatively quickly, sometimes days, and the results of these active tests are more insightful than forecasts and assumptions.
The transition has been smooth as I feel the leadership team at Planet Sport is super flexible and open to trying new things.
How important is tenure and experience when dealing with AdOps systems that are constantly changing?
Very important. You are right when you say the landscape is ever changing. Employing good people in this field is very tricky and I often find they are experienced in one thing but not another.
I was very lucky to have started my career over 20 years ago and have had the privilege of having a 360 degree view of most systems.
There's always plenty going on in Ad Ops. What do you get involved with and how have you benefitted from this community?
The Ad Ops community is a tight knit one with people eager to support each other despite professional allegiances.
This is super important as Ad Ops is not something you can learn from school or university, it is critical that Ad Ops professionals support each other and pass their experience through mentoring, training, communities.
I get involved with many things. In the early stages I was an active member of an organisation called Admonsters, a company that was set up to give Ad Ops professionals a voice and learning platforms. I benefited from this as there was nothing else to lean on at the time. You could discuss issues and topics in a comfortable environment and bounce ideas around.
Now we have multiple WhatsApp groups and communities discussing different topics and multiple events taking place each year.
Above: International Women's Day by The Women in Programmatic Network.
You recently hosted an event for The Women in Programmatic Advertising Network. Can you tell me a bit about The Network, what it seeks to achieve and what you enjoy most about being part of it?
The Women in Programmatic Network was created to provide opportunities and support for women in the programmatic and digital advertising industry
I volunteered to host monthly sessions for the UK members as I feel it will increase my learnings on current hot topics which I can then employ professionally in my role at Planet Sport.
I feel I’m giving back to the community with my experience and I genuinely love being an active member.
The Planet Sport Group has many titles covering a wide variety of sports. It therefore has a wide range of users with varying behaviours. How does the Planet Sport Group optimise its programmatic advertising to best appeal to these different audience segments?
As a business, we really understand the importance of segmenting audience data. Our publishing titles do it every day when they’re creating content and engaging our audiences in multiple channels.
That segmentation is vitally important for our own reach and engagement, but it’s also crucial for us as publishers to be able to prove to advertisers that we can target their desired audiences and deliver good results.
We know how to provide a safe, reliable and profitable environment for advertisers, while ensuring our user’s experiences are always positive and valuable.
We always want to optimise performance for our clients. At the moment, we’re looking at many things from working with first party data providers and creating robust, granularly targetable segments per vertical.
Since the deprecation of third-party cookies is ominously coming over the horizon, the nature of programmatic buying is having to switch up and adapt. As such, we are seeing a much bigger drive on on-to-one relationships with buyers.
For businesses looking to showcase their brand through advertising, why should they choose the Planet Sport Group?
Planet Sport is a premium brand backed by over 25 years in the advertising and publishing industry.
We know how to provide a safe, reliable and profitable environment for advertisers, while ensuring our user’s experiences are always positive and valuable. We do this by carefully selecting the vendors we work with and making sure the advertising experience isn’t considered a nuisance.
We are able to serve a range of high-impact premium display ads, from full skins to responsive interscrollers, that ensure high viewability and engagement opportunity.
It's all about maximising brand exposure and driving users to client sites where they can ultimately convert. We do that for our clients exceptionally well.