Your Programmatic Campaigns Deserve a Real Expert
You know programmatic works. But between DSP complexity, attribution black holes, and reporting that doesn't match reality, you're spending without confidence. I've worked across 400+ brands and 12+ years of programmatic. I'll fix what's broken.
Book a Free ConsultationYou're running display campaigns across three platforms and none of the attribution data agrees with each other. Your agency reports look great but GA4 tells a different story. Meanwhile, you're pretty sure at least 20% of your impressions are hitting bot traffic, and nobody on the current team can tell you for certain. That's not a media problem. That's an infrastructure problem.
Programmatic Done Right, Not Just Done
Full DSP Audit
I'll tear apart your current programmatic setup. Campaign structure, audience segments, creative rotation, bid strategy, placement quality. You'll get a full report showing exactly where money is leaking and why your attribution doesn't line up.
Attribution Architecture
Clean attribution starts with proper pixel placement, conversion windows, and a measurement plan that accounts for programmatic's longer conversion paths. I'll build the tracking foundation so you actually know what's working.
Campaign Build and Optimization
New campaigns built from scratch or existing ones rebuilt with proper structure. Audience layering, frequency management, contextual targeting, and creative rotation that doesn't burn through your best assets in a week.
Transparent Reporting
Monthly reporting that shows you real numbers. CPMs by placement, viewability rates, actual vs. reported conversions, and honest commentary on what to scale and what to cut. No vanity metrics.
Built for Brands That Have Outgrown Guesswork
DTC brands spending $20K-$200K/mo on display and programmatic who need someone to actually look under the hood. You've got budget but no confidence in where it's going.
Ecommerce companies scaling beyond Meta and Google into programmatic for the first time. You need an expert who's done this before, not an agency learning on your dime.
Marketing teams that inherited a DSP setup from a previous agency and have no idea if it's actually working. The reports look fine but the results don't match.
Three Steps. No Surprises.
The Audit
I look at your current programmatic campaigns, attribution setup, and reporting. You get a written audit with specific findings, not a pitch deck.
The Plan
Based on the audit, I put together a flat-fee proposal covering exactly what needs to happen. No packages. No upsells. Just the work that actually matters for your situation.
The Work
Campaigns go live within 5-7 business days. From there, it's constant testing, weekly reporting, and direct access to me whenever something comes up.
What a Programmatic Consultant Actually Runs
Programmatic is where the most money disappears with the least scrutiny. Impressions are cheap, dashboards look busy, and half the supply is junk. Here's the literal work of buying the open web without getting fleeced.
DSP setup and optimization
The demand-side platform is the cockpit, and most accounts fly it on defaults. I set up bid strategies, frequency caps, and pacing so budget goes to inventory that converts instead of whatever's cheapest. If the terms here are new, I've written a plain explainer on what a DSP is and how it works.
Supply path optimization
The same impression can reach you through five different paths, each with its own middleman taking a cut. I trace the supply path and buy direct or through curated deals so you're not paying three intermediaries for one ad. This alone often recovers 20 to 40 percent of wasted media cost.
Brand safety and fraud control
Pre-bid filtering, curated inventory over open exchange, and third-party verification on viewability and invalid traffic. On the open web, excluding bad supply matters as much as buying good supply, and it's the part cheap vendors skip.
Measurement past viewability
Viewability tells you an ad could have been seen. It says nothing about whether it worked. I tie programmatic back to real outcomes with proper attribution and incrementality tests, so connected TV and display earn their budget instead of just claiming it.
Consultant, Agency, or Trade Desk
There are three ways to buy programmatic, and the difference is mostly about who sees the real costs. I'll be straight about when each one fits.
Consultant
A senior buyer running your seat with full fee transparency. Fits brands spending roughly $15K to $150K a month that want to see the true media cost, not a blended number with a hidden markup.
You keep the DSP relationship and the data. The tradeoff is bandwidth. I run the buying and the exclusions, but I'm not a 10-person trade desk.
Agency Trade Desk
Makes sense at high volume across many markets where a team manages seats, deals, and creative at scale.
The catch is opacity. Many trade desks buy on a managed seat and add a markup you never see. If you go this route, ask for the true media cost and the fee, itemized.
In-House Seat
The right call once spend justifies your own DSP contract, which gives you the most transparency into fees and inventory.
The risk is the learning curve. DSPs are complex, and most in-house teams still bring in a consultant to set up the seat and audit supply paths.
What It Costs and What the First 90 Days Look Like
Market rates first. Programmatic help runs $3,000 to $15,000 a month, and many agencies bury a media markup on top of the DSP cost so you never see the true price of the inventory. I've published a breakdown of what programmatic advertising actually costs if you want the detail.
I charge a flat monthly fee and keep the DSP relationship transparent. You see the real media cost and what you pay me, separately. If you'd rather hand the whole channel off, that's what my managed programmatic service is for.
Days 1 to 30
Audit the seat and the supply. Map every path an impression takes to you, cut the junk exchanges, and set up brand safety and fraud filtering. Establish a baseline for real media cost versus what you were paying.
Days 31 to 60
Restructure buying around curated deals and clean inventory. Bid strategies and frequency caps get reset against outcome data instead of viewability.
Days 61 to 90
Scale the paths and audiences that proved out. Incrementality tests confirm the channel is adding sales, not just claiming them, and reporting settles into a weekly rhythm tied to revenue.
Red Flags When Hiring a Programmatic Consultant
After 12+ years and 400+ brands, I can spot a reseller dressed up as a consultant fast. Here's what should make you walk.
They won't show the true media cost
If your invoice is one blended number with no split between inventory and fee, there's a markup you're not seeing. Transparency is the whole point of hiring a consultant over a trade desk.
Reporting leads with viewability
Viewability and impressions are activity metrics. If conversions or incremental lift isn't the first line, the report is hiding weak performance.
No mention of supply path
If they never talk about how impressions reach you or which exchanges they exclude, they're buying whatever's cheapest and hoping.
They own the DSP seat and won't share data
You should have visibility into placements and log-level data. A vendor who hides the seat is hiding where your money went.
Brand safety is an afterthought
If nobody brings up exclusion lists, fraud filtering, or made-for-advertising sites, your budget is funding the worst corners of the open web.
Programmatic Consultant Questions, Answered
What does a programmatic advertising consultant do?
What's the difference between programmatic and Google Ads?
How much does a programmatic consultant cost?
Do I need my own DSP seat?
How do you handle brand safety and ad fraud?
Built on 12+ years managing performance campaigns for 400+ brands.
Ready to Fix Your
Programmatic Campaigns?
Book a free audit. I'll tell you exactly what's working, what isn't, and what to do about it. No pitch. No obligation.
Book Your Free Audit