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Working Conference on Information Systems and Organizations

IS&O 2018: Living with Monsters? Social Implications of Algorithmic Phenomena, Hybrid Agency, and the Performativity of Technology pp 110–123Cite as

Objects, Metrics and Practices: An Inquiry into the Programmatic Advertising Ecosystem

Part of the IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology book series (IFIPAICT,volume 543)

Abstract

Programmatic advertising is a large scale, real-time bidding process, whereby ads are automatically assigned to available spaces across types of media and geographic regions upon an individual user’s browser request. The large-scale automation of programmatic advertising requires the establishment of standards and the development of technologies to govern the behavior of market participants (sellers, buyers, intermediaries). We present evidence on the rules of programmatic exchange and on the role played by a specific class of digital objects. We focus in particular on the metrics to which these objects are linked and how they define what is exchanged and the parameters of these exchanges. We furthermore demonstrate that the metrics and the technological complexes associated with them are constituted by the institutional field of digital advertising and its complex technological infrastructure. Rather than being simply means to monitor a pre-existing reality ‘out there’ (such as user or audience behavior) these metrics and techniques bring forward their own reality and heavily impact upon and shape the objects and processes of digital advertising.

Keywords

  • Automation
  • Digital advertising
  • Performativity
  • Digital objects
  • Information infrastructures

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  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-04091-8_9
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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Surrey Business School, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Cristina Alaimo

  2. LSE, London School of Economics, London, UK

    Jannis Kallinikos

Authors
  1. Cristina Alaimo
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  2. Jannis Kallinikos
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cristina Alaimo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA

    Prof. Ulrike Schultze

  2. University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Prof. Margunn Aanestad

  3. Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm, Sweden

    Magnus Mähring

  4. Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Carsten Østerlund

  5. The University of Sydney Business School, Darlington, NSW, Australia

    Prof. Dr. Kai Riemer

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Alaimo, C., Kallinikos, J. (2018). Objects, Metrics and Practices: An Inquiry into the Programmatic Advertising Ecosystem. In: Schultze, U., Aanestad, M., Mähring, M., Østerlund, C., Riemer, K. (eds) Living with Monsters? Social Implications of Algorithmic Phenomena, Hybrid Agency, and the Performativity of Technology. IS&O 2018. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 543. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04091-8_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04091-8_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04090-1

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