What are "premium online advertising spaces" and what are they not?

Who decides what is defined as "premium inventory" for online advertising spaces?FROM IVANO CELIA*The terms premium inventory and premium online advertising space are terms that are clearly attributable to marketers and publishers, which RTB providers have taken over in many cases. One can only speculate about the true motives and I don't want to presume to give the absolutely correct definition here. But I would like to venture an attempt at interpretation: it is obvious that one wants to differentiate oneself from the market with such a designation and set one's own status above that of others. But what constitutes premium inventory or a premium online placement? We can only speculate about this, as the term is not protected, is not an international standard and is purely a marketing invention of marketers and publishers. An attempt to interpret what Premium Inventory could mean from the inventor's point of view:Premium inventory/premium online advertising space- on editorial online platforms such as 20min.ch, nzz.ch, blick.ch, tagi.ch, etc.- from news portals/publishers - that is offered directly by publishers or an exclusive marketer - that is delivered within a guaranteed time and scope Assuming the above terms are the most relevant paraphrase, does Facebook with its inventory also belong to the group of premium publishers or does Facebook also sell premium inventory? Or does Facebook not belong to this group because Facebook itself is not a publisher and does not provide editorial services in the sense of traditional publishers? What about ronorp.ch, local.ch or search.ch, are they premium publishers with premium inventory or not? Because ronorp.ch is basically a digital bulletin board and local.ch and search.ch are "merely" directories that also provide hardly any editorial services in the sense and understanding of conventional publishing houses. these questions are difficult to answer and certainly a definition that each advertising client must define for themselves. But isn't it presumptuous for individual publishers and marketers to decide that their own online inventory is premium based on their own perception of how the world seems to be turning? And doesn't this subversively insinuate that everything else is NOT premium inventory?Is Premium Inventory independent of the editorial content and environment?Is it even possible to speak of premium online placement or premium inventory, regardless of what is published editorially on such a so-called premium website? Who, if anyone, decides what is good editorial content and what is not? Is user-generated content bad or worse than editorial content? Difficult to say.What is NOT premium inventory or what is NOT premium online advertising space?I have to admit, answering this question is much harder for me than empathically feeling my way into the psyche of publishing salespeople and marketers. In principle, you could say that anything that doesn't fall into the definitional category of the above interpretation is not premium inventory or premium online advertising space. Quite simply. At least that's my impression of the general self-image of Swiss publishers. Personally, as you may have noticed, this is a rather simplistic and, above all, one-dimensional interpretation. Because the actual reality of online publishers is a reality of the long tail. In other words, many medium-sized, small and micro-publishers and very few large publishers. This is the market structure all over the world and also in Switzerland. The reality is that, as an advertising client, I can build up my maximum net reach with many small and micro-publishers. are these platforms worse than the big ones? Not at all, and often quite the opposite. There are many topic-specific portals that also get a slice of the advertising pie. Programmatic media buying therefore has a very democratic feel to it and distributes advertising money primarily to places where the advertising meets with user approval and interest and therefore also to places that no media planner would otherwise find and book. This does not mean sexist, racist or violence-glorifying portals, as these are automatically excluded by professional programmatic providers. No, we are referring to the many countless websites that Swiss users like to surf around on, but which are completely ignored by local media planners. The Internet is not conventional TV, posters or print and still ticks in some respects according to its own laws and subtleties. On mediabros.ch you can view a current list of examples of such programmatic publishers.Does a pond have to look beautiful and aesthetic to catch fish?If you want to catch fish, you don't usually go to the pond because of its beauty, but because of the fish swimming promisingly in it, which, with a bit of luck and the right bait, you want to get out of the water. Or not? The reason why advertisers pay cash is ultimately to be able to broadcast the right message to the right users at the right time, in the right/appropriate dose and in a sensible environment. This is the absolute strength and advantage of programmatic marketing and programmatic media buying, and each user decides for themselves what constitutes a high-quality premium environment. People don't eat fillet every day, but sometimes a steak, vegetarian, vegan or even a kebab or mac. The world is unfolding a colorful and diverse number of possibilities, especially on the Internet, to appear as an advertising client to the desired user. I therefore recommend adopting a more differentiated approach to the topic of premium inventory and premium online placements and paying attention to where these terms are being slung from.there are certainly many other possible interpretations of premium inventory or premium online advertising spaces. What's yours? Say it on Twitter and use #unword to do so. Or share your opinion on blog.mediabros.ch with marketing and communications colleagues!