B-to-b marketers not only want to target by accounts rather than individuals, but are looking for narrower audiences and higher quality media which is more expensive than a traditional b-to-c marketer who might be looking to maximize reach said Ana Milicevic, principal and co-founder of programmatic consultancy Sparrow Advisors.

“You want to make sure you are spending to acquire that customer because the payout is very significant,” Milicevic said.

B-to-B programmatic isn’t new per se, but adoption grew during the pandemic when traditional b-to-b marketing channels like trade shows disappeared, Milicevic said.

Tarnopolsky’s b-to-b clients spend about 25%-30% of their budgets on programmatic, though this may be higher than the average b-to-b marketer given that his clients have hired a media agency.

However, agencies like Good Apple are more likely to use generalist DSPs like The Trade Desk, which offer their own b-to-b buying capabilities, before specialist DSPs like ZoomInfo, because platforms like The Trade Desk allow centralized buying through one platform.

In response, Haile said that The Trade Desk is not a direct competitor to ZoomInfo but complementary to its offering—ZoomInfo has its own unique proprietary data.

Still, Tarnopolsky said that ZoomInfo’s partnership with The Trade Desk marks progress toward integrating traditional b-to-b marketing with programmatic and the agency would consider using the tool.

“There would have to be some point where [ZoomInfo’s] data is such an advantage that it makes more sense than [working with] The Trade Desk directly,” Tarnopolsky said.