How do you write a programmatic media brief that picks the sites?
Part of Programmatic media planning
The short answer
A programmatic media brief is a selection spec: each field should change which websites a reviewer keeps or removes. Write the reader, three to five article descriptions, avoid topics with a tolerance per category, markets, languages, buying route, list size and approver. If a field changes no site decision, cut it; if a decision has no field, add one.
Key takeaways
- Test every brief field by asking which site it would keep or remove; a field that moves no site is decoration.
- Topics wanted work best as three to five article descriptions plus one near miss the reviewer should reject.
- Topics to avoid need a tolerance per sensitive category, not a single word such as negative or unsafe.
- Market, language and buying route fields each remove sites for a reason that can be written next to the site.
- Name the approver and the evidence the client expects before the search starts, so the list is built to be signed.
What is a programmatic media brief, and how is it different from a creative brief?
Definition
- Programmatic media brief
- The written instructions a planner uses to decide which websites, channels and deals a campaign may buy through automated platforms. It describes places and the evidence needed to accept them, not the message or the ad.
A creative brief tells a writer what to say. A programmatic media brief tells a reviewer what to keep. That difference changes how it should be written. Creative language such as "aspirational" or "premium" gives a writer room; the same words give a site reviewer nothing to test. Two planners who read the same media brief should keep and remove the same sites for the same reasons.
The programmatic media planning hub covers the full path from brief to exported list. This page goes one level down: a field by field template, the site decision each field drives, and the way each field fails when it is left vague.
Which brief fields decide which sites make the list?
Read the table as a contract between the person who writes the brief and the person who reviews sites. The last column is the cost of leaving a field blank: someone still makes that decision, but silently, and nobody can explain it later.
| Brief field | Site decision it drives | Evidence the reviewer checks | If left blank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reader | Which publications this person actually reads | The articles a site publishes are written for that reader | The list drifts toward the largest general sites |
| Article descriptions | Whether a site is a topic publisher or a passing mention | The share of sampled articles that fit a description | Keyword matches stand in for relevance |
| Near miss | Where the topic boundary sits | Sites whose articles resemble the near miss are rejected | Adjacent but wrong sites slip in |
| Avoid topics with tolerance | Which sensitive pages disqualify a site and which are allowed | Sampled pages judged against each category's tolerance | Reviewers apply their own taste, or a blunt keyword list |
| Markets | Whether a site has real readers in each target country | Country level popularity data, not the domain ending | Home country sites dominate and foreign sites with real readers vanish |
| Languages | Whether the articles are in the languages the ads will use | The language of the sampled articles themselves | A French requirement is treated as optional |
| Buying route | Whether a site can be bought where the desk trades | ads.txt and the exchange's sellers.json agree on the seller | Sites the desk cannot buy fill the list |
| List size and budget | How deep below the strongest sites the list may go | The planned number of sites set against the budget and flight | The list is padded to look complete |
| Approver and evidence | What each site must carry to be signed off | A reason line and the matching pages for every site | The list is rebuilt after the client asks why |
How do you turn topics wanted into article descriptions a reviewer can test?
Single words make poor topics because they match too much. An article description names the format, the depth and the reader's purpose, so a reviewer can hold a real page next to it and say yes or no. The descriptions also become the search phrases that find candidates in the first place.
Five steps to write the topics field
- Write three to five descriptions of a perfect article. Each one is a sentence a reader would recognize, such as "an energy advisor's guide to sizing a heat pump for an old house".
- Name the format in each one. Reviews, how to guides, local news and personal essays attract different publishers, so say which formats count.
- Add one near miss. Describe an article that sounds on topic but should not qualify, such as "a manufacturer's product specification sheet", so the reviewer sees the boundary.
- Set the match rule. State how much of a site must fit, for example most of its recent articles, so one lucky page does not qualify a general site.
- Rank the descriptions. Mark which description is the core and which are secondary, so a short list fills from the core first.
How do topics to avoid become rules a reviewer can apply?
"Avoid negative content" fails because every reviewer reads it differently. Map each concern to a named content category and give it a tolerance. The IAB Tech Lab Content Taxonomy (opens in a new tab), listed with a December 2024 release date for version 3.1, names contextual targeting and brand safety as its typical uses, which makes it a shared vocabulary for this field. The World Federation of Advertisers discontinued GARM in August 2024 (opens in a new tab); its Brand Safety Floor and Suitability Framework is a legacy reference, not an operating standard or certification.
| Category | Tolerance | What the reviewer does |
|---|---|---|
| Tragedy and conflict | No sites built around it; news coverage allowed | Keeps a general news site, rejects a site that mainly publishes disaster coverage |
| Illegal drugs | None | Rejects any site whose sampled pages cover it, records the page |
| Politics and debated social issues | Reporting allowed, advocacy not | Reads whether the sampled pages report or campaign |
| Health scares about the product | Brand specific, none | Rejects sites with recurring scare stories about the product category |
Platform settings sit on top of the brief and do not replace it. Google's content suitability settings (opens in a new tab) offer Maximum, Moderate and Limited inventory types across YouTube, the Display Network and Google video partners, where Moderate "excludes strong profanity, dramatized violence, and sexually suggestive themes." Google also says "we can't guarantee that all related content will be excluded." Google's help pages gave two paths to these settings when checked in October 2026, Tools > Content suitability and Admin > Account settings; confirm in the account. Record in the brief which platform setting the campaign will use, checked in October 2026, so the reviewer knows what the list does not need to repeat.
How do market, language and buying route fields narrow the list?
Each of these fields removes sites for a reason that can be written in one line. Markets should name countries, and regions where they matter, and say how audience will be judged. Chrome UX Report country values are "inferred from users' IP addresses" (opens in a new tab) and published as ISO 3166-1 codes in BigQuery, which makes them a reasonable test of whether a site has real visits in a country, wherever its office is.
Languages should say which languages the ads will run in and that language is judged from the articles, not the domain or the site menu. Buying route should say whether the list feeds a curated deal on a named exchange, an open auction line item or a placement list in Google Ads, because each one removes different sites. A site with no seller on the desk's exchange cannot join a deal there, however good its content. The ads.txt project (opens in a new tab) exists so buyers can see who is authorized to sell a site before they plan on it.
How does PlacementGraph read a written brief?
What does a filled-in programmatic media brief look like?
Fictional example
A heat pump installer in New England
A fictional Providence company that installs cold climate heat pumps asks its agency for an English display flight in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The first email says "homeowners, quality sites, nothing negative." The planner rewrites it into the template before any search runs.
The reader becomes an owner of an older house who reads about renovation, energy bills and home comfort. Three article descriptions follow: a guide to replacing an oil furnace, a contractor's explainer on insulation before new heating, and a local story about how residents kept homes warm through a cold winter. The near miss is a manufacturer's specification sheet. The avoid field names stories about heating systems failing in cold snaps as brand specific with no tolerance, and tragedy news as allowed only on general news sites.
Markets are the three states, judged by visits rather than by where a site is based. The buying route is a curated deal on one exchange, so every site needs a seller on it. The account lead is named approver and asks for the matching pages on every line. One field, list size, stays open; the client confirms that a short list is acceptable, and the brief records that before search.
What should be signed off before the site search starts?
Brief sign off checklist
- Every field in the brief changes at least one keep or remove decision.
- The reader is described by what they read, not only by age and income.
- Three to five article descriptions and one near miss are written as full sentences.
- Each avoid topic has a named category and a tolerance, with brand specific topics marked.
- Markets name countries and regions, and the brief says audience is judged by visits.
- Languages are stated for the ads and judged from the articles.
- The buying route names the deal or line item type and the exchanges the desk can use.
- A list size and a decision on short lists are agreed with the client.
- The approver and the evidence each site must carry are named.
Frequently asked questions
Who should write the programmatic media brief, the client or the agency?
The client supplies the business facts: product, reader, markets and what the brand will not appear beside. The agency planner turns those facts into the template, because only the planner knows which fields change site decisions. The client then confirms the written version, so both sides sign the same document rather than two memories of a meeting.
How long should a programmatic media brief be?
One page can be enough. Each field needs a sentence or a short list, and the article descriptions need a line each. A brief that runs to several pages may be mixing in creative direction or campaign strategy, which belong in other documents. If a section of the brief changes no site decision, move it out.
What if the client sends example sites instead of a written brief?
Use them, but still write the brief. Example sites show the tone and depth the client likes, and a lookalike website search can find more like them. The avoid field, markets, languages and buying route still need writing, because no example site tells a reviewer what the brand refuses to appear beside.
Can one brief cover both websites and YouTube?
One brief can, with separate sections where the channels differ. The reader, article descriptions and avoid topics can carry over. YouTube needs its own decisions on channel size, Shorts and made for kids content, covered in the YouTube channel planning guide.
What should happen when the brief changes after the list is approved?
Treat it as a new brief version. Record which field changed, rerun the decisions that field drives and approve the list again. A new avoid topic, for example, means rereading sampled pages on every site, not only adding a keyword to the platform settings.
Sources
- Content Taxonomy (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab
- WFA discontinues GARM (opens in a new tab)World Federation of Advertisers, 9 August 2024
- About content suitability (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- CrUX dimensions (opens in a new tab)Google Chrome for Developers
- ads.txt (Authorized Digital Sellers) (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab
- Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA) (opens in a new tab)Federal Trade Commission
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.