How many of you remember the song from the serial "Bharat Ek Khoj" from the late 80s?
It goes, Shrishti see pehle satya nahi that, asatya bhi nahi....
Similarly, there wasn't any Click Fraud & Digital Creative before the internet.
Then, Tim Berners-Lee said, let's create the internet!
Though, online advertising started in 1995. But, its evolution took place during the dot-com era.
During the Dot-Com era, there came traffic to websites, but there wasn't any liquidity.
Then, almost a new Search Engine with new algorithms started Google Ads.
Even after liquidity on the internet, there wasn't any price discovery that would work in real-time.
That is when Real-Time Bidding (RTB) came & subsequently Google acquired DoubleClick in 2007.
With the rise in many Ad Networks, new Ad Exchanges came. They offered to buy & sell ads through Ad Networks.
This gave rise to the Programmatic ecosystem which we see today with various AdTechs - Ad Technologies.
Liquidity & Price Discovery are terms from economics. And, Programmatic Advertising isn't anything related to Programming.
As I keep exploring more I will come up with explanations in such simple terms.
Don't forget to like, share & follow. That would be encouraging.