Top Programmatic Advertising Courses and Certifications in 2026

If you want top programmatic advertising courses for a job-focused path, start with Kraftshala’s Marketing Launchpad (22-week, placement-focused full stack digital marketing course with live programmatic projects). To build basics for free, add Google Skillshop’s DV360 lessons and The Trade Desk’s Edge Academy. For extra depth, you can layer on a self-paced course from Udemy or a media buying program from IIDE once you’re comfortable with the fundamentals.

What is Programmatic Advertising? 

Programmatic advertising is the automated process of buying and selling digital ad space using software platforms, data, and algorithms. It enables advertisers to deliver targeted ads to specific audiences across websites, mobile apps, video platforms, and connected devices in real time. 

Unlike traditional methods, programmatic advertising eliminates the need for manual negotiations, using demand-side platforms (DSPs) and real-time bidding (RTB) to optimise ad placements based on factors like user behaviour, location, device type, and browsing patterns. It is widely used for display, video, native, and audio advertising and has become a core component of modern digital marketing strategies.

How Does Programmatic Advertising Work? 

Digital programmatic advertising runs on platforms which handle everything: auctioning ad space, selecting the right ad, and displaying it to the right user. Within milliseconds, an ad auction takes place, and advertisers who want to reach someone like you (based on your interests, location, or browsing behaviour). This is called real-time bidding. 

For example, you visit this site, advertise “A” bids ₹3 to show a shoe ad, and advertiser “B” bids ₹5 to show a phone ad. Since the advertiser who bids the highest wins the auction and you see that ad on the page. 

The following key components help to understand how does programmatic advertising work, let’s explore them one by one: 

• DSP (Demand-Side Platform): It is used by advertisers to buy ad space automatically and target the right users using data like interests and behavior. It helps to manage multiple ad campaigns across different websites from one dashboard. 
• SSP (Supply-Side Platform): It is used by publishers (websites or apps) to sell their available ad space to advertisers. It helps to connect to multiple ad exchanges to get the best price for each impression. 
• Ad Exchanges: It is a digital marketplace where DSPs and SSPs meet and trade ad space in real-time. It is the place where the buying and selling of ad impressions happens. 
• Real-Time Bidding (RTB): It is a fast, automated auction where advertisers bid for a chance to show their ad to a specific user. 

The benefits of digital programmatic advertising include: 

• Scale and reach: With one campaign, you can show up on news sites, apps, video platforms, and even connected TV. An EdTech brand, for example, can talk to students who read exam blogs, watch YouTube, and use learning apps, without calling every publisher or setting up separate deals.
• Day-to-day efficiency: A lot of the repetitive work is handled by the platform. A small D2C skincare team can switch on a campaign, look at the numbers in the evening, stop the ad that is burning money, and quietly put more budget behind the one that is bringing in actual orders.
• Targeting and relevance: Programmatic lets you put money behind people who are more likely to care, instead of showing the same ad to everyone. A fintech app might focus on salaried people in Mumbai, 25–35, who usually read finance content at night on their phones, so each impression has a better chance of turning into a click or a lead.
• Cost control and ROI: You can set limits on bids, decide how often the same person sees your ad, and move budgets between audiences based on performance. That makes it easier to keep your cost per lead or cost per sale within a range the business can live with.
• Transparency and brand safety: Most programmatic platforms show where your ads ran, which sites or apps worked, and where performance was poor. You can use that to block unsafe placements, cut down junk traffic, and protect the brand, while still learning what to do differently in the next campaign.

Why Learn Programmatic Advertising in 2026?

Digital advertising continues to shift towards automated buying. In India, programmatic buying already accounts for around 42% of digital ad spend and is expected to reach about 44% by 2026, which is roughly ₹ 30,000 crore of media money running through these platforms. Globally, too, programmatic is one of the fastest-growing parts of digital, with spend projected to keep rising through the decade.

If you see yourself in performance marketing, media buying, media planning, or running large campaigns for brands, this is no longer a “nice to have” skill. D2C brands, BFSI, and EdTech companies in India have already shifted a large portion of their budgets to programmatic. Retail media and CTV are also growing rapidly, with connected TV ad spend in India tripling between 2022 and 2024 and expected to grow further by 2027.

You don’t need ten years of experience to enter this space. If you understand basic digital marketing or come from engineering, design, analytics, or general marketing, you can move into programmatic with focused training.

A few reasons why it makes sense to learn it now:

• High demand: As per Kraftshala’s Digital Marketing Hiring Trends Report, large agencies and brands such as GroupM, Publicis, Dentsu, Flipkart, Meesho, and Z1 Media keep hiring for programmatic roles as more of their spend flows through DSPs.
• Solid salaries: Entry-level programmatic executives and ad ops roles typically start in the 3-6 LPA range, with mid-level specialists and campaign managers moving into double-digit packages as they gain 3-5 years of experience and handle bigger budgets. With courses like Kraftshala’s Marketing Launchpad, you can expect a higher-end salary of 4.5 LPA to 10.05 LPA. 
• Tools that show up in real JDs: Platforms like DV360, The Trade Desk, Adobe Advertising, and Xandr appear directly in job descriptions, so hands-on practice with them makes your profile stand out.
  

Many learners say they “know the theory” but have never set up a live campaign. When you compare any programmatic advertising course, look closely at how much time you actually get inside tools and real campaigns, because that is what helps you clear interviews.

Best Programmatic Advertising Courses to Start With

Let’s explore the best programmatic advertising courses as per level, duration and pricing: 

Course	Level	Duration	Fees (approx.)	Placement Support	Key Highlights
Kraftshala’s Marketing Launchpad Program (MLP)	Beginner to advanced	22-week full-time program	₹1,49,000 + 18% GST (EMI options)	Yes, 60% fee refund if job is less than ₹4.5LPA	Job-linked digital marketing course with live projects and real budgets
Google Skillshop’s DV360	Beginner	Self-paced, short modules	Free	No	Certification add on for CV
The Trade Desk: Edge Academy	Beginner to intermediate	Self-paced learning paths	Free	No	Strong on programmatic fundamentals
Simplilearn’s Programmatic Foundations	Beginner	Short-term online program	Around ₹5,000	No	Strong on programmatic fundamentals
Udemy: Programmatic Advertising Fundamentals	Beginner to intermediate	Short-term online program	₹499-₹3,499 (offers vary)	No	Affordable and detailed for first-time learners
IIDE: Advanced Media Buying	Intermediate to advanced	Part-time online program	₹25,000-₹40,000	Yes, career guidance + support	Media buying focuses with some programmatic depth
Adtechademy – Programmatic Ad Technology 101	Beginner to job-ready	Around 8 weeks guided training	From ₹15,000–₹25,000 (track-based)	Yes, internship + placement assistance	DV360 edit access, live campaigns, job-readiness focus
Digital Academy 360: Skill Diploma in Digital Marketing & Programmatic Ads	Beginner to intermediate	Around 3 months	About ₹39,000 total fees	Yes	Broader digital marketing + programmatic ads in one diploma
The Knowledge Academy’s Programmatic Marketing Training	Beginner to intermediate	1-day live / 8-hour self-paced	From ₹27,995	No	Short, intensive workshop on programmatic marketing basics
FutureLearn & Deakin – Programmatic Advertising and Trading (Microcredential)	Intermediate	6 weeks (10 hours per week)	₹87,554	No	University-backed microcredential with a recognised certificate

Free & Beginner-friendly

Google Skillshop DV360 training (free)

This is a good first step if you want a direct view of the platform and prefer to learn at your own speed. It will not replace a full programmatic advertising course, but it helps you understand how the DV360 interface works and gives you a recognised certificate from Google.

• Level: Beginner
• Format: Self-paced online modules from Google
• What you learn: Basics of DV360, planning and running programmatic campaigns, and reading the main reports
• Fees: Free
• Placement support: None

The Trade Desk Edge Academy (free)

Edge Academy is useful when you want clear explanations of terms you keep hearing in interviews or job descriptions. It is theory plus lightweight quizzes. For tools and placements, you will still need a deeper training path.

• Level: Beginner to intermediate
  
• Format: Self-paced tracks on The Trade Desk’s platform
  
• What you learn: Programmatic fundamentals, data-driven buying, basic campaign setup, and optimisation
  
• Fees: Free
  
• Placement support: None

Paid Courses

Marketing Launchpad by Kraftshala

If your main goal is to work in programmatic and performance roles, Marketing Launchpad gives you a full stack to work with. You also run programmatic campaigns as part of the 8 live projects, see how they fit with Meta and Google Ads, and practice reading the numbers that matter.

• Duration: 22 weeks
• Mode: Live Online
• Starting Salary:  ₹4.5 to ₹10.05 LPA
• Curriculum: Marketing Fundamentals, Meta Ads, Google Ads, E-commerce Ads, Youtube & Display Ads, SEO, Programmatic, Data Analysis (GA and GSC) Copywriting, Social Media Strategy, Content Creation, Excel, Problem Solving, CV & Interview Prep, AI automation and tools.
• Live Projects: 8 (Meta Ads, E-commerce, Google Ads, SEO, Programmatic, Blog Creation, Social Media Strategy and Content Creation)
• Fees: The total fees payable for the course is ₹1,49,000 plus 18% GST. But the good part is that you’ll only have to pay 40% of it if you don’t get a placement of ₹4.5 LPA or more. There are EMI options available as well, starting at just ₹8,398 per month. Also, a scholarship of ₹30,000 is awarded to the top 5% applicants!
• Placement: 94% placement rate – highest in India. 2700+ students already placed.
• Recruiter Companies: Performics, PGD, Nykaa, Coursera, Publicis Groupe, Bajaj, GroupM, Dentsu, and many more.

Simplilearn – Programmatic Advertising Foundations

This works well if you want a structured primer on programmatic and like a course format instead of piecing together free videos. It is better treated as a starting point, which you can later combine with more hands-on training when you feel serious about job roles.

• Level: Beginner
  
• Format: Short online program with recorded lessons and some live doubt clearing
  
• What you learn: Basics of programmatic media buying, RTB, ad exchanges, and an overview of Google Ads and DV360
  
• Fees: Around ₹5,000
  
• Placement support: No dedicated placement cell

Udemy – Programmatic Advertising Fundamental

Udemy is handy when you prefer watching bite-sized lessons and rewinding as many times as you like. You get a solid introduction at a low cost, but since there is no live project work or career help, you will still need to build your own campaigns or combine it with a more job-focused program.

• Level: Beginner to intermediate
• Format: Self-paced video lessons
• What you learn: DSPs, SSPs, data management platforms, ad fraud basics, and performance metrics
• Fees: Usually between ₹499 and ₹3,499 depending on discounts
• Placement support: None

IIDE – Advanced Media Buying

It is an intermediate to advanced level course, which is available for around 25,000 to 40,000 INR. It covers programmatic advertising, DSP platforms, and ad performance media strategies. It offers career guidance, interview preparation, and placement support post-completion. 

• Level: Intermediate to advanced
  
• Format: Part-time online course with instructor support
  
• What you learn: Media buying strategies, programmatic concepts, DSP platforms, and optimisation for performance campaigns
  
• Fees: Around ₹25,000-₹40,000
• Placement support: Career guidance, interview preparation, and placement assistance

Adtechademy – Programmatic Ad Technology 101

Adtechademy is a good pick if you want a programmatic-first course with a strong focus on DV360. You spend time inside the platform with edit access, work on live-style tasks, and get structured help on resumes and interviews, which can make the move into ad ops or programmatic specialist roles smoother.

• Level: Beginner to job-ready
  
• Format: Guided online training with in-house DV360 access and live practice sessions
  
• What you learn: Fundamentals of programmatic, hands-on DV360 setup, campaign management, pacing sheets, and reporting, plus interview prep and mock interviews
  
• Fees: Starts around ₹15,000 for core training, with advanced tracks going up to about ₹25,000, depending on the package
  
• Placement support: Yes, through internship options and an in-house recruitment/placement assistance track
  

Digital Academy 360: Skill Diploma in Digital Marketing & Programmatic Ads.

This one works if you want a broader digital marketing base, and programmatic is one of the specialisations you care about. You get more hours overall, multiple certifications, and access to placement support, which is handy if you’re still deciding between a pure programmatic path and a wider digital marketing role.

• Level: Beginner to intermediate
  
• Format: Diploma-style blended digital marketing course with a programmatic ads component
  
• What you learn: Core digital marketing topics plus modules on programmatic advertising, using 20+ tools, projects, and case studies
  
• Fees: Around ₹39,000 total fees for the diploma
  
• Placement support: Yes, job assistance through a network of hiring partners
  

The Knowledge Academy’s Programmatic Marketing Training

This is better suited if you already work in marketing or media and want a compact, structured workshop to understand programmatic quickly, rather than a long-term job-linked program.

• Level: Beginner to intermediate
  
• Format: Short, instructor-led training (1-day live classes) or 8-hour self-paced format
  
• What you learn: Fundamentals of programmatic marketing, building a programmatic strategy, RTB concepts, and how programmatic fits with other digital channels
  
• Fees: Start from about ₹27,995, depending on the city and mode
  
• Placement support: Not focused on placements; it’s more of a skills workshop
  

FutureLearn & Deakin University: Programmatic Advertising and Trading (Microcredential)

This option makes sense if you already have some digital or media experience and want a more academic, globally recognised add-on to your CV, especially if you are open to roles beyond India.

• Level: Intermediate
  
• Format: 6-week online microcredential, around 10 hours of study per week, with graded assessment and a university-backed certificate
  
• What you learn: Deeper understanding of programmatic trading, ad tech ecosystem, measurement, and the strategic side of programmatic campaigns
  
• Fees: ₹87,554
  
• Placement support: No direct placement cell, but the credentials can strengthen your profile for global programmatic and ad-tech roles
  

If you are still choosing how to learn programmatic advertising, a simple way to think about it is this: use free courses like Skillshop or Edge Academy to test your interest and vocabulary, then pick one main program that gives you tool access, projects, and some level of placement support, depending on how quickly you want that first job or career switch.

Skills You’ll Learn Through Programmatic Advertising Courses

Programmatic advertising is a mix of different skills rather than just one topic. A good course will usually touch most of the areas below and give you a chance to practice them on real or simulated campaigns.

When you learn programmatic advertising, these are the main components you work on:

Skill Area	What will you learn?
Platform Operation	How to set up, manage, and optimise campaigns inside demand-side platforms (DSPs) across devices and formats. You get used to common workflows like creating line items, adding creatives, and reading basic dashboards.
Audience Targeting	How to reach the right people using options like contextual targeting, behavioural targeting, and remarketing. You learn to combine these options so your ads show up in front of users who are more likely to care.
Budgeting & Pacing	Learn advanced techniques on campaign budget allocation to control ad spending within an optimal range where ads aren’t being overexposed or underexposed.
Campaign Setup & Optimisation	How to plan and control daily and total budgets so you don’t spend too fast or too slow. You learn to adjust bids, caps, and pacing rules to keep delivery smooth through the campaign period.
Measurement & Attribution	How to plan a campaign from brief to launch, set clear goals like clicks or conversions, test variations, and then make small changes over time to improve results.
Brand Safety & Ad Fraud	How to read reports, track key metrics such as impressions, CTR, CPC, CPA, and ROAS, and understand which parts of the journey had the biggest impact on performance.
Creative Formats	How different formats work, like banners, native, video, audio, and CTV. You learn when to use each format and what kind of creative usually performs better for different goals.

Strong programmatic advertising courses try to build these skills in a way that matches what recruiters actually check for. In interviews, hiring managers often ask about how you set up a campaign, how you chose an audience, how you handled budgets and pacing, and how you used platform reports to make decisions.

Beginners commonly struggle with a few patterns across these same skill areas. Budgets might be paced too aggressively in the first few days, goals can be unrealistic for the spend, or targeting may be set so broadly that the right users never really see the ads. Many learners also focus only on surface-level metrics and ignore deeper performance numbers. A good course helps you spot these mistakes early and gives you enough practice to avoid them when you start working on live accounts.

Career Opportunities After Learning Programmatic Advertising

The well-known agencies like GroupM, Dentstu, Performics, and Interactive Avenues are always on a search for experts in programmatic advertising. In addition, in-house teams in D2C, BFSI, Ed-Tech brands manage their own media buying so they also need professionals in their team. 

You can explore different roles, at different levels, such as: 

Entry-level roles (0-2 years of experience)

• Common Job Titles: Programmatic Executive, Ad Operations Analyst
• Key Skills Required: Basic understanding of programmatic platforms, ad trafficking, campaign checks, daily monitoring, and simple reporting
• Experience Level: Freshers or early professionals who’ve done projects, internships, or a structured course with hands-on work
• Expected Salary Range: ₹4.5-6 LPA (according to Kraftshala’s internal placement data)

At this stage, you’re the person actually setting things up, checking if the tags are firing, and making sure campaigns don’t break. It’s a good place to learn the nuts and bolts.

Mid-level roles (2-5 years of experience)

• Common Job Titles: Programmatic Media Buyer, Campaign Manager, DSP Specialist
• Key Skills Required: End-to-end campaign handling, audience planning, budget and pacing control, regular optimisation, and explaining results to clients or internal teams
• Experience Level: People who’ve already managed multiple campaigns, handled monthly budgets, and are comfortable making decisions based on data
• Expected Salary Range: ₹7.5-14 LPA

Here, you’re not just “running” campaigns, you’re deciding what to test next, which audiences to keep, and how to move money between lines so performance improves month after month.

Senior-level roles (5+ years of experience)

• Common Job Titles: Programmatic Strategist, Media Director, Head of Programmatic
• Key Skills Required: Team leadership, long-term media strategy, combining programmatic with other channels, owning bigger business outcomes, and managing key client relationships
• Experience Level: Professionals who’ve moved from daily execution to guiding teams and shaping how large accounts use programmatic
• Expected Salary Range: ₹12-25 LPA for senior specialists, going up to ₹20-40 LPA or more for media directors in larger networks

“Programmatic advertising opens doors to roles that sit at the intersection of marketing, data, and technology,” says Varun Satia, Founder & CEO of Kraftshala. “Once you understand how programmatic works, you’re no longer limited to just media buying – you can grow into roles like performance marketer, media strategist, growth analyst, or even move closer to product and revenue teams. It’s one of the few skills where early-career professionals can create disproportionate impact very quickly.”

Learn Programmatic Advertising With Kraftshala’s Marketing Launchpad 

If you want to build a career in programmatic advertising, you need the ability to plan campaigns, read data, optimise budgets, and work with real DSPs the way agencies actually do. Kraftshala’s Marketing Launchpad (MLP) is one of the few digital marketing programs in India that trains you exactly for this. Built with inputs from recruiters at leading media agencies and consumer brands, the 22-week, full-time program ensures you aren’t just learning programmatic; you’re building job-ready performance marketing skills.

Here’s what makes it the strongest pathway into programmatic roles:

Placement Accountability

• You pay the full fee only if you secure a job paying ₹4.5 LPA or more

• Consistently high placement outcomes (94%) driven by recruiter-aligned training

Hands-On DSP Training and Live Campaign Work

• Work on campaign planning, optimisations, bidding strategies, and remarketing

• Get exposure to Meta, Google, and programmatic ecosystems, not just simulated dashboards

Proof of Work Recruiters Trust

• Build real structured campaign plans, audience strategies, run campaigns with real budgets and create optimisation reports

• Graduate with 8 real projects, including a dedicated programmatic advertising project

Industry-Relevant Curriculum

• Co-designed with experts from leading agencies like GroupM and Publicis

• Covers ad exchanges, SSPs, pixels, funnel thinking, brand signals, and attribution

Personalised Career Support

• 1:1 interview prep, mock interviews, and feedback tailored to programmatic roles

• Learn how to articulate optimisation decisions, campaign insights, and strategy

For anyone looking to enter programmatic advertising with clarity and confidence, Kraftshala’s Marketing Launchpad offers a reliable, structured, and outcome-focused pathway built for real industry success.