Demand side platform what is

If DSPs are buying ads now, what does that mean for human ad buyers? It means there will be fewer of them. However, human input will always be required to help optimize campaigns and formulate ad strategies. So DSPs are replacing agencies, then? According to some, yes. DSPs now frequently work directly with advertiser clients, effectively replacing agencies when it comes to buying media. Clients report that they still look to agencies for strategy and consultancy but are beginning to look to other third parties, including DSPs, to help them actually purchase their ads.

What are the major demand-side platforms? Some DSPs are focused on specific channels, such as mobile or video. Some agencies operate their own buying platforms, often knows as trading desks, using technology licensed from some of the companies above. Image via Shutterstock. Group Nine's direct-to-consumer ad product sends brand-sponsored and editorially-curated items to sweepstakes winners. Data: To offer advertisers as much information as possible, many DSPs partner with third-party data providers.

One network is often unable to provide everything. Targeting: The more data you have, the more precise your targeting will be. The better the targeting, the better the post-click landing pages and the greater the chance of conversions.

Support: Customers can often receive additional support when using demand-side platforms rather than a traditional helpdesk model.

High-quality inventory: In addition to accessing the major networks, DSPs will also have access to various others. You may want to look into demand-side platforms if you want more premium inventory.

Enhance brand integrity: If buying from a DSP, marketers have the choice of inventory type. This means that in-app ads will have a higher level of engagement than mobile or desktop ads. It is, therefore, possible to buy fake impressions. Financial losses may be severe for your business. Some DSPs charge a monthly platform fee along with their inventory costs.

Your overall ad spends may increase if your DSP platform has hidden costs. Publishers use the supply-side platform SSP to reach ad exchanges with their inventory. By using an SSP, publishers will be able to define ad space rates based on the advertiser, as well as filter ads by an advertiser and other criteria. Demand-side platform refers to the technology used to meet consumer needs.

Multiple ad exchanges can be managed by one interface by buyers of digital ad inventory. A common buyer is a trading desk, an agency, or an advertiser directly.

Buyers of digital inventory must be able to bid on them through demand-side platforms connected to SSPs. Using a DSP allows advertisers to reach a wide range of publishers from one single provider, a more diverse and global ad inventory than they can do on their own.

This inventory is often classified by different characteristics which allow a brand to choose carefully where they want their ads placed. This is important for brands which place a premium on being able to choose a safe placement for their advertising. All the data that the DSP captures about user behavior is used to improve the targeting, optimize the ad rotation and provide remarketing capabilities.

Having a strong user targeting functionality ensures advertisers they can reach the users they need across any digital properties they visit. Advertisers value the ability that DSPs provide to see the performance of their ad campaigns in a consolidated dashboard. This gives advertisers and agencies more information to act and optimize their campaigns to be more relevant and provide more value to their target audience.

Demand-side platforms have access to multiple sources of user data they can use to build their targeting strategies and optimize their bidding. This campaign performance information is complemented with other sources:. Ad networks and demand-side platforms are quite similar. They provide basically the same services around programmatic advertising, but DSPs incorporate more advanced features regarding real-time bidding and audience targeting, which in ad networks is restricted to a set of predefined audience segments, instead of the custom targeting criteria of DSPs.

These platforms are an evolution of ad networks. And the line between the two is blurring since ad networks are incorporating many of the features that set DSPs apart in the first place.

DSPs have disrupted and introduced key innovations in a process that was regarded as inefficient, due to the necessary negotiations and back-and-forth between media buyers or advertisers and publishers.

The consolidation of supply in a single platform that automates the ad buying process through real-time bidding brings transparency, accountability and enhances the ability of advertisers to reach their target audience through a wider range of publisher sites.

Log In. Let's Talk. Why Publift? It all sounds good, but a DSP can also be expensive and complex to use. A brand will often have at least one resource dedicated to managing advertising and the DSP unless you go with a fully managed DSP. A demand side platform is not the same as a data management platform DMP. The two work together to improve advertising performance.

A DMP aggregates customer data from various third-party sources and some first-party sources that have been anonymized. It then analyzes that data and generates audience segments that help improve ad targeting. The DMP pushes the anonymous audience segments to the DSP and collects response data to enhance its analysis of future segmenting. CDP article. Also, DMP data is short-term, continually updating as advertising data changes, while a CDP stores customer data long-term to help improve the customer lifecycle.

CDPs develop a degree view of customers using mostly first-party data with some second-party and third-party data. They also key that customer data on tangible customer attributes PII.

Successful digital advertising comes with placing ads in the right places at the right time for the right audiences.