Rebecca Ohana
Updated on 15.06.2023
Supply-Side Platform and It’s Benefits in Digital Advertising
Publishers and advertisers have come a long way since migrating from print to digital media.
In the early days of media, publishers primarily consisted of newspapers, magazines, and later, radio stations. Then the introduction of radio and television brought new opportunities for both publishers and advertisers. But with the advent of the internet, the media landscape underwent a significant transformation.
This major shift ushered in display advertising, where publishers needed to monetize their websites, and advertisers needed relevant sites to reach their target audience. Today, digital media is a complex and dynamic ecosystem. It is constantly evolving and so is the potential for a so-called Supply-Side Platform (SSPs).
What is a supply-side platform?
Supply-side platforms manage and coordinate the process of supplying and distributing ad inventory with the help of automated technology. This includes buying and selling digital display advertisements in any ad format.
So supply-side platforms are indispensable when publishers and digital media owners want to sell their ad space. These platforms have long been successful and are integral to the programmatic advertising ecosystem.
For example, one significant feature of a supply-side platform is real-time bidding (RTB), also known as real-time auction. Let’s look at it from a publisher’s perspective: RTB boosts revenue by opening impressions to as many buyers as possible. The buyer that submits the highest bid wins the bidding and their ad is displayed.
Supply-side platforms enable this process automatically by efficiently connecting publishers and advertisers. This empowers publishers to show native, video, or display ads to visitors and monetize across a variety of channels, be it in-app, web, CTV, or audio.
How does a supply-side platform work?
Supply-side platforms connect publishers to multiple demand sources at the same time in a programmatic marketplace. Meaning SSPs can sell a publisher’s inventory in several ways: directly to ad networks, via direct deals with demand-side platforms (DSPs), and probably most commonly via RTB as explained above.
But let’s have a deeper dive on how RTB works:
- A Publisher makes their inventory available on a supply-side platform.
- Each time a user is landing on the publisher’s website, an ad request is sent to multiple ad exchanges, either directly from a supply-side platform or to a supply-side platform via the publisher’s ad server.
- Then various DSPs place bids on the impressions being offered by the publisher and the winning bid (the highest bid) is then delivered to the website via the supply-side platform and displayed to the website visitor.
What is the difference between a SSP and a DSP?
A demand-side platform (DSP) is a programmatic software designed for advertisers, serving as a vital tool in streamlining media buying across multiple channels. DSPs enable brands and agencies (the demand side) to efficiently navigate the advertising ecosystem, working with SSPs, ad exchanges, ad networks, and direct integrations.
They empower advertisers to make informed decisions on which impressions to purchase and at what price, effectively managing the supply side. By leveraging demographic data, as well as browsing and shopping signals, advertisers can strategically target specific audiences.
On the other hand, SSPs offer similar technology and functionalities, but they cater to publishers, assisting them in optimizing their inventory and maximizing yield by securing the best possible offers.
What are the benefits of a supply-side platform?
Over the years, SSPs have developed further functionalities. Today, many offer ad-exchange mechanisms that enable publishers to connect directly to advertisers’ DSPs rather than through other ad exchanges. We’ve listed other unique selling points that can give your supply-side platform a competitive advantage:
Data science optimization: A supply-side platform protects the publisher’s profits with a minimum price for impressions. This is where the power of data science comes into play. Data science applies systems, tools, and algorithms to obtain information and actionable insights from different sets of data. The captured data enables optimizations of the auction through the identification of relevant channels, correct pricing, and more.
Floor price optimization: Publishers can set parameters for an inventory price floor. This process is called floor price optimization (FPO) and ensures that an auction will never fall below an agreed price. This considerable benefit ensures publishers maximum profit.
Supply path optimization: The ad-buying ecosystem is getting more complex which makes it difficult to understand how many stakeholders are involved and how much they are taking out of the media buyer’s spend. Supply path optimization (SPO) enables buyers to find the best connections, which can be also described as the most scalable, transparent, and efficient supply paths. SSPs that use SPOs ensure the best ROIs for both the supply-side platform and the demand-side platform.
Contextual capabilities: Contextual targeting of audiences isn’t that new but it has gained popularity over behavioral targeting. Nowadays there is a higher demand for relevant, non-intrusive ads, better consumer awareness, and stringent privacy regulations. This is why targeting audiences based on their browsing environment involves using contextually-sourced keywords or developing categories by topic.
The supply-side platform needs to set parameters so a platform’s crawler can scan and categorize different sites’ content according to every page’s key themes, phrases, contextual data, and alt text.
When a user visits a website, the ad server seamlessly matches its content with relevant ads. This process makes it more likely that the user will be interested in the content and ad presented. It’s important to note that this approach gains trust and creates meaningful relationships for both brands and publishers.
#Rise with us
While there are many programmatic advertising channels and supply-side platform suppliers, not all are created equal. Rise constantly works to evolve its unique, fully programmatic Marketplace (SSP).
Rise has developed a contextual database that uses its contextual capabilities to optimize the auction even further for publishers. In addition, advanced and improved targeting allows advertisers to reach new audiences at scale and more precisely. For more information check out our website or visit our knowledge center.
Rebecca Ohana
Marketing Manager
- 23.11.2022
The Bountiful Benefits of SSPs in Digital Advertising
Publishers and advertisers have come a long way since migrating from print to digital media. This major shift ushered in display advertising, where publishers needed to monetize their websites, and advertisers needed relevant sites to reach their target audience. Today, digital media is a complex and dynamic arena that is constantly evolving, and so is the potential for Supply Side Platforms (SSPs).
What is an SSP? (ssp media platforms)
In programmatic advertising – where publishers and media buyers use automated technology to supply and distribute ad inventory (buying and selling digital display advertisements in any ad format), supply-side platforms manage and coordinate the process. As such, SSPs are indispensable if publishers and digital media owners want to sell their ad space. The platforms have long been successful and are integral to the programmatic advertising ecosystem.
An example of SSP’s significance is in Real-Time Bidding (RTB), also known as real time auctions. From the publisher’s side, RTBs boost revenue by opening their impressions to as many buyers as possible, with the highest bidder winning. SSPs enable this process by automatically and efficiently connecting publishers and advertisers and “holding” these auctions. Publishers can use an SSP to show native, video, or display ads to visitors and monetize across a variety of channels, be it in-app, web, CTV, or audio. To this effect, SSPs are even called yield-optimizing platforms.
What sets SSPs apart?
Over the years, SSPs have developed their functionalities. For instance, many today offer ad-exchange mechanisms that enable publishers to connect directly to advertisers’ demand-side platforms (DSPs) rather than through other ad exchanges.
Other unique selling points that can give SSPs a competitive advantage include their capabilities of Data Science Optimizations, such as Floor Price Optimization and Supply Path Optimization, and Contextual Targeting amongst other programmatic solutions.
- Data Science Optimizations
SSPs protect the publisher’s profits with a minimum price for impressions – the juncture where the power of data science comes into play. Data science applies systems, tools, and algorithms to obtain information and actionable insights from different sets of data. The data captured enables optimizations of the auction through the identification of relevant channels, correct pricing, etc.
- Floor Price Optimization - FPO
Publishers can use data science mechanisms for programmatic FPO – by setting parameters for an inventory price floor, an auction will never fall below it. This considerable benefit ensures publishers maximum profit.
- Supply Path Optimization - SPO
The lack of transparency and complexity of the programmatic ad-buying ecosystem makes it difficult to understand whom you are buying from and how much they’re taking out of a media buyer’s ad spend. SPO is vital because it enables buyers to find the best connections and use them to transact with sellers. The aim is to focus bids on the most scalable, transparent, and efficient supply paths rather than expensive or inefficient ones. SSPs that work using SPOs will ensure the best ROIs for both the supply- and demand side platform dsp.
- Contextual Capabilities
While contextual targeting of audiences isn’t that new, it has gained popularity over behavioral targeting, given the increasing need for relevant, non-intrusive ads, more consumer awareness, and stringent privacy regulations. Targeting audiences based on their browsing environment involves using contextually-sourced keywords or developing categories by topic. Setting parameters ensures far more precise results. Furthermore, once parameters are in place, an ad platform’s crawler scans and categorizes different sites’ content according to every page’s key themes, phrases, contextual data, and alt text. Then, when a user visits a page, the ad server seamlessly matches its content with relevant ads. This process makes it more likely that they will be interested in your content and the ad presented. Furthermore, brands can offer consumers a personalized and actionable, rather than intrusive, user experience. This approach gains trust and creates meaningful relationships for both brands and publishers.
On the Rise
While there are many programmatic advertising channels and SSP suppliers, not all are created equal. Rise constantly works to evolve its unique, fully programmatic Marketplace (SSP). The company has developed a contextual database that uses its contextual capabilities to optimize the auction even further for publishers. In addition, advanced and improved targeting allows advertisers to reach new audiences at scale and more precisely. For publishers, this ensures users have ads more suited to the page and users’ interests while accumulating a higher ROI. Added to its rich offering, Rise uses SPO and FPO to maximize auctions for publishers.
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