Today, ad­vert­ising inventory is traded in real time. Within just a few seconds, an algorithm can co­ordin­ate supply and demand to determine exactly when and where adverts are displayed. Website operators looking to make the most of their ad space should consider the benefits of using an SSP.

What is an SSP?

Website operators with ad­vert­ising inventory (free space for banner ads or pro­mo­tions) can offer this space up to ad­vert­isers for a fee. This process can be done via real-time ad­vert­ising trading. A supply-side platform (also known as a sell-side platform) acts as a technical interface between the publisher, ad­vert­iser, and a trading platform (ad exchange). While the demand-side platform (DSP) controls the demand, the SSP handles the supply end.

How does an SSP work?

Pub­lish­ers that have released their platform for trading purposes can promote available ad space with the help of a sell-side platform. During this process, the SSP sends a request to the DSP and the connected ad networks. The DSP receives both a user profile and in­form­a­tion about the available ad­vert­ising inventory. The system analyses the offer to ensure the target group criteria cor­res­ponds with the demand, before present­ing the ad space on behalf of the ad­vert­iser. The SSP then bundles together all the offers before de­term­in­ing the highest bid and selecting the cor­res­pond­ing advert.

SSP providers

The business of real-time bidding and real-time ad­vert­ising has truly come into its own over the past decade, with ever more com­pet­it­ors stepping into the ring, es­tab­lish­ing them­selves both in the UK and in­ter­na­tion­ally. Before signing up with an SSP, take time to note the dif­fer­ences between general providers and spe­cial­ists. General sites such as AppNexus and Adform offer supply-side platforms as part of their system. Then there are several spe­cial­ised providers, including Criteo.

Ad­vant­ages and op­por­tun­it­ies for pub­lish­ers

SSPs enable pub­lish­ers to sell their ad­vert­ising inventory auto­mat­ic­ally and in real time. The main goal is to sell inventory for the highest possible price, thereby max­im­ising your profits and op­tim­ising the process. There are several ways for pub­lish­ers to advertise their inventory:

  • Private deal: a private mar­ket­place only hosts business between pub­lish­ers and in­di­vidu­al ad­vert­ising partners
  • Private auction: this allows selected partners to advertise the inventory to a closed market
  • Open auction: with an open auction, all ad­vert­ising partners are permitted access and can purchase inventory

The biggest benefit is that pub­lish­ers can determine a minimum price in advance. This guar­an­tees that the inventory is never sold for less than its value.

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