What is SSPs advertising? How Does It Work? Why it important

Supply-side platforms (SSPs advertising) play a vital role in the digital advertising ecosystem, serving as technology platforms publishers utilize to manage and sell their ad inventory programmatically. These platforms enable publishers to connect their available ad space with ad exchanges, allowing them to set prices, manage ad quality, and optimize revenue generation. Find out information about SSPs immediately through the article below from AdsNextGen now!

Table of Contents

1- What is the Supply-Side Platform – SSP advertising meaning?

Supply-side platforms (SSPs) also known as selling platforms, involve the management of ad inventory, audience data, monetization strategies, ad quality, and more to create a successful and mutually beneficial advertising ecosystem. Helps digital media owners and publishers sell advertising space.

ssps advertising — SSP advertising meaning

SSP helps publishers increase profitability by linking their inventory to different ad exchanges and demand-side platforms (DSPs). By showing impressions to multiple potential buyers, publishers’ sites can optimize revenue generation for their inventory. Thanks to this, SSP is sometimes considered a profit optimization platform.

2- Main Features of SSPs?

The main features of a supply-side platform (SSP) include:

User Interface: Enables publishers to utilize the SSP for selling impressions to their advantage.
Header Bidding: Most SSPs advertising integrate header bidding functionality, enabling publishers to solicit bids from multiple DSPs and manage their header bidding wrappers and demand partners.
Analytics and Reporting: Provides comprehensive transparency regarding the performance of ad inventory, encompassing clicks, and impressions.

ssp ad exchange — The main features of SSP: User interface, analytics and reporting, yield optimization

Inventory and Campaign Management: Facilitates publishers in managing various ad inventory types and the ability to block certain types of ads.
Yield Optimization: This aims to enhance publishers’ revenue by improving fill rates, defining floor prices, and managing auction mechanics.

>>>> Read More: The 10 Best Ad Networks For Small Publishers In 2024

3- How do supply-side platforms (SSPs) work

Describing how a Supply Side Platform (SSP) functions:

Inventory Management: Publishers utilize the SSP to manage their ad inventory, determining parameters like minimum prices, acceptable ad types, and preferred advertisers to govern inventory sales.
Publisher Integration: The SSP is integrated with digital publishers’ websites, apps, or platforms, enabling them to offer their available ad inventory to potential buyers.
Auction Process: The SSP conducts auctions among interested buyers who bid on ad impressions in real-time. The highest bidder secures the opportunity to display their ad to the user.
Connection to Demand Sources: The SSP interfaces with different demand sources, including Demand Side Platforms (DSPs), ad exchanges, and advertisers directly, broadening the buyer pool for the ad inventory.
Real-Time Bidding (RTB) Interface: Most SSPs support RTB, enabling ad inventory to be auctioned in real-time. When a user visits a publisher’s site, information on available ad impressions and the user’s profile is relayed to the SSP.
Payment and Settlement: After serving ads and collecting performance metrics, the SSP facilitates financial transactions to ensure publishers receive payment for sold inventory as per agreed terms.
Ad Serving: Following auction success, the SSP directs the publisher’s ad server to display the winning advertiser’s creative in the designated ad space.
Performance Tracking and Reporting: The SSP monitors ad placements’ performance, tracking impressions, clicks, and revenue generated to offer publishers insights for inventory sales enhancement.
Revenue Optimization: Leveraging data analytics and machine learning, the SSP optimizes inventory pricing and buyer matching continuously to boost publishers’ revenue while preserving inventory quality and value.

In summary, SSPs empower publishers to effectively monetize their digital ad spaces through automated sales processes, revenue maximization, and inventory control.

>>>> Discover more: Performance Marketing: Benefits, Types and Strategies

4- SSPs Advertising Benefits

The benefits of supply-side platforms (SSPs) in the advertising ecosystem are summarized as follows:

Efficient sales: SSP’s automation features streamline the sales process, improving the efficiency of selling advertising space to publishers.
Dynamic Pricing: SSP applies dynamic pricing. Unlike traditional methods, SSP allows revenue optimization based on real-time supply and demand dynamics.

ssp digital advertising — What are the main benefits of SSP features?

Maximize revenue: Using real-time bidding, SSPs help publishers achieve the highest prices for their inventory.
Broad reach: By expanding opportunities for ad placement, SSPs advertising gives publishers access to a variety of advertisers.
Control and transparency: Publishers can manage the ads displayed on their sites and better understand the ads and advertisers, ensuring control and transparency.

>>>> Read more to see: How To Market Digital Products? 15 Best Promotional Strategies

5 – SSPs effectively support the advertising sales process

5-1 Real-time bidding

When an SSP has advertising space ready for use, it allows ad exchanges, ad networks, and DSPs to participate in real-time bidding (RTB) or a real-time auction for that space. For instance, when a visitor views a web page on the publisher’s site with available advertising space, the SSP initiates a bidding process with chosen advertisers. The bidder with the winning bid (often the highest) has their ad displayed in the available advertising space.

5-2 Price floors

Publishers don’t always have to accept any bid, they can set a base price for their inventory, if the bid doesn’t meet this threshold, they can replace it with their ad.

5-3 Ad network optimization

Every ad network comes with its own set of rules, like how much they’re willing to shell out for ad space (CPM). When it comes to SSPs, publishers have the freedom to pick and choose which ad networks they want to collaborate with and how they want to do it. These choices usually hinge on factors like the available ad space or just following some general guidelines.

>>>> Learn more: What Is CPM In Digital Marketing? CPM vs Other Ads Metrics

5-4 Reporting

Supply-side platforms deliver a range of reports to publishers, offering insights into their advertising partners. These reports cover various aspects, including the volume of ad inventory sold, the entities participating in the bidding process, and the quantity of ads being procured by individual advertisers.

5-5 Control over who advertises

Publishers seek assurance that the brands advertising on their platforms meet certain quality standards. SSPs empower publishers to define which advertisers or advertisement categories (such as IAB categories) are permitted on their platforms.

6- The Difference Between Advertising SSP vs DSP?

The supply-side platforms (SSPs advertising) function as an advertising technology platform employed by publishers to link their ad inventory to ad exchanges. It enables publishers to filter ads by advertisers and other criteria while setting different rates for ad spaces to determine the cost.

On the other hand, the demand-side platform (DSP) serves as a tool for buyers of digital ad inventories to manage multiple ad exchanges through a unified interface, typically including trading desks, agencies, or advertisers.

ssp google ad manager — Advertising SSP vs. DSP

To simplify, DSPs and SSPs operate within different segments of the programmatic ecosystem. DSPs aid advertisers in organizing ad buying, while SSPs automate the sale of advertising space for publishers, handling the supply side of the demand-side platform. DSPs support brands and agencies in determining which impressions to purchase and at what price, based on demographics, shopping, and browsing signals through a Data Management Platform (DMP). Similarly, SSPs optimize and secure the best offer for publishers’ inventory to maximize yield. In essence, SSPs and DSPs play complementary roles in the programmatic advertising landscape, with DSPs focused on ad buying and SSPs on automating the sale of ad space for publishers.

>>>>> Discovering: What Is Ad Mediation? 6 Best Benefits Of Ad Mediation

7- How does SSPs advertising make money?

SSPs commonly do not impose a significant fee to join or use their platforms, they employ various strategies to monetize their services:

Data fees: Monetizing user and impression data by providing valuable insights to advertisers or third parties for a fee.
Transaction fee based on a percentage of revenue from successful ad impressions facilitated by the publisher.
When SSPs provide ad-serving functionalities, hosting ads, and delivering them to the publisher’s site while charging a fee for this Ad-Serving fee.
Platform usage fees are flat for utilizing their platform, especially for premium or advanced services.

8- Supply Side Platform examples

8-1 Pubmatic

Pubmatic functions as a Supply Side Platform (SSP) catering to publishers and agencies, offering various features such as private marketplaces, premium header bidder solutions, and support for real-time bidding. Noteworthy is Pubmatic’s suite of ad quality tools, ensuring publishers’ properties display top-notch ads through strategic partnerships with ad quality companies like The Media Trust and Confiant.

For buyers, Pubmatic provides solutions like the Media Buying Console for real-time data and proactive deal health intelligence and inventory Quality for vetting publishers. Additionally, it provides solutions to filter invalid traffic and maintain brand safety and access to private marketplaces.

8-2 Google Ad Manager

SSP Google Ad Manager operates as both a supply-side platform and an ad exchange (AdX), offering CPA Google Ads, its services free of charge for publishers with over 5 million page views. It provides comprehensive tools for managing ad inventory across video, native, and custom ad formats. Notably, it features a unified first-price auction system to enhance transparency and fairness, ensuring the highest bidder pays the winning price.

Moreover, Google Ad Manager facilitates open auctions, direct-booked campaigns, and Programmatic Guaranteed deals. It prioritizes brand safety through certification by the Trustworthy Accountability Group to combat piracy, fraud, and malware, while also supporting various industry initiatives.

8-3 Xandr (formerly AppNexus)

Solution Range: Offers SSPs advertising, DSP, and ad exchange, including Xandr Invest DSP, Xandr Monetize SSP, and MonetizeTV for connected TV solutions.
AT&T Ownership: Owned by AT&T, granting access to AT&T audience data with a strong emphasis on digital and connected TV advertising.

8-4 OpenX

For Publishers: Provides OpenX Bidder for real-time bidding, OpenX Mobile, and OpenX Video for quality mobile and video advertisers, along with OpenX Private Marketplaces for premium advertisers access.
For Advertisers: Offers AdExchange for complete control over ad platforms and OpenAudience for refined audience understanding to match with targeted advertisers.

8-5 Magnite

Magnite includes the merger of Rubicon Project and Telaria, specializing in connected TV advertising, making it one of the industry’s largest SSPs. They provide SSP for publishers, DSP for advertisers, private marketplace (PMP), Programmatic Guaranteed (PG), and Auction Package capabilities for inventory and audience control—additionally, advanced ad management for OTT and CTV post the SpringServe acquisition.

SSPs advertising provides publishers with tools to streamline the selling process, incorporate various types of ad formats, and ensure the efficient delivery of targeted ads to their audiences. Additionally, SSPs offer functionalities such as private marketplaces, real-time bidding, and ad quality management to enhance further the value and yield of publishers’ ad inventory.

>>>> Related Articles: