What is Supply Side Platform

A supply-side platform (SSP)is software for publishers to manage, sell and optimize their banner, native or video advertising inventories in an automated and efficient way. By connecting publishers with multiple ad exchanges, demand-side platforms , and ad networks at once, SSPs let publishers sell inventories to a greater pool of potential buyers, and allows suppliers to set the bidding range to maximize their revenue.

Over the years, SSPs have expanded their functionalities, with many now including ad exchange mechanisms, allowing publishers to connect to DSPs directly rather than connecting via other ad exchanges.

How does SSP work?

Supply-side platforms connect publishers to multiple demand sources at the same time in a programmatic marketplace. SSPs provide the technology and resources enabling publishers to aggregate, consolidate, and manage their demand sources. Publishers set brand safety guidelines, categories, and pricing. Once publishers set the criteria, the SSP holds an auction that takes all of these factors into account, and the highest bidder wins the auction.

Why use SSP?

SSPs help publishers manage the complexity and volatility of the programmatic ad-buying process, especially when managing multiple ad networks and their diverse requirements and limitations.

There are a number of processes and requirements SSPs automatically handle, including:

Real-Time Bidding transactions. RTB is a way to buy ads programmatically. With RTB, advertisers can participate in an auction when an impression becomes available. If their bid wins the auction, their ad is displayed on the publisher’s site. RTB is not only efficient, but it helps advertisers focus on the most relevant inventory. Through RTBs, publishers and advertisers are able to sell and buy ads facilitated by an SSP.

Frequency capping. With the recording number of times a specific visitor is shown a particular advertisement and then SSP limits the number of times that visitor sees that ad.

Managing ad networks’ varying levels of latency and other discrepancies. SSP platform automatically selects DSP that consistently offer the best level of latency, which improves the overall real-time bidding process.