There are many web pages that have available space for native ads that they offer for sale or rent to those advertisers with the best offers. Typically, this process takes place in an online advertisement markets, or ad exchange, which creates an interface for supply (Supply Side Platforms (SSP) and ad networks) and demand. In this process, the Demand Side Platform (DSP) is responsible for this demand. Here you can include advertisers (agencies or companies), who use free advertising spaces to insert their native ads.

Ad slots are not displayed on the platforms themselves, rather the platforms only capture the reach (impressions) that other networks have for advertisers. Advertisers have the ability to automatically compare the prices of online ad slots across different ad networks, marketplaces and SSP platforms.

If a decision is made regarding a certain advertising inventory, the Demand Side Platform initiates a real-time auction (Real Time Bidding) and makes the purchase of an advertising inventory from a supplier (SSP). The process takes place in an automated way in just a few milliseconds.

What is the purpose of a Demand Side Platform?

The purpose of this type of platform is the automation and optimization of the purchase of native ads with the help of different algorithms. In this way, the efficiency of advertising campaigns is increased as the most suitable positioning for banners or other advertising media is found.

This means that, on the one hand, the optimal reach is obtained for the previously defined maximum price and, on the other, users who may be potential customers are reached through mechanisms such as targeting or retargeting.

DSPs make a variety of data available to advertisers for optimization with the help of:

• Demographics
• search histories
• searches
• or cookies derived from user data

Inventory purchase procedure of DSP

In the past, choosing a network, determining the maximum bid, and setting the criteria to define the target group were necessary steps if you wanted to acquire advertising inventory. Until DSP, its automation depended on the work of one or several workers, although today the responsibility falls on the DSP.

To do this, the platform collects all data on available advertising inventory from various networks. Subsequently, and based on the Real Time Bidding (RTB) data, the price of the inventory is calculated and the budget set by the advertisers is automatically established.

The process is based on the auction system, such as Google AdWords: first, advertisers will make a maximum bid based on what each one is willing to spend for the native ads to be published. The system automatically places bids during the Real Time Bidding process on the advertising slots that best suit the needs and target audience.

Best DSP platforms for 2022

Display & Video 360 (DV360)

A unique and advanced tool with which it is possible to plan campaigns, design and manage creatives, organize and apply audience data, search and buy inventory, and measure and optimize campaigns.

Amazon DSP

With this DSP, instead of buying a single ad placement at a specific URL, through this you can buy a variety of display ads (either image or video) across multiple URLs, and taking into account your lead targeting settings configured by the user or advertiser.

MediaMath

MediaMath helps the world’s leading brands deliver personalized digital advertising across all internet-connected touch points. Founded in 2007 and a pioneer in programmatic advertising, MediaMath was recognized as a leader in the Gartner 2020 Magic Quadrant for Ad Tech and won Best Account Support by a Technology Company two years in a row at the AdExchanger Awards.

Conclusions on Demand Side Platform

Demand Side Platform allows the offers of different networks to be brought together on a single platform. This doesn’t just result in advertisers having access to more impressions or reach being tied to different networks.

Through the available database and an interface to different ad servers you can carry out an exact control of the campaigns and also use budget as efficiently as possible. By means of a direct comparison and Real Time Bidding, the best results can be achieved when publishing the native ads.

With the DSP we will have more advanced customization options, one of its main advantages is that it allows us to use Rich Media and a much larger inventory of formats for advertisers. With this, we can dramatically improve the relevance of our native ads by engaging the audience with the creative.