Becoming an Expert in Programmatic Advertising-SSP

Picking Away at the Intimidating Language: Programmatic Advertising and SSP

When implementing a programmatic advertising SSP within your company, it’s easier to acknowledge it as two separate pieces before understanding the whole picture. Programmatic Advertising is an ad tech software used for buying and selling automated advertisements. To learn more about the basics behind this automated tool, check out the following blog post that dives deeper into the basics behind Programmatic Advertising.

Now onto the second part of this tongue twisting advertising tool; SSP. The elongated version of this acronym stands for ‘supply-side platform’, also commonly referred to as ‘sell-side platform’. This advertising instrument branches off of programmatic advertising to narrow in on the publisher side of things. This platform is a software device used to sell, overlook, and automate advertising inventory that is currently up for sale.

The main difference between the two terms is that SSPs solely focus on the SELLING of mobile, audio, and digital advertisements from the perspective of the web publisher. The all inclusive guide, ‘WTF is a Supply Side Platform’, can help you to develop more of an understanding towards this aspect of programmatic advertising.

Now put the two terms together, and voila you have Programmatic Advertising SSP. The benefit of programmatic advertising SSP is that it allows publishers to organize their internal advertising space, sell digitalized advertisements, and ultimately expand their consumer base.

Using an SSP within the Scope of Programmatic Advertising

By now you may be thinking to yourself, “How the heck am I supposed to figure out how to use an SSP when I’m still trying to figure out the tongue twister of a name?” Don’t worry, throughout the article we will pick away at the overly-complicated gibberish and translate it into plain English terms.

A supply-side platform works within the programmatic ad buying ecosystem. Before the creation of this advertising automation, companies manually reached out to advertisers to sell their available ad space. Person by person, publishers would go down a list attempting to fill their available inventory space. But now, through the advancement of the supply-side software, the platform will do all the dirty work for you.

SSPs can sell the publisher’s online advertising inventory in many different ways, but the two most common are through direct deals with DSPs or RTB. (DSP means “Demand Side Platforms,” while RTB means Real-Time Bidding). The “how” behind the way it works is the platform finds an ad exchange and shoots an alert to the exchange about the available inventory space.

After notifying the system of the unoccupied inventory, real-time bidding automatically auctions off the inventory to the highest bidder. The Ultimate Guide to Programmatic Advertising & SPPs, will provide you a better understanding of the working parts behind the scenes of an SSP.

DSPS and SSPs work together. Unlike a DSP, SSP attempts to sell ad inventory at the highest price possible. The platform itself enables suppliers to control inventory space and manage the prices of ads. By setting minimum price floors and managing the target audience of the advertisement space, web publishers are able to sit back and relax.

Will Your Company Benefit from a SSP?

Any and every company that owns an online website with available ad space seeking to sell said ad space to advertisers will benefit from implementing a supply-side platform. The two specific roles within a company who should be implementing an SSP are web publishers and DOOH (Digital-Out-Of-Home) media owners. To learn more about which positions benefit most from this technological advancement, check out the post on Programmatic Advertising that provides a more extensive knowledge on the tool.

Perks of Supply-Side Platforms

Ability to set prices

The SSP platform allows you to set a price floor, which will guarantee your inventory doesn’t sell below that set price. Not only can you control the minimum amount you gain from each ad, but it enables your company to make a variety of deals. The most general type being public deals, but this platform allows you to also narrow in on making closed door deals with preferred advertisers.

Real Time Adjustments

This automation enables you to make real-time tweaks to your campaign, even while it’s in the process of running. You can filter through ads in the ad networks, target the ones you want, and weed out the undesired responses. In doing so, you will be able to keep up with the dynamic demands of advertisers.

Reach more consumers

By selecting a target consumer base and price floor, a supply-side platform guarantees you won’t just be selling your ad space for the purpose of getting rid of your inventory. Due to the ability to control target consumer toggles, the SSP will help you actively stay in tune with potential consumers while the automated technology allows you to reach a wider base of customers.

Achieve Results Faster

This automated platform will not only reach potential consumers faster, but will help you see the results and measure company performance at a much faster rate. By accessing numerous sources and buyers simultaneously in a single interface, this once daunting and time-consuming task can become a breeze.

The whole process of real-time bidding and actually buying the ad space, takes an average of less than ten seconds. Check out Why Publishers need SSP Programmatic Technology, to discover more of the benefits of this ad tech tool.

Are SSPs and Ad Exchanges the Same?

Because Supply-side platforms can do everything that an ad exchange can do, this form of programmatic advertising is beginning to replace ad exchanges. Furthermore, ad exchanges can’t live up to everything an SSP can do.

The software can connect different forms of exchanges for media buying, allow you to set price floors and work through an abundance of various networks and consumers. For more information, you can check out the ‘What is a Supply Side Platform (SSP)’ article that dives deeper into the differences between ad exchanges and SSP software.

The Best Supply-Side Platform for You

Taking your time and carefully choosing the right SSP is crucial to the future success of your company. Blindly choosing a company to do programmatic digital advertising for you could lead to a loss of revenue as well as a damage to your brand. Before committing to an SSP, consider the following tips.

1. Flexible with Changing Demands

Consumer demands change daily, so it’s important that you choose a platform that has the ability to fluctuate as well. The sell-side platform should be consistently scouring the internet for high-valuable sources without disregarding your company’s valuable time.

2. Prioritize Brand Safety

With so many unsafe practices and malicious threats, the SSP you choose should be embedded with brand safety tools in order to protect your company. For more information on the importance of brand safety check out, these tips for Evaluating Success with a Programmatic Advertising Agency.

3. Do Research on the Features they Offer

Aside from brand safety tools, your company should choose an SSP that includes real time bidding and price floor features. These are just two of the more prominent features that set apart one SSP from another.

4. Level of Difficulty to Use

In order to save your company unnecessary costs, you should choose an SSP that is easy to implement and will not require a pricey development team to set up. From the standpoint of a publisher, if the SSP doesn’t come with an easily understandable operating procedure or an included call center for inquiries, then skip it and move onto finding the next best SSP.

Why does an SSP matter?

The bottom line is that supply-side platforms completely eliminate the need for human labor. The once driving force behind the sale of digital marketing space is now replaced by automated technologies. Not only do these platforms minimize human capital, but they deem to be much more cost efficient and effective. SSPs can also guarantee that your advertising inventory will not be devalued or sold at a lower cost simply just to get rid of the space to any media buyer.

Supply-side platforms will achieve what every business aims to do: minimize costs and maximize profits. Implementing this platform into your overall advertising strategy simplifies negotiations while simultaneously amplifying revenue. In order to really learn more about the infinite capabilities behind SSP Programmatic Advertising, the Advertising Targeting Capabilities blog post can help you explore more.

Setting aside funds for an SSP now, will only aid the future well-being of your company. Becoming an expert in this form of programmatic advertising is simpler than you think. Do your research, implement a trustworthy supply-side platform into your company, and watch your demand and revenue take flight.