The world of technology is highly complex and people often feel that they can’t understand it due to the difficult terminology. Luckily, however, things such as the supply side platform are actually not that complicated to understand, if explained properly. Hopefully, the following information will help you with this.
What Is an SSP (Supply Side Platform)?
Basically, an SSP is a type of software program that automatically allows for advertisements to be sold. In most cases, online publishers use these to help them sell video, display and mobile advertisements.
It is not the same as a DSP (Demand Side Platform), however, although it is very close. The big difference is that the Supply Side Platform is used by publishers and the DSP is used by a marketer. Basically, DSP is about keeping things cheap and efficient for the marketer, who buys advertisement space, where the SSP is about making it as costly as possible, as they sell the space. But it is basically the same technology that powers the two.
How Does an SSP Work?
It would take quite a lot of time to explain exactly how an SSP works. In very simple terms, it is designed to allow a publisher to link their inventory to a range of different ad exchanges, including networks and DSPs, in one go. This means that there is a huge potential reach of buyers for advertising space. When an SSP tells the world they have an impression, the DSP picks this up, analyzes it and the buys it for their marketers. Generally, they do this through real-time auctions, trying to reach as many potential buyers as they can. It is also for this reason that an SSP is often called a yield optimization platform.
Why Is an SSP Important?
Marketers don’t want to pay the earth for advertisement. In the past, they would have to hire a physical person to look into advertising spaces. Now, they can use a simple piece of technology that makes the process far more efficient. Of course, for a publisher, this means that their prices may be driven down. This is why SSPs were invented, as it allows publishers to find potential buyers across a multitude of platforms.
What about Human Sales Teams?
Some people worry that the world is becoming increasingly run by robots and that technology is taking over the world. A few generations ago, this is actually what people hoped for, believing that they would never have to work again, because everything would be done automatically. Now, however, people fear that we are heading towards a Terminator reality, with everything being run by automatic processes.
In reality, however, SSPs mainly tend to sell those advertisement spaces that human sales agents have been unable to sell. This means that the SSP is the last resort option and is not actually replacing human agents. Rather, it is an extra option to make sure all advertisement spaces are sold and put out in the public sphere.