What is SSP Advertising?

SSP, also known as Supply Side Platforms, are web platforms that have been created and designed so that publishers can sell ad space online. There, they are able to optimize costs as well as analyze their results. SSPs are an ecosystem that provides publishers with many available advertisers while also automating resource sales and RTB participation.

SSPs essentially make the various tasks of large publishers much easier while outright replacing the whole of a smaller publisher’s ad department. Because of this, these platforms are becoming more and more popular as businesses realize their importance and value in their respective sectors.

Below, we will go over SSP advertising and see how it works, what are its different advantages, and how its main features and components are comprised.

How Do SSPs Work?

Before we can go further, it’s important to have a firm understanding of SSPs and exactly how they work.

As mentioned above, SSPs operate by allowing publishers to sell ad space to prospective clients on the online marketplace. The main advantage of an SSP is that it can offer ad placements to an inordinate amount of prospective advertisers through RTB.

This process is broken down into eight steps, all of which happens virtually instantly without the user having to do anything.

1. The publisher is registered onto the platform and allows advertisers to place ads up through the SSP.
2. A Cookie is created and sent to the SSP whenever a user loads a page.
3. The SSP runs through the information and processes both the user’s data as well as any data regarding the cheapest ad space available.
4. The SSP creates a request with this information before sending it out to the DSP.
5. Next, the DSP begins analyzing the request before deciding the best advertisers to choose from, choosing the offer that is most relevant.
6. After choosing, the DSP sends out a response to the ad exchange for confirmation.
7. The advertiser that has the highest bid wins, their ad being sent to the SSP.
8. Finally, as the page loads, the most relevant ad is presented to the user and what they see.

Again, this all happens in milliseconds and requires no prompts from the user nor the owner of the SSP. Every aspect is automated, and all of it is derived from the user’s cookie data.

For advertisers and publishers, SSPs act as a vital aspect of the Advertiser-to-Publisher chain in today’s modern marketing.

What are the Advantages of an SSP?

Due to their pivotal role in presenting ads to the users, SSPs offer a myriad of essential and vital advantages that publishers all but need available to them if they plan to get ahead.

9. Firstly, SSPs do not limit or cap the number of ad exchanges that are available. This means you can have ads available for pretty much every audience. This means that even less optimal sites can be greatly monetized.
10. SSPs are all fully automated. This fact is incredibly important as it means the publisher doesn’t have to consider how many advertisers they can interact with beforehand. Instead, it all happens instantly and in real-time.
11. The SSPs can connect with multiple DSP exchanges simultaneously, thus ensuring that there is never a reduction in cost per impression or a lack of participants.
12. The SSP can be programmed to filter out inappropriate ads even without the owner’s review. This means that a brand can stay clean while also refraining from putting the owner through an arduous vetting process.
13. Impression prices can be set. This ensures that the publisher can protect themselves from low-priced impressions.

What Features Does and SSP Offer?

For people interested in using an SSP, below are many of the features available:

Analytics & Reporting: Publishers have complete and consistent access to all data and data analysis. Similarly, all hosted campaigns, their advertising costs vs. profits, and advertising resource information are readily available. This ensures a publisher can be up-to-date with the latest information immediately and without delay.

Cost Optimization: Rather than just allow any potentiality for lowered costs and a reduction of profits, the SSP’s algorithm works to keep the best price available at all times. In fact, some platforms are bringing in soft and hard price auctions. These ensure that ad space has a set level of flexibility depending on the current demand.

Customized Campaign Offers: Publishers are able to use the SSP tools to customize any campaigns placed on their platform. That includes the ad type as well as the ad’s topic. It also allows for an immediate black list / white list determination to avoid potential scammers and malware advertisers. If the publisher does not like a certain advertiser, they are able to block them or their entire campaign. This is just as much the case for particular campaign types.

Data Reporting & Analysis: Data is taken in and analyzed before being used for publishing reports and ensuring the most relevant ads are shown.

Data Tracking & Storing: The SSPs collect and store all data from a publisher’s audience. This information is then used in order to present them with the most useful and relevant ad.

Easily Accessible User Interface: SSPs largely have a very easy-to-use and user-friendly interface. This makes even novice owners capable of effectively using them without too much of a learning curve.

High-End Server Infrastructure: The back-end servers software allows the SSPs to interact with the third-party resources in addition to the operation of algorithms for sending and receiving requests along with data analysis.

Third-Party Integration: SSPs can seamlessly integrate with DSPs and ad exchanges to present ads directly to the user. Not only will it connect with multiple DSPs at once, but newer SSPs have developed their own ad exchanges, cutting out the middlemen.

Where Do SSPs Factor in the Online Advertising Space?

If you are thinking of using an SSP, there are a lot of benefits. Today’s online marketing and advertising world play a vital role and are the main link in RTB. These auctions ensure that the best ads are presented to the user while simultaneously benefiting the user, all in the blink of an eye.

By implementing an SSP for your online marketing, you are taking countless hours and manpower off your schedule while simultaneously putting it in the hands of a platform that can simply do it more effectively.

If you are looking to automate the ad procurement process and present your audience with the best option for them and you, getting an SSP is your best bet.

This article was written in partnership with Galaksion.

Tristan D. Porter

I am Tristan who loves to ride and spend time with my jenny (horse) and my love Mark. After completing my graduation, I have been working as an accountant in a private firm in Cologne.