Supply side platforms (SSPs) allow publishers to make money from their websites by creating and selling ad inventory to marketers on an impression-by-impression, or visitor-by-visitor, basis. By selling ads in real time, publishers can provide advertisers with better visibility into individual impressions and gain instant clarity into advertising demand. This ensures that publishers sell their inventory at the most optimal price point and leverage their ad inventory to the fullest extent. SSPs are used in conjunction with publisher ad servers—either as a single product or two separate integrated products—that provide the functionality to manage ad inventory and traffic incoming ads. SSPs, in turn, give publisher ad servers the ability to sell their advertising inventory in real time through advertising exchanges or directly to advertisers’ demand side platforms (DSPs).
To qualify for inclusion in the SSP category, a product must:
Include publisher ad server functionality or be able to integrate with publisher ad servers
Connect to ad exchanges and directly to DSPs to sell ad inventory in real times