If you want to be able to sell ad space more efficiently, using a SSP is key! What is a SSP? It is a technology platform used by publishers that automates multiple processes. With SSP’s automation, publishers can focus on generating more income — and of course, celebrating with all that extra cash.
But what is SSP in advertising? In essence, it’s an opportunity for you to do more and earn more! If you’re interested in the value that SSP can deliver for your advertising efforts, keep reading. In this article, we’ll share everything you need to know to take advantage of SSP ad tech.
What is an Advertising SSP (Supply-Side Platform)?
SSP is a crucial element of programmatic native advertising, allowing advertisers and publishers to automate transactions involving ad spaces. In addition, you can now automate the process of selling ad spaces through SSP advertising. This means that all the tasks are accomplished at lightning speed. You essentially get an entire team working for you for free, 24/7. However, this technology doesn’t work in isolation. In the end, what a SSP is able to do is just one part of a larger equation.
The Primary Functions of a SSP
The main objective behind using SSP advertising is to get you the highest potential profits from your site. But this doesn’t magically happen. It is made possible thanks to the functions it performs. What is a SSP doing for you? It is:
- Managing your site’s ad inventory: You can categorize and organize how you want to serve different ad types.
- Serving the highest bidder: Based on the bids that come in, what a SSP is going to do is place the ad that’s most profitable.
- Filtering out low-quality ads: This helps maintain the quality of content on the site.
- Providing relevant reports and analytics: With relevant reports, you can recalibrate your strategy as needed.
Basic Components of SSP Platforms
The SSP can perform all these functions thanks to the various components of the platform itself.
- Inventory management system: This lets you control various aspects of selling, including what ad types to sell and for how much.
- Real-time bidding engine: This auctions ad spaces as soon as a user visits your site.
- Ad quality filters: What a SSP is allowed to do includes limiting the types of ad content permitted on the platform.
- Reporting and analytics dashboard: This takes care of monitoring all relevant metrics to help you make informed decisions.
What is a SSP? It’s more than the sum of its parts. All these elements work together to ensure a smooth selling process from start to finish.
The Difference Between SSP and DSP
Can one letter really make that much of a difference? Absolutely! You’ll see both acronyms used a lot in discussions around digital advertising. In the previous section, you learned more about what a SSP is. So, let’s talk about DSP now.
The demand-side platform is created for advertisers to help them get the best price and placement based on their budgets. So, in some sense, you can even say that DSP and SSP platforms have the same goal of maximizing the value for their users. However, DSPs do it by submitting the most cost-effective bid possible, while SSPs accept the most profitable one.
How Does a Sell Side Platform Work?
The role of SSPs in programmatic advertising is to essentially be Team Publisher. In the previous section, you got a glance at what a SSP is and does. Starting from the moment you decide which ads to sell to coming up with reports, everything can be done through a SSP. Meaning, marketing advertising spaces transform from what was a full-time job into essentially a few clicks here and there. We’ve already discussed how SSPs can automate just about everything, but what is a SSP doing to make these promises a reality? Let’s get into the details of how this technology works independently and in congruence with relevant technologies.
It Empowers You to Collate Ad Inventories in One Place
To begin, start by integrating all the websites and apps where ad placement is possible. What a SSP is going to do is ensure that you have everything ready and set up once someone visits your platform. Here, you’ll also be able to categorize your inventory, which is what a SSP will follow for other processes. You can categorize based on the following:
- Ad format: A few common options include video, image and text, or a combination of at least two of these.
- Content: If you’ve set it to only show sports ads, an example of an ad SSP would reject would be the new menu item from a fast-food joint.
- Placement: A few common placements include headers, in-text and sidebars.
It Connects Your Publishing Supply with DSP and Ad Exchange Tech
In programmatic advertising, both the DSP and the ad exchange are required for you to get a great deal on your ad spaces. That’s why what a SSP is accomplishing for you should be expanded by the capabilities of those two technologies. You’ll be able to:
- Access to a wider market: A SSP essentially contacts them all at the same time so that you always get the best bid for every impression.
- Achieve a higher ROI: Based on what a SSP does, you’ll get the most competitive bids out there without any extra effort on your part.
- Place the most suitable ad for the ad space: This ensures that the ad placed doesn’t tarnish what your brand represents.
What is a SSP? It’s Your Access to a Real-Time Bidding and Auction Process
Even though this is something that happens on both ends of the platform, the bidding and auction will look different depending on the perspective. What a SSP is going to see is as follows:
- Availability of an ad impression: If someone visits a page with ad inventory, an auction will be triggered automatically.
- Generation of a bid request: What a SSP is going to do next is send a request to all the ad exchanges and DSPs it’s connected to. They, in turn, will send their bids in.
- Bid evaluation: The SSP will assess every bid based on the current budgets and ad match. If both conditions are met, what a SSP is able to do is send a counterbid.
From there, the highest bid that meets the requirements is chosen and displayed on your website or app.
What Are the Key Features of SSP Marketing Technology?
SSPs can deliver decent results thanks to these features:
- Ad inventory management: This lets you virtually collate all your ad inventory based on the target audience, ad types and other categorizations you create.
- Filtering and targeting options: What a SSP is doing in this case is helping find the best-match advertisement for the space while still considering the standards you have set for ads.
- Pricing strategies and dynamic price floors: You can switch from various pricing models, like CPM and CPC, and adjust pricing based on the demand and outcome.
Examining the Benefits: What is a SSP Going to Do for Publishers?
There are other ways to sell ad space that don’t involve a SSP at all. However, despite this, many still choose SSPs. So, what is a SSP-specific benefit that publishers like you can enjoy? This option presents a significant advantage over other modes of publishing ads. If you’re interested in learning more about what a SSP is capable of bringing to the table, keep reading. In the following subsections, we’ll discuss the main benefits of choosing SSP technologies for this process.
SSP is Your Ticket to a High Level of Efficiency in Ad Selling
Imagine having to do it all from scratch. You’d have to announce that you were accepting bids for various ad placements and negotiate one-by-one until you got the highest bid. What a SSP does is save you from all this effort. Not only does this technology free you from completing a time-consuming process, but it also does it at a level of efficiency no human is capable of. What is a SSP’s advantage over manual work? It’s able to do the bidding every time someone views your page. So, if you get 60 page views per minute, the ad-selling process happens once per second.
It is Your Guarantee of a Reliable Income Stream
SSP can deliver consistent results because it’s bidding on ad spaces on your behalf. What does this mean? What a SSP is promising you is that you’ll almost always get paid for your ad space. This is assuming your minimum bid amount is met, of course! Providing a consistent income for your website is just scratching the surface of what a SSP is able to do for you.
It is Your Way to Preserve Your Audience While Maximizing Earnings
A SSP is designed to deliver the highest possible payout for you. But what’s the catch? Since this is exactly what a SSP is designed for, absolutely nothing! Think about the standards that you want to maintain when determining what types of ads you want on your website. You don’t have to compromise on any of them. What’s a SSP going to do for you? It is going to ensure that all your conditions are met and you are getting the best possible deal based on qualified bids. Since you can choose only to present ads that your existing audience is interested in, you don’t inadvertently annoy them with irrelevant ad content.
Supply Side Platform (SSP) Examples
All these benefits are made possible through a SSP. It can get you consistent revenue through ads without alienating your audience. However, what a SSP is able to accomplish for you will be largely based on the platform that you use. So, let’s say that you have decided to monetize your site. What is a SSP option that you should go for? This will depend on various factors, like:
- The size of your audience;
- The publisher requirements of the SSP itself;
- The advertising market that you want to serve. Which of the top SSP options will work best for you?
Every case is different. So, instead of giving you a generic recommendation, we’ll present the best options so that you can choose what is most suited to your requirements.
Google Ad Manager
This is one of the supply side platform companies that lets you access a wide range of advertising markets. What makes this a great option is that it provides you access to the huge demand generated through this household brand. What a SSP is doing in this case is providing you with a wide range of advertisers that can be well-suited for your website or app. With the huge demand, what is a SSP like this going to give you? A potentially higher bid for every ad space that you sell. It also provides an exclusive marketplace for your ads!
MGID’s SSP
If you’re looking to limit ads specifically to those under native advertising, you’ll find that MGID is what a SSP is supposed to be. Our platform specializes in creating a seamless experience for users on a website or app. Through our access to advertisers worldwide, you’ll be able to get a great deal on your ad spaces. What is a SSP like MGID going to bring you? You can find out as long as you meet our basic requirements: site traffic of at least 5,000 hits per day and an HTTPS protocol. Our platform also allows you to automatically adjust the price floors based on the demand, helping deliver optimal income levels.
PubMatic
PubMatic is a platform developed by people who believe that transparency and technology are what a SSP is supposed to be. With its omnichannel support, you can monetize across mobile and desktop. This allows you to generate healthy revenue wherever your website or app is found. Based on their belief of what a SSP is supposed to promote, they have a transparent fee structure, allowing you to see how your ad spaces are sold and monetized. And like the first two options presented here, you’ll get access to advertisers worldwide.
DSP, SSP and DMP: How Do They Integrate with Each Other?
Before discussing how they all work together, it’s important to know what a DMP is. Only then will it be clear how a SSP will fit into the equation. So, what does a DMP do?
- It collects data from SSPs, DSPs and other sources;
- It segments the audience based on what a SSP is supposed to look at to filter ad bids;
- It integrates the collected data with various tools, including SSP and DSP.
The technical aspects are a little bit more complicated, but this is just a quick run-through to provide you with a closer look at what a SSP is capable of.
How SSPs and DSPs Interact with DMPs to Utilize Audience Data
The success of programmatic advertising has a lot to do with the SSP, DSP and DMP working together. Essentially, a DMP serves as a source of information for both ends of the transaction, allowing the following capabilities:
- Data integration: Through the DMP, a SSP can provide audience information for more accurate matching of ads to ad spaces.
- Data enrichment: Apart from the basic demographics, a SSP will provide information on current behaviors to attract better bids from DSPs.
- Data analysis: Based on the effectiveness of various target audiences and placements, you can adjust your pricing.
What is a SSP? Your Ticket to the Greatest Advertising Revenues You’ve Ever Seen!
Still wondering what a SSP is going to do for you? Together with all other advertising technologies, a supply-side platform can make it easier to earn revenue through your website. You don’t need superior tech skills to make it work. For example, here at MGID, we have comprehensive guides for our publishers and advertisers to help them navigate their way to profitability, and we have a dedicated customer support team. Get started and register on the MGID platform! With our user-centric monetization approach, here’s what a SSP is going to do for you: display the most suited native ads to increase your income without alienating your readership. Sell SSP ads with us today!
