Decoding the AI-driven digital advertising landscape: Unraveling the roles of DSPs, DMPs, and SSPs
What is DSP? What is DMP? And what is SSP? All these terms ending with “P” are so quite confusing! Do you want to know what are these platforms used for? If you’re new to the digital advertising industry, you might be unfamiliar with these terms. Let Groundhog Technologies be your tutor this time!
The annual event showcasing Google Marketing Live in May 2023, focusing on AI and leveraging the opportunity about conducting generative AI to their own products and advertising service. Apart from the synergy, the digital advertising ecosystem has a long history of these platforms to accelerate either advertisers or publishers advertising the bidding transactions.
Bidding is an essential term in the digital advertising industry, besides the bid price also affects the campaign performance.
We can regard this bidding process as the supply and demand model of economic equilibrium. First of all, The demand side includes advertisers and demand-side platforms (DSP); secondary, serving as the exchange broker called ad exchanges; thirdly, the supply side includes supply-side platforms (SSP) and publishers. These parties are all connected, we’ll introduce each roleplay in this industry thoroughly:
Demand Side
1. Advertiser
Generally speaking, buyers who purchase ad placements, such as brands, media agencies, and app publishers seek app downloads. They aim to display ads through various channels to increase exposure.
2. Demand-Side Platform, DSP
Also known as self-serve advertising platforms, DSPs allow advertisers to set campaign objectives, budgets, target audiences, and choose publishers. DSPs utilize the Open Real-Time Bidding (Open RTB) mechanism for real-time bidding transactions. Examples of DSP platforms include Groundhog Technologies’ MI-DSP™ and The Trade Desk.
AI drives advertising transactions in DSPs. For example, using the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standard, millions of ad transaction requests (Bid Requests) are processed within milliseconds. Programmatic buying enables real-time, optimized, and automatic transactions based on traffic.
Let’s talk about how AI drives advertising transactions. Taking the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standard as an example, there are millions of ad transaction requests (Bid Requests) within 200 milliseconds (ms). You can imagine that if all these transactions are processing manually, it would be exhausting.
Programmatic buying helps to achieve real-time, optimized, and automatic transactions.
Programmatic buying refers to the use of the automatic bidding system to buy and sell ad placements based on traffic.
The supply side must provide a content-type HTTP header, and it must comply with the IAB OpenRTB specification. The ads you see on any device are rendered by browsers and sent to Ad networks.
The ML model will keep revising the bidding strategy and behavior based on the performance of ad network services, utilizing AI and machine learning technologies to enhance advertising effectiveness.
3. Data Management Platform (DMP)
To find the ideal target audience, advertisers use DMPs in conjunction with DSPs. DMPs analyze user behavior data by combining first-party, second-party, and third-party data to create user profiles. This helps advertisers achieve precise marketing and effectively utilize programmatic buying. MI-DMP™ by Presentech combines data from Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, a major Indonesian telecom company, to provide suitable audience segmentation for Indonesian advertisers.
Agent
4. Ad Exchange
An intermediary auction platform that facilitates transactions between DSPs and Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs). Ad exchanges use the OpenRTB mechanism to compare bids and quality scores from different DSPs and determine the winning bid. Ad exchanges offer more transparency than ad networks due to the visibility of the win price. Examples include Authorized Buyer, Smaato, and OpenX. If you’re still unclear about the whole picture, let’s dive into the following scenario!
First of all, when a user visits the website, the SSP, acting as the media supply side will send a signal to the ad exchange, providing the floor price for each ad placement. Meanwhile, the ad exchange, acting as the intermediary informs various DSPs about this ad placement demand. Once the DSPs receive the bid floor, they’ll participate in the bidding process on the ad exchange. The transaction will be processed within 200 milliseconds. The renowned ad exchanges include Authorized Buyer, Smaato, OpenX, etc.
Supply-side
5. Supply-Side Platform, SSP
SSPs are technology platforms that coordinate publishers and media owners to manage their ad inventory. They serve as hosts for ad placements from various publishers and media outlets, helping them monetize traffic and maximize profits. SSPs provide efficient ad placement management and transactions, enabling cost-effective display ads without empty ad placement loads.
6. Ad Network
Ad Network refers to the intermediary role between publishers and advertisers in the online Ad Networks act as intermediaries between publishers and advertisers in the online media industry. They acquire ad inventory from publishers and provide services like ad management and data analysis to advertisers. Ad networks connect numerous publishers through advertising alliances. Examples include Google Adsense and Google Ad Manager.
7. Publisher
Publishers own advertising placements, which can include media websites, YouTube, Google, and high-quality blogs. Publishers aim to generate benefits by placing ads on their websites or apps, while also offering exposure opportunities for brands and advertisers. After introducing the major roles in the digital advertising ecosystem, do you have a better concept of its uniqueness and workflow? Programmatic buying technology benefits advertisers and online media by providing an automated transaction method that saves operation and time costs. It automatically matches suitable ad content with ad placements, enabling the entire advertising system to operate more efficiently.
8. IAB Tech Lab
The IAB Tech Lab, an international organization has become more authoritative in advertising The IAB Tech Lab is an international organization that promotes the growth of the digital advertising industry. It establishes international standards and provides legal support for online advertising. Its members consist of advertisers, advertising agencies, ad tech providers, media companies, data companies, and more. Major international companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon are among its members.
The digital advertising ecosystem involves various roles and workflows, with programmatic buying technology benefiting advertisers and online media through automated transactions that save operational and time costs. It enables efficient matching of ad content with ad placements, making the advertising system more efficient.
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DSP、DMP、SSP到底是什麼? AI驅動已久的數位廣告生態圈
DSP是什麼？ DMP是什麼？ SSP又是什麼？ 一堆P結尾的名詞讓人霧煞煞想高聲吶喊好困惑啊！想知道他們分別有什麼作用嗎? 剛接觸數位廣告投放經驗的你，或許會對近年來在數位廣告圈出現的這些名詞感到陌生，現在就讓現觀科技來幫你解惑！
Google在2023年五月的行銷大會上秀出了新趨勢，核心圍繞在AI，包含有機會將生成式AI應用在自家產品與廣告相關顧客服務。除了AI與廣告應用互相加乘外，其實數位廣告生態圈早擁有以下平台百花齊放，去幫助廣告主(Advertiser)以及發布商(Publisher)進行一連串的廣告交易行為。
廣告交易中少不了競價行為，出價的高低也會影響到最終的廣告成效，我們可以將競價過程想像為經濟學的供給面與需求面，從需求面出發的廣告主(Advertiser)與廣告需求方平台(Demand-Side Platform, DSP)、位於交易中介所的廣告交易平台(Ad Exchange)，以及從供給面出發的廣告供應方平台(Supply-Side Platform, SSP)與發布商(Publisher)，三方間的關係緊緊相扣，以下將依序介紹各個角色與彼此之間扮演的角色作用：
一、需求方 (Demand-side)
1. 廣告主（Advertiser）
白話文來說即是想出錢買廣告，有意購買廣告版位藉此傳達銷售訊息給消費者的買方，好理解的像是品牌商、為求曝光的媒體業者及追求App下載量的軟體發行商等，計畫在各廣告平台上刊登、投放自家廣告以爭取曝光機會。
2. 廣告需求方平台（Demand-Side Platform，DSP）
也有人稱之為廣告主服務平台，即廣告主可以在平台上設定廣告目標、走期、預算、目標受眾、用戶裝置、發布商與出價方式等。DSP採用OpenRTB (Real-Time Bidding)機制，讓單一廣告曝光可以透過統一的通訊協定進行即時競價，全世界有許多軟體公司都有開發DSP，像是現觀科技的MI-DSP™、The Trade Desk。
寫到這裡就得提起廣告交易是如何透過AI驅動的了，以美國互動廣告協會(IAB)規定為例，200毫秒(ms)內有數百萬個廣告交易請求(Bid Request)，如果以上交易都是每筆手動填單，想必相當累人。為了達到即時、最佳化且自動化的交易，程序化購買(Programmatic Buying)這樣的技術便油然而生。程序化購買是指利用自動競價系統，以流量的觀點即時進行廣告版位買賣，供給方必須提供請求方的http位置，且交易結構需符合美國廣告協會IAB的Open RTB規範。你在任何裝置上所看見的廣告，都是經過瀏覽器渲染後發送給聯播網(Ad Network)，而競價模型也會根據聯播網服務的成效利用AI與機器學習(Machine Learning)技術不斷修正出價模式與行為，讓廣告成效越發光彩。
3. 數據管理平台 ( Data Manage Platform，DMP)
前面有提到廣告主可以在廣告需求方平台上設定目標受眾，但有沒有想過要怎麼找到理想的受眾目標呢？廣告主一定希望能夠讓自己的目標受眾看見廣告，為了達到精準行銷與運用程序化購買機制有效發揮，因此在使用廣告需求方平台時，通常也會搭配使用數據管理平台(Data Management Platform)。
數據管理平台可結合第一方、第二方、第三方資料，進一步分析使用者的行為數據，拼湊出使用者的樣貌輪廓，找到最合適的目標受眾進行廣告投放，如現觀科技的行動智慧數據分析平台 (MI-DMP™)在印尼市場，結合了印尼第三大電信商Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison的第一方資料源，提供印尼市場的廣告主合適的受眾區隔。
二、仲介方
4. 廣告交易平台(Ad Exchange)
為一個媒合需求方(DSP)與供給方(SSP)交易的仲介拍賣平台，通常會透過OpenRTB (Real-Time Bidding)機制比較各需求方的出價、品質分數等條件來決定得標的需求方，由於可以看見每一個交易價格，因此廣告交易平台比起傳統聯播網更為透明。如果對廣告交易平台的角色還是很模糊，我們直接帶入使用情境，幫助你更加釐清這三方的合作關係吧！
首先，當一個用戶進入網站的時候，身為媒體供給方的SSP會向Ad Exchange發出訊號，將此網站上有的廣告版位最低出價及其他資訊等告訴Ad Exchange，這時候身為仲介方的Ad Exchange會把這個版位需求告訴各方DSP，在得知最低出價後DSP便會利用OpenRTB機制在Ad Exchange上完成競價，這段看似很漫長的流程其實會在200毫秒內完成。常見且知名的Ad Exchange像是知名的Authorized Buyer、Smaato、OpenX等。
三、供給方 (Supply-side)
5. 廣告供應方平台(Supply-Side Platform，SSP)
身為網路媒體中的供給方技術平台，能讓發布平台、媒體擁有者管理和協調廣告庫存，並協助其能自動出售數位廣告。即廣告供應方平台會託管各方發布平台及媒體的廣告版位，以有效率且極大化利潤的方式協助賣方出售廣告版位，幫助擁有的流量變現。對網路媒體而言，透過SSP的好處在於他們可以託管網路媒體中的廣告版位與交易，且能藉此獲得最有效的展示費用，也比較不會有出現空白的廣告版位。
6. 廣告聯盟 (Ad Network)
比較常聽到的說法是聯播網，即網路媒體(Publisher)的代理商，介於Publisher與Advertiser之間的管理角色，面對Publisher他會主動採購廣告版位庫存，讓Advertiser可以一站式購買；面對Advertiser他會提供廣告管理、數據分析等服務，所以一個廣告聯盟會之所以為聯盟，是因為他連接無數個Publisher。常見的Ad Network像是Google Adsense, Google Ad Manager等。
7. 網路媒體發布商(Publisher)
廣義來說，有廣告版位的網站、App擁有者，都可以被稱為Publisher，像是新聞媒體、Youtube、Google、優質部落格網站等，他們會希望有廣告主在網站或App的廣告版位上設置廣告來曝光品牌，而Publisher也能從中獲取利益。
四、總結
介紹完數位廣告生態圈的重要角色後，是不是讓你能更加瞭解此生態系的特殊性與運作方式了呢？不得不說程序化購買技術的誕生有利於廣告主與網路媒體能用更節省人力與時間成本的自動化交易方式，自動媒合合適的廣告內容與廣告版位，讓整個廣告系統運作的更廣更順暢。
五、補充
8. 美國廣告協會IAB
看完以上，也順便跟大家介紹IAB Tech Lab這個國際廣告行業權威技術標準組織，設立宗旨為促進整體數位廣告產業的成長，負責為線上廣告制定國際標準並提供法律支持，當中包括廣告主、廣告代理商、廣告技術提供商、媒體公司、數據公司等，成員如 Google、Facebook、Amazon 等國際公司。
9. 即時競價OpenRTB
是一種銷售媒體的方式，讓單一廣告曝光可以透過統一的通訊協定進行即時競價，目前OpenRTB的最新版本已發布至 OpenRTB v2.6，點擊左方連結了解更多。參與庫存(inventory)拍賣的各家DSP會在同一時間收到impression並決定是否出價，版位由出價最高者標得，如同前述由IAB制定的OpenRTB規範便制定了各家DSP須在200ms內完成競價拍賣。
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