Topic: Display Advertising Explained

Let’s talk about DSPs.

DEMAND SIDE PLATFORM

A demand-side platform (DSP) is a system that provides the technology needed for advertisers to unlock the value of real-time bidding (RTB) information provided by ad exchanges. An ad exchange is a hub through which ad networks, and some large advertisers or agencies, can trade inventory within a single central marketplace. DSP’s serve as a single access point to RTB inventory from across all ad exchanges, evaluate sites and impressions against campaign targeting and budget criteria, and provide integrated ad serving and analytics for each winning bid. Popular DSPs are MediaMath, Turn, X+1, and The Trade Desk.

REAL TIME BIDDING

Real-time bidding (RTB) is a digital ad buying process that allows advertisers to evaluate and bid on individual impressions. Component of a DSP, ad exchange or network, RTB lets buyers use their own data and targeting options to bid for each ad impression. Advertisers can take factors such as site, placement, price, and user data into account when bidding on each impression. The winning bidder gets to serve the ad, which is often customized on the fly to better tailor the message to the audience. The entire bidding process for each impression takes less than 25 milliseconds!

FACEBOOK EXCHANGE

The DSPs now can buy ads on the new Facebook Exchange, a retargeting tactic.  Say someone goes to your website and doesn’t convert.  By working with an approved DSP, you can now target those Facebook marketplace ads to audiences who did not convert on your website.  So next time you recognize a Facebook ad from a website you’ve been on, you’ll understand how it got there!

Here’s a visual representation of a DSP’s role in display buying, again thanks to WPP Digital

YIELD OPTIMIZATION

Yield optimization is a technique utilized by ad servers to improve the performance of a given advertiser creative. In this technique the ad server tries to identify publisher impressions which are working well as per campaign parameters from the impressions that are not. It then tries to place more creatives on the impressions that are working and less on the ones which are not.  This solution makes the most of ad impressions that are otherwise ineffectively monetized. Yield optimization companies provide a solution which looks at each impression available on a web publisher site and then matches that impression with an available ad from one of the myriad of ad networks or exchanges. Examples of yield optimizer platforms are Admeld, Rubicon Project, and Pubmatic.

DATA MANAGEMENT PLATFORM

A data management platform (DMP) is a centralized data management platform that allows advertisers to create target audiences based on a combination of in-depth first-party and third-party audience data.  DMPs enable advertisers to consolidate online and offline customer data from various sources into a single location, then use it to create demographic and behavioral segments that can be used to target online advertising. Performance data from each campaign is then fed back into the DMP, creating a feedback loop that improves optimization efforts and can be used for related reporting and analysis. Examples of DMPs are Blue Kai, Exelate, and DataLogix. 

Here’s a sample media buy I was working on recently, showing specific audience segments I plan to target, with the help from the relationships DSPs have with big data DMP platforms.

GOOGLE DISPLAY INTEREST TARGETING

By the way, Google’s Display Network uses third party data DMPs as well when it comes to display interest targeting.  That’s what Google means when they refer to third-party data below in their help section.  So now you know!

One final graphic shows the breadth of a DSP; as you can see, there is tremendous reach potential by partnering with a DSP.

SUMMARY

Buying online display via a DSP has a number of advantages:

• Higher message reach
• Lower CPM/CPC
• Integration with DMPs for specific targeting
• More retargeting options
• Efficient execution