What is a Demand Side Platform? Display Advertising Budget Allocation by Channel Top Benefits of a Demand Side Platform Who are the Key Players in Advertising Ecosystem Real-Time-Bidding Growing to Third of Display Advertising Challenges of Demand Side Platforms How Real-Time Bidding works: A step-by-step explanation The display ad-serving process: A step-by-step explanation

1. Demand Side Platforms Explained
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2. What We Will Learn Today:
Demand Side Platforms Explained
o What is a DSP (Demand Side Platform)?
2
o Digital Advertising Ecosystem
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o Less than a Quarter of Budget is Placed Directly with Publishers
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o What do Marketers Say are the Top Benefits of a DSP?
5
o Who are the Key Players?
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o Real-Time-Bidding to Grow to Almost a Third of Display
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o DSP Challenges
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o How Real-Time Bidding works: A step-by-step explanation
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o The display ad-serving process: A step-by-step explanation
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3. What is a DSP (Demand Side Platform)?
Automation at Scale for Sophisticated Targeting
DSPs assist advertisers in buying display advertising,
with benefits including:
- Sophisticated targeting and retargeting:
- Streamline: Centralized buying from ad exchanges, SSPs
(Supply-Side Platforms) and networks
- Reach: Access to a pool of 15 billion+ daily impressions
- Pricing Power: Often leverage RTB (Real-Time-Bidding)
- Unified Campaigns: Real-time management, reporting via
single dashboard
Source: Intro to DSPs
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4. Digital Advertising Ecosystem
Automation at Scale for Sophisticated Targeting
1. DSPs (Demand Side Platforms): Assist advertisers in
buying display advertising, with benefits including
sophisticated targeting, reach, centralized buying, and
pricing power
The B&W image shows the basic hierarchy, and the reality is more like
the color image, where today’s media buyer has many available
purchase paths for buying display ads, and
various parts of the ecosystem collaborate.
2. SSPs (Supply Side Platforms)/ Ad Exchange: like a “stock
exchange”, they consolidate pricing-which can be updated
by the second-for ad networks. Unlike ad networks,
exchanges do not generally buy ad space in advance to sell.
3. Ad Network: No single network has all websites, and the
same website may be listed on multiple networks at
different price. Until recent years, the majority of banner
advertisements on the Internet were sold and served by ad
networks.
4. Media Sites: Larger sites have direct sales teams but may
have remnant inventory to sell thru other methods. Smaller
sites may not have sales teams and want to sell thru
automated systems.
Source: Intro to DSPs
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5. Less than a Quarter of Budget is Placed Directly with Publishers
Media buyers don’t just
use one purchase path
or method. The majority
allocate display ad
budgets across both
upfront and impressionlevel inventory sources.
As Real-Time-Bidding
gains momentum (from
20% to 30% by 2017),
DSPs, ad exchanges and
ad networks will take a
larger share of the
display media plan from
direct (publishers, social
media, portals and video
sites).
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6. What do Marketers Say are the Top Benefits of a DSP?
2013
67%
64%
0.03
53%
60%
(0.07)
Ability to buy at impression level
More efficiency and reduced manual
processes
53%
53%
51%
44%
0.07
Increased reach
50%
49%
0.01
Lower cost
Fewer points of sale/media owners to
liaise with
46%
44%
0.02
41%
20%
0.21
40%
31%
0.09
Global frequency caps
37%
24%
0.13
Integration with other media channels
• The respondents
who indicated
that “fewer
people to deal
with” is a
benefit
DOUBLED from
the prior survey.
Improved targeting
Real-time understanding of campaign
performance
Save time in planning
• Over two-thirds
cite Improved
targeting as the
top benefit
2011
Percentage
Point Chg.
29%
27%
0.02
-
Source: Econsultancy and Rubicon Project "Online Advertisers Survey 2013" commissioned by Association of Online Publishers (AOP). More than 650 advertisers and agencies were
surveyed in August 2013. Respondents are from UK, non-UK Europe and North America.
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7. Who are the Key Players?
• DSPs: MediaMath, Turn and Simpli.fi.
• Ad exchanges: Facebook Exchange, AdECN
and Right Media.
• SSPs: PubMatic, AdMeld, Rubicon
• Ad networks: Advertise.com, Google Display
Network, Yahoo!, Casale Media, Undertone
Source: matthunter.com, etc.
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8. Real-Time-Bidding to Grow to Almost a Third of Display
eMarketer estimates
RTB will account for
19% of total US
digital display ad
spending this year;
by 2017, that portion
will grow to 29%, or
$9 billion
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9. DSP Challenges
As DSPs become available “off the shelf” many observers predict agencies
will become less important and advertisers will prefer to feed themselves.
• Scale: Not all advertisers have the scale to manage the complexity that DSPs
involve.
• Greater Complexity: Advertisers buy-in to the idea of using DSPs as an
alternative to using “expensive” digital marketing agencies. But marketing
may not yet equipped to understand the nuances of different algorithms,
demand elasticities, etc.
• Management Distraction: Developing competency in digital media
management has opportunity cost for other core needs like product
development
• Another layer of cost: Depending on the DSP fee model, may result in higher
cost than going direct to other parts of the ecosystem (exchanges, networks,
publishers)
Source: matthunter.com, etc.
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10. How Real-Time Bidding works: A step-by-step explanation
1. SSP sends ad unit site, placement and user (cookie) info to all parties participating
in auction (e.g., ad nets, DSPs, ad exchanges)
2. Media buyer’s DSP looks at user cookie to determine if it’s a match for an existing
database user
3. If it’s a match: DSP reviews site/placement info as well as user’s cookie info against
the DSP database to determine value of impression to media buyer. If it’s not a
match: Cannot determine value of impression to media buyer, so it likely passes on
bidding. If it does bid based on site/URL info, it bids at a lower value
4. DSP submits bid back to SSP, inserts ad tag or redirect to initiate ad-serving process
if it wins
5. SSP receives bids from all parties and reviews each bid for highest price and media
buyer’s info to ensure no conflict of interest (e.g., competitor site)
6. SSP passes ad tag of winning bidder along to the user’s browser to initiate the adserving process
7. Browser calls DSP to begin the ad-serving process
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11. The display ad-serving process: A step-by-step explanation
1. Browser asks publisher’s ad server which ad to place
2. Ad server tells browser to check with SSP
3. Browser checks with SSP for ad placement instructions
4. SSP grabs ad specs, user info (cookie), site info, etc.
5. SSP decides most cost-beneficial course of action
6. Ad unit goes to auction
7. DSP and all inventory providers submit bids back to SSP along with ad redirects,
should bid be accepted
8. SSP picks winner
9. SSP passes ad redirect along to user’s browser
10. Browser calls the winner, the DSP, for ad-serving instructions
11. DSP tells browser to call advertiser’s ad server
12. Browser calls advertiser’s ad server
13. Ad server tells browser to contact content delivery network for ad creative
14. Browser contacts content delivery network for ad creative
15. Content delivery network delivers ad creative and the ad is served
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