Top 5 Demand-Side Platforms (DSP) For Programmatic Advertising

We’re continuing on our programmatic spree! If you are still not familiar with what programmatic is, you can have a look at our previous blogs which specifically talk about what exactly programmatic advertising is and some things you should take care of before firing up your programmatic efforts.

Going through them first will help you get on the same page as us.

So, you’ve decided that going programmatic is the way to go to achieve better ROI and have successfully defined a strategy, got abreast with the current needs of your target audience and are almost ready to begin advertising programmatically. But what are the best platforms out there that will acquaint you with the best available ad units according to your targeted audience and provide detailed analytics as well so you can optimize all your programmatic advertising campaigns along the way? This post is all about that and a lot more! So, let’s get into those top 5 programmatic advertising platforms right away -

• Google Marketing Platform

To keep up with the ever-evolving needs of marketers and publishers alike, Google went through a major rebrand to simplify, unify and consolidate their various top-of-the-line digital marketing and advertising products, giving advertisers and publishers more control over their entire digital marketing campaigns.    After the rebrand, Google AdWords is now Google Ads. Google’s Doubleclick Advertisers products (including  DoubleClick Bid Manager, Campaign Manager, Studio & Audience Centre) and Analytics 360 suite is now Google Marketing Platform. And DoubleClick For Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange is now Google Ads Manager.   The reason I’m telling you all this is because, before the rebrand, Google’s DoubleClick was the go-to product for everything programmatic for both advertisers and publishers. But after the rebrand, DoubleClick’s Bid Manager (DSP) and it’s other advertiser products are shipped integrated with Google Marketing platform under the name of ‘Display and Video 360’ which empowers advertisers to effectively plan, buy, measure and optimize their programmatic advertising campaigns across TV, video, display, mobile and more from a single unified platform.

Coming to why Google’s platform is at the top of this list? Simply because of the large network of publishers selling advertising spaces on the platform. Reportedly, Google provides you with a choice to buy ad spaces programmatically on more than 1 billion websites and apps! And did I forget mentioning about Youtube? Yes, Google Marketing Platform is the only place where you can buy ad inventory on Youtube. Combined with the superior audience intelligence and analytics that the company is renowned for, you get a programmatic behemoth at your disposal that will support all your programmatic efforts every step of the way. We rely on the Google Marketing Platform as well for providing all our programmatic services. And it’s just great!

• Facebook Ads Manager

Other than the web, if you are looking to advertise programmatically specifically on Facebook, then Facebook Ads Manager is your best bet. While there are other programmatic advertising platforms that provide ad spaces on Facebook and other social media platforms like Twitter, they will never be able to match the in-depth audience targeting options Facebook provides to its advertisers. 

And it’s all about the audience when it comes to making your advertisements work. If you have targeted the kind of audience who is already inclined to buy services/products related to your business, your ad will work.      

You can programmatically advertise native ads on the platform in the form of photos, videos, carousel ads, slideshows, and instant experiences.

• Appnexus

Appnexus in another great programmatic advertising platform backed up by rich data and machine learning. The USP of the platform is you can fully customize it according to your business requirements and needs. The programmable platform allows you to programmatically buy premium inventory across various channels (desktop, mobile, TV) and formats (video, display, native, OTT) via multiple programmatic options (open exchange, private marketplace, programmatic guaranteed) with safety and transparency. Obviously, their inventory with not be as vast and detailed as Google but the platform still outscores other programmatic platforms over the web.

• SpotX

If you have some videos at your disposal and want to advertise them programmatically over the web, then SpotX is your best option. SpotX is dedicatedly a video ad serving platform that has won various accolades for the awesome services they provide. I say services and not platform because the SpotX team, if you choose their services, will closely work with you to make your programmatic efforts a success. Their programmatic platform is studded with detailed analytics, superior audience intelligence and provides the functionality to advertise various video ad units such as in-stream videos, outstream videos, interstitial videos and OTT videos to deliver your preferred video experience to the targeted users and platforms of your programmatic advertising campaign.

• AdRoll

Renowned for their spot-on retargeting services, this programmatic service provider and platform is best suited for entrepreneurs and advertisers of eCommerce stores. Their rich data pool of 1.2 billion online shoppers which includes their browsing behavior, previous purchases, and other important user data enables advertisers to target users based on their exact preferences and make every advertising campaign a success, ask from the 37,000 businesses using their platform and churning billions in business revenue. The platform lets you market your advertisements and retargets users across display, social, native and email. And their platform also lets you integrate all your user data with top eCommerce solutions such as Shopify, Magento, MailChimp and more to streamline all your workflows and turn you eCommerce store into a money-making machine.

So, there you go! These 5 programmatic advertising platforms are all different in how they let you advertise yourself over the web and are built keeping in mind different business goals and objectives. So, I would advise you to go to their website, see what they have to provide and then decide which platform will suit you the best according to your budget and unique business requirements. If there are some other awesome programmatic platforms that have helped you remarkably in all your programmatic efforts, do let us know in the comments.