Advertising
Log in to saveDigital marketing term
DSP
Demand-Side Platform: software advertisers use to buy impressions across programmatic exchanges. Bids, audiences, and frequency live here.
Detailed explanation
A DSP connects to multiple ad exchanges. Data segments, brand-safety lists, and frequency caps set quality.
Google Ads and Meta Ads are walled gardens, not independent DSPs. Independent DSPs reach open-web inventory.
Platform and data fees sit on top of media cost. Comparing a raw CPM to the invoice without fees understates true cost.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Google Ads a DSP?
- It is a walled-garden buying interface, not the same as an independent open-exchange DSP.
- When do you need a DSP?
- When you need scaled open-web display or video and advanced audience stitching. Small budgets often stay in walled gardens first.
Related terms
Internal links for the topic cluster — read these concepts together.
- SSPSupply-Side Platform: software publishers use to offer inventory to programmatic demand and try to maximize yield.
- Programmatic AdvertisingBuying ad inventory through software and auctions instead of one-off human insertions. DSPs, SSPs, and exchanges sit in that chain.
- Real-Time BiddingSelling a single impression in an auction that finishes in milliseconds as the page loads. The price is not a preprinted package; the bid follows that user and context.
- CPMCPM (Cost Per Mille) is the cost of 1,000 ad impressions; it is one of the most common media buying units.
- Lookalike AudienceA Lookalike Audience is a targeting method that uses data from existing customers or followers, along with a platform's machine learning algorithms, to find new potential users with similar behaviors.