Advertising
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SSP
Supply-Side Platform: software publishers use to offer inventory to programmatic demand and try to maximize yield.
Detailed explanation
An SSP decides which demand sources compete for a publisher’s impression. Header bidding lets multiple demand partners bid at once.
Publishers trade revenue against user experience. Too many ad units can lift short-term RPM and shrink the audience.
On the buy side, SSP quality affects how transparent the inventory is. Blind inventory can be cheap and brand-risky.
Frequently asked questions
- Is an SSP the same as an ad server?
- No. An ad server handles the publisher’s own sales priorities; an SSP connects open demand. They work together.
- What does header bidding do?
- It lets multiple demand sources compete on the same impression so the publisher is not locked to one SSP.
Related terms
Internal links for the topic cluster — read these concepts together.
- DSPDemand-Side Platform: software advertisers use to buy impressions across programmatic exchanges. Bids, audiences, and frequency live here.
- 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.
- PublisherThe party that owns the content and the ad inventory: a site, app, or show. Advertisers buy the impressions; this side sells the space and the audience.
- Ad SpaceThe placement where an ad sits, plus the inventory that slot can sell. A fixed unit, run of site, and run of network are not the same product.