DSP

DSP - Demand-Side Platform, a software tool on the advertiser's side for the automated purchase of advertising impressions through RTB auctions. The DSP aggregates inventory from dozens of SSPs and directly from publishers, allowing you to customize targeting, bids and frequency in one interface. The largest international DSPs: The Trade Desk, DV360, Xandr. In Russia: Yandex Display, VK DSP, Hybrid.

The difference between a DSP and a “regular” advertising platform: a DSP gives access to an open inventory market (open marketplace), and not just to its own platforms. This increases reach but complicates quality control. For this, I use whitelist of verified domains and make sure to turn on brand safety filters.

In my practice, DSP justifies itself with budgets of 500,000 ₽/month - below this level, transaction costs (setup, monitoring, traffic verification) do not pay off. For small and medium-sized businesses, it is better to work through the built-in tools of VK Ads or Yandex Direct.

DSP allows you to build complex strategies: programmatic direct (direct transactions with publishers at a fixed price through the platform), private marketplace (closed auction with selected publishers), open auction (open RTB). Each format has its own balance of price, traffic quality and control.