Today, most media ad space is sold automatically through programmatic platforms like DSPs, which enter a bidding war for ad placements in a real-time auction format. Every day, millions of video ad spots are bought in this way. On these platforms, purchasing ad space happens automatically — no price negotiations, no contracts to sign. This makes the process seamless, swift, and efficient, especially for advertisers looking to boost brand awareness through video campaigns. But how does it all work? Let’s dive in and take a closer look.
The role of DSP (Demand-Side Platform) in programmatic advertising
A Demand-Side Platform (DSP) is a tool that allows advertisers, marketers, agencies, and media buyers, in general, to purchase ad impressions (inventory), manage campaigns efficiently, analyze performance, and further optimize their campaign flow and user experience with ads. A demand-side platform is an irreplaceable tool for every media buyer these days — agencies use it to automate ad placement on behalf of their clients (advertisers). Meanwhile, advertisers who do not work with agencies also use DSPs to automate their campaigns while using self-serve platform interfaces that are fairly easy to grasp and adjust.
DSP is part of the vast programmatic ecosystem that also includes a supply-side platform (SSP), ad exchange, and sometimes a data management platform (DMP).
Here’s a shortened and simplified explanation of how it all works together for the sake of serving video ad campaigns (as well as all other campaign types):
- When a user visits a website, the site pings an SSP (publisher’s platform), which then sends a request to an ad exchange with info about available ad placement.
- Participating in the exchange, the DSP checks the information about this available impression in the request. If the criteria match the ad campaign’s requirements adjusted by the advertiser, the system starts bidding on this impression.
- The SSP reviews all the bids and selects the highest bid in the real-time bidding auction, which sometimes takes place on an ad exchange.
- The winning ad is then displayed to the user in a blink of an eye.
A DMP in this ecosystem gathers and processes various types of data and then provides insights for targeted campaigns. Using this information, the DSP determines whom to show the ads to. Still, a DSP can function without a DMP integration.
How DSPs facilitate cross-channel video ad buying
A demand-side platform focuses on buying targeted audience traffic rather than just ad space, which is also important for video advertising campaigns that need to find their perfect viewer. In other words, the platform helps advertisers select ad placements for potential viewers who fit their targeting criteria.
The DSP can analyze available video ad placements and select only those that best match the advertiser’s parameters. The platform also allows for managing all aspects of video campaigns in one place: launching, optimizing, and tracking results.
Every advertiser can launch multiple video campaigns as DSPs today support many different video formats — in-stream and out-stream video ads, rewarded and native videos, interactive videos, and even those supported on connected TVs (CTV) and digital-out-of-home (DOOH) devices. Each such video campaign can have its own impression-buying strategy based on specific targeting settings. Based on those settings, the platform DSP will buy impressions for video campaigns. Here are just to mention a few:
- Site targeting. With this setting, the DSP bids only when the request comes from a specific site or app. This is useful if the advertiser wants their video ad shown in a particular context.
- Geolocation targeting. The platform places a bid if the request source is located in a specific area, determined by the viewer’s IP address.
- Certain viewer characteristics. These can be age range, gender, and other demographic characteristics.
- Channel targeting. Advertisers can choose to place video ads only on websites, only in apps, or only on CTV, and so on. Alternatively, they can opt to run multichannel campaigns on different types of channels.
- Dayparting. The advertiser can schedule video campaigns so that they are omnichannel and served at a particular time of day (dayparting).
How DSP lifts brand awareness for video campaigns
An advertiser who sets a DSP video campaign can build the entire communication funnel with their target audience at every stage of engagement, from building brand awareness to fostering customer loyalty. Most often, DSPs function based on a CPM (cost-per-mille) basis, which is considered the most optimal model for raising brand awareness. Why? According to this model, media buyers pay per 1000 impressions, which is less costly than paying for clicks (CPC). Thus, the more impressions one gets, the higher the potential reach. This way, video ads get seen by more people.
Plus, programmatic advertising’s highly targeted approach guarantees that ad messages are delivered to the right viewers. For instance, if you target Millennials or Gen Z, the system will deliver the ads on the channels where they spend most of their time — mobile devices, streaming platforms, and more. For different categories and user segments, the ads might be served on PCs, laptops, and other devices that they normally use. Because of such effectiveness, programmatic platforms are very popular — in fact, by 2025, programmatic advertising will account for more than 70% of total global ad spend worldwide.
Reaching brand awareness goals for your video campaigns with DSP: 4 how-tos
A DSP is not just a ‘push the button’ solution that works according to some universal rule; it is a very smart mechanism that requires sophisticated tuning to reach your unique goals. As an advertiser who runs video ad campaigns, you need to know how to leverage this machine so you can navigate this system successfully; here are a bunch of useful ideas:
- Know your audience. Tapping into DSP is a bad idea if you haven’t determined who your audience is. Why? The DSP setting requires you to instruct the system on who that potential valuable audience is that needs to see your message. If you work with different audience segments on DSP, run several video campaigns suited to each segment individually. Make sure you use different creatives that are relevant to each segment.
- Use effective video formats. There are different video formats that you can use on DSPs, and each one has its own perks. For example, some formats are known to maximize the reach of your ads (in-stream, skippable pre-roll ads). If you want to increase the completion rate of your videos, then opt for non-skippable creatives. Normally, a 70% viewability rate is considered optimal, while a video completion rate should be about 50% (indicating strong engagement).
- Optimize user experience. While having a great reach is key for brand awareness campaigns, don’t underestimate the importance of proper user experience. Video ads should not irritate viewers, so use DSP features like frequency cap, which will allow you to limit the number of ads the user sees daily. Normally, the same user shouldn’t see your video ad more than a few times per day.
- Use location campaigns. If you strive to inform audiences about your offer only in certain locations, then apply geo-targeting campaigns on DSP. This way, you may channel your video ads to the users who attend certain events or who live near certain places.
To wrap it up
In the programmatic ecosystem, the DSP is an essential part of advertising, bringing a plethora of advantages that make life easier for many advertisers who rely on automated ad buying. Now is the best time to explore every aspect of a DSP platform: programmatic has hit an all-time high in popularity, and the range of useful features for video ads and the number of supported channels and ad formats continue to grow by the day. Like a well-tuned engine powering modern advertising, DSPs keep evolving, giving marketers more ways than ever to reach and engage their audiences.
