Best Demand Side Platform (DSP)
Demand side platforms (DSP) enable advertisers to buy digital ad placements in real time through automated, impression-level bidding. They allow advertisers to reach and engage target audiences across websites, mobile apps, streaming services, and other digital environments.
DSPs function as centralized hubs for programmatic advertising, used by in-house marketing teams, agencies, and trading desks to plan, run, and optimize campaigns. They support media buying across display, mobile (web and in-app), video, connected TV (CTV), audio, native, and social channels while offering targeting, budgeting, pacing, creative optimization, and performance analytics features.
To access inventory, DSPs integrate with ad exchanges or supply side platforms (SSP) and may also participate in private marketplaces (PMP) for preferred deals. By providing transparency into impressions, clicks, conversions, and return on ad spend (ROAS), DSPs help advertisers optimize performance, allocate budgets more effectively, and maximize ROI.
A key differentiator among DSPs is media ownership. Some platforms own or are affiliated with media companies and sell their own inventory, while others operate independently as neutral buying tools. This distinction allows advertisers to evaluate whether a DSP maintains independence from supply sources or acts as a seller of media.
To qualify for inclusion in the Demand Side Platforms (DSP) category, a product must:
Featured Demand Side Platform (DSP) At A Glance
G2 takes pride in showing unbiased reviews on user satisfaction in our ratings and reports. We do not allow paid placements in any of our ratings, rankings, or reports. Learn about our scoring methodologies.
StackAdapt is the leading technology company that empowers marketers to reach, engage, and convert audiences with precision. With 465 billion automated optimizations per second, the AI-powered StackAd
2,572 Twitter followers
Quantcast is the AI-powered ad platform built for performance marketers. Leveraging nearly 20 years of expertise, our mission is to radically simplify open internet advertising. We harness AI and mach
10,228 Twitter followers
The Trade Desk's self-service, cloud-based platform enables ad buyers to create, manage, optimize and measure advertising campaigns across ad formats and devices. Integrations with hundreds of global
20,570 Twitter followers
illumin is evolving the digital advertising landscape by empowering marketers to achieve transformative results through its customer-centric approach. Featuring a unified canvas built around the open
276 Twitter followers
Simpli.fi provides marketing technology, solutions, and workflow automation that help advertisers and agencies plan, activate, and measure highly targeted advertising campaigns. Our platform powers om
1,808 Twitter followers
The Viant DSP is a self-service omnichannel demand-side platform solution that allows brands and agencies the ability to execute programmatic advertising campaigns across Connected TV, Linear TV, desk
3,013 Twitter followers
Google's DoubleClick™ provides ad management and ad serving solutions to companies that buy, create, or sell digital advertising. The world's top marketers, publishers, ad networks, and agencies use D
31,775,247 Twitter followers
Basis is everything you need to plan, buy, analyze and streamline your best-performing digital media campaigns. Basis is more than just streamlined media buying—Basis is a comprehensive and automated
4,748 Twitter followers
AdRoll is a connected advertising platform designed to assist growth-oriented marketers in navigating the complexities of digital advertising. This software solution provides a comprehensive suite of
AdRoll ABM is a platform used for display advertising, account-based advertising, and integrating with CRM systems like Salesforce and HubSpot. Reviewers like the precise account targeting, strong retargeting, account-level insights, seamless integration with multi-channel campaigns, and the support from the AdRoll team. Users reported a steep learning curve, complex setup, high pricing, limited customization, and issues with the user interface and reporting.
275 Twitter followers
Scale your programmatic media buying smarter, faster, and more profitably Independent agencies and marketers in growth-mode use the AdLib platform to deliver premium programmatic performance withou
Vistar Media is the home of out-of-home – providing brands, marketers and media owners with the world’s first truly intelligent platform for buying and selling OOH. Vistar hosts the world’s most exten
Opera Ads, the advertising platform by global web innovator Opera, powers advertising with extensive reach, user-centric engagement, and dedicated global support. It fuels monetization and user engage
572,668 Twitter followers
AdRoll is a connected advertising platform designed to assist growth-oriented marketers in navigating the complexities of digital advertising. This comprehensive solution provides users with powerful
275 Twitter followers
Moloco’s mission is to empower businesses of all sizes to grow through operational machine learning. With Moloco’s machine learning platform for growth and performance, every app publisher, commerce m
1,077 Twitter followers
Demandbase is the leading, enterprise-grade account-based GTM platform for sales and marketing teams designed to make every moment and every dollar count. Since creating the category in 2013, we h
Demandbase One is a unified platform that provides visibility into account intent and engagement, simplifies audience segmentation, and integrates with various marketing and sales platforms. Users like the platform's ability to provide a complete picture of each account, its simplistic installation, and its exceptional support that helps connect marketing and sales motions. Reviewers experienced a steep learning curve with many overwhelming features, slow loading times, and issues with data validation and accuracy.
21,406 Twitter followers
Learn More About Demand Side Platform (DSP)
What is a Demand Side Platform (DSP)?
Demand side platforms (DSPs) act as a central hub to manage all the data related to advertising campaigns. A DSP is used by advertisers to buy different types of ads (mobile, social, video, etc.) from a marketplace where publishers list advertising inventory. To be efficient, advertising teams need to target the right audience, at the right time, on the right channel. Since many companies compete to get their ads on the same channels, they have to bid on impressions to ensure they can reach their goals.
DSPs enable automated ad buying or programmatic ad buying. This type of software is integrated into multiple ad exchanges to enable advertisers to automate buying ads that may include banner ads on websites or mobile ads on apps. The automated bidding process, where ad placements are auctioned off within microseconds, is called real-time bidding (RTB). While DSPs help companies with all media-buying activities, it is also important to have personnel with advanced expertise in this field or work with external consultants or agencies.
What Does DSP Stand For?
DSP stands for demand side platform, and the term “demand” can be seen as synonymous with “buying”. These platforms help companies identify advertising opportunities across multiple ad networks and helps find the best prices for the targeted audience.
What Types of Demand Side Platform (DSP) Exists?
Mobile DSP
When searching for a DSP, some companies may want a specific DSP for mobile ad-buying capabilities. A mobile DSP is not a standalone product, but is part of and integrated with any robust DSP and is responsible for buying mobile ad inventory. A mobile DSP is focused on buying ads across varying apps, browsers, locations, and devices and also ensures that the advertiser’s creatives are displayed correctly and are optimized for mobile screens. These types of DSPs assist app publishers and app developers in offering available mobile impressions. That being said, buyers don’t need to purchase a separate DSP for desktop and mobile programmatic ad-buying.
Omnichannel DSP
Omnichannel DSPs enable companies to manage ads across multiple channels, like desktop, video, audio, OTT, etc. These types of DSPs help companies manage ad campaigns without having to switch between platforms.
Single-channel or niche DSP
These types of DSPs can serve the needs of businesses that only want to send ads on a specific channel. Single-channel DSPs can help small businesses that may have a lower budget or a more focused advertising strategy.
What are the Common Features of Demand Side Platform (DSP)?
The following are some core features within DSPs that can help users in a variety of ways:
- Campaign management: Omnichannel campaign management is used to target audiences across multiple channels, from traditional media such as TV and newspapers to online and social media channels.
- Ad retargeting: Retargeting allows companies to resume media assets for new campaigns and to target different audiences without starting from scratch.
- Buy management: DSPs help manage different types of programmatic buys such as preferred deal, programmatic guaranteed, or private marketplace.
- Ad variety: This feature provides different types of advertising such as native ads and mobile or cross-device promotions to target broader audiences.
- Audience segmentation: Audience segmentation allows media companies to choose whom to target based on multiple types of criteria (demographics, technology platforms used, etc.).
- Asset management: Asset management helps manage creative assets to allocate them to each campaign, based on the audience and its characteristics such as region, language, age, and so on.
- Bidding: Bidding allows companies to acquire advertising inventory or impressions that are used to place ads on various channels. DSP software usually provides access to multiple sources of inventory.
- Reporting: Reporting and analytics features assist in tracking key performance indicators such as effective cost per click (eCPC) and effective cost per action (eCPA).
- Brand safety: The software integrates with or provides brand protection or brand safety features to monitor and block fraudulent ad-buying activity.
Other features of demand side platforms: API / Integrations, Contextual Targeting, Creative Optimization, Fraud Protection, In App Ads, Machine Learning Optimization, and User, Role, & Access Management.
What are the Benefits of Demand Side Platform (DSP)?
Key benefits of DSPs include accelerating the process of buying online advertisements through direct interaction with web publishers, reducing spend on impressions that are not part of a target audience, gaining transparency in the advertisements that are purchased by knowing the demographics of every impression, and increasing ad conversion rates by putting ads in front of people who are more likely to click on ads, in turn increasing the return on ad spend (ROAS).
Some of the challenges advertisers face nowadays that can be addressed by DSP software are:
Omnichannel: Omnichannel is both a challenge and an opportunity for media companies. On the bright side, they now have more options than ever to target audiences, but this also makes it harder for them to find the right audience segments and promote content on their preferred channels. Companies cannot afford to invest in advertising on all possible channels and need to focus on the ones that are the most efficient.
Real-time tracking: Real-time performance tracking is critical to determine what content works on which channels. It also helps companies adjust their campaigns to make them more efficient or cancel advertising that is costly and brings little or no revenue. Since companies invest a lot of time and money in advertising, it is difficult for them to cancel campaigns even when they don’t seem to be very successful. Real-time data is therefore essential to determining when campaigns can be considered successful; it also enables companies to quickly react to any changes that may jeopardize their advertising efforts.
Brand safety: Brand safety is more challenging than ever, mostly due to technologies like social media which can disseminate information very quickly. Individuals and institutions also scrutinize brands, and it is very common that controversial advertising becomes viral and has a negative impact on the brand. The challenge with brand safety is that advertising content can be shared outside of the channels used by the company, which makes it almost impossible to retract.
Who Uses Demand Side Platform (DSP)?
DSP is used by advertisers employed by a company to help with its advertising strategy or agencies that manage advertising activities on behalf of the customer.
Marketing departments: Advertising teams or departments use DSP software to create advertising campaigns and implement them to target or retarget different types of audiences. They also need to track the performance of each advertising campaign and address any issues that may impact their performance.
Advertising agencies: Advertising agencies use DSP software to implement strategies defined with the customer. Agencies usually manage most advertising activities but may also collaborate with customers on some operations. They also provide customers with reports on the performance and costs of advertising campaigns.
What’s the best DSP platform for mobile ad campaigns?
For mobile ad campaigns focused on reaching audiences at scale with precise targeting and strong performance, leading DSP platforms include:
- StackAdapt offers a versatile, user-friendly platform with advanced targeting capabilities. It supports mobile display, video, and in-app ads, enabling advertisers to efficiently run rich, multi-channel campaigns.
- The Trade Desk provides enterprise-grade programmatic buying with granular targeting, cross-device reach, and powerful analytics. It’s a go-to solution for brands aiming to maximize mobile campaign precision and performance.
- AdLib DSP makes programmatic buying accessible through an intuitive interface and flexible budget management. It enables mobile advertisers to access premium inventory while optimizing cost and reach.
- Viant delivers omnichannel programmatic capabilities with strong mobile, connected TV, and digital audio support. It’s ideal for brands that combine mobile ad efforts with broader digital marketing strategies.
What’s the most reliable DSP for advertising agencies?
For advertising agencies managing diverse campaigns and clients, the most reliable DSP platforms combine scalability, precision targeting, and strong analytics. Top solutions include:
- Basis streamlines the campaign lifecycle by integrating planning, buying, and analytics. Agencies value its automation, reporting, and cross-channel support for running efficient and scalable ad operations.
- Simpli.fi delivers hyperlocal and behavioral targeting, making it ideal for agencies running localized and audience-specific campaigns. Its flexible platform allows precise control over budget and audience segmentation.
- AdLib DSP offers easy-to-use programmatic buying with access to premium inventory. Agencies appreciate its intuitive interface and flexibility in handling campaigns for clients of all sizes.
What’s the best demand-side platform for e-commerce marketing?
For e-commerce brands aiming to scale performance marketing, drive conversions, and reach high-intent shoppers across channels, leading DSP platforms based on G2 reviews include:
- Amazon DSP offers unparalleled access to Amazon’s shopper data, enabling e-commerce brands to target audiences on and off Amazon. Its deep integration with the Amazon ecosystem makes it ideal for product-focused campaigns.
- Criteo specializes in retargeting and dynamic ad personalization, helping e-commerce brands re-engage visitors and drive conversions. Its machine learning algorithms deliver relevant ads across devices.
- MediaMath delivers omnichannel programmatic capabilities with strong mobile, connected TV, and digital audio support. It’s ideal for brands aiming to unify e-commerce ad efforts with broader digital marketing strategies.
Software Related to Demand Side Platform (DSP)
Related solutions that can be used together with DSPs include:
Supply side platform (SSP): SSP allows publishers to make money from their websites by creating and selling ad inventory to marketers on an impression-by-impression or visitor-by-visitor basis. SSPs are used in conjunction with publisher ad servers—either as a single product or two separate integrated products—that provide the functionality to manage ad inventory and traffic incoming ads. SSPs, in turn, give publisher ad servers the ability to sell their advertising inventory in real time through advertising exchanges or directly to advertisers’ DSPs.
Ad network software: Ad networks aggregate ad inventory from websites and apps and match it with advertiser demand to facilitate the digital advertising buying process. For advertisers, ad networks show them the inventory that is available to buy. For publishers, ad networks package together inventory to be useful to advertisers and yield the highest profit. Ad networks serve as a bridge between advertiser campaign management and publisher ad management software, with both sets of software needing to integrate with ad networks.
Creative management platforms: A creative management platform (CMP) combines a variety of display advertising tools utilized by marketing and advertising professionals into one cohesive, cloud-based platform. These tools include ad design builders capable of making dynamic creative in bulk, cross-channel publishing, and marketing data collection and analysis. While most CMPs can be used to create and deploy full marketing campaigns on their own, many provide functionality or integrations that allow users to concurrently utilize another DSP to provide extra channel coverage.
Challenges with Demand Side Platform (DSP)
DSP can be complicated and expensive to implement and maintain. The structure of this type of software can vary from one vendor to another, as well as the way products are sold. Furthermore, vendors provide services to increase DSP adoption and integrations with other software solutions, which can make their offerings even more complicated.
Bid duplication: DSPs are starting to work against bid duplication, but this takes place when SSPs send more than one bid request for a single impression. This represents a single user as two separate users and removes the ability for DSPs to set a capacity for ads served at the requests of the advertiser. In short, bid duplication results in advertisers unknowingly bidding against themselves, driving up the price they pay.
Data privacy: As more and more data privacy regulations are created, DSPs are under more pressure to adapt as this type of software relies on audience data to target ads. Due to privacy regulations, personal data can only be collected and used with explicit permission from consumers.
How to Buy Demand Side Platform (DSP)
The first step in evaluating DSPs, like a lot of software, is to determine the particular company goals and what outcomes are expected to be achieved.
Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Demand Side Platform (DSP)
When evaluating DSP software options, it’s important to ask a few qualifying questions that may be important to the business and end goals. Some of these questions can include:
- How does the DSP maintain data privacy? Does it comply with the CCPA and GDPR?
- What software does the DSP integrate with (e.g., CDP software, ERP systems, etc.)
- How is the data collected for targeting ads?
- Can the DSP buy ads across a variety of channels (i.e., is it an omnichannel DSP)?
- Does the DSP offer artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities for ad bidding?
Compare Demand Side Platform (DSP) Products
When comparing DSPs, businesses should compare targeting capabilities, available inventory types, data privacy maintenance, anti-fraud measures, pricing, available integrations i.e., with a data management platform (DMP), and ad reporting capabilities.
Conduct demos
When conducting demos, buyers must make sure to narrow it down to only a few DSP options, the ones that align with the specific company goals. For example, if the company only wants to advertise on one channel, it may not be necessary to evaluate and demo omnichannel DSPs. Also, it is important to ensure all internal stakeholders are involved in the demos to provide feedback.
Implementation of Demand Side Platform (DSP)
Who is Responsible for Demand Side Platform (DSP) Implementation?
Internal marketing or advertising teams can work with the software vendor they have selected to implement a DSP to start programmatically buying ads. If a company doesn’t have an internal advertising team, or marketing team that oversees digital advertising, it can hire a digital advertising agency to implement, and also manage, a DSP.
What Does the Implementation Process Look Like for Demand Side Platform (DSP)?
For a DSP to start working, it must integrate with varying supply sources (i.e., SSPs and ad exchanges). The internal teams or ad agency implementing this software must ensure that the DSP can natively integrate with all desired ad exchanges and SSPs to serve ads on the channels that the company has identified.
Demand Side Platform (DSP) Trends
Unification or omnichannel DSPs
More and more advertisers are opting for DSPs that can buy different types of ads across a variety of channels. This allows advertisers to keep all of their advertising activities in one place.
Transparency
Marketers are expecting even more transparency when it comes to media or ad buying, and want more clarity from DSPs and SSPs when it comes to the ad buying process. Because of this, DSPs aim to help marketers understand where their spend and advertising dollars are going to help achieve a better return on investment.
