The programmatic advertising industry has come a long way in the last few decades, and today, digital publishers have no shortage of ad tech providers to choose from. And for publishers that want to bring in more ad revenue (and who doesn't?), supply-side platforms (SSPs) have become a popular option. That's why there are virtually no sizable and reputable online publishers who don't leverage the benefits of SSPs today.
However, choosing the right SSP is often a challenging and time-consuming process. With so many SSPs out there, each with their unique benefits and ways of working, picking one at random is a bad strategy. Instead, you must choose the best SSP for your situation — the one that can most effectively maximize your ad revenue potential.
Luckily, we're here to help. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about SSPs, how they work, and the best SSPs available today. It's also important to note that you might find several compelling SSPs on this list and decide not to restrict yourself to just one. In fact, utilizing many top SSPs can be an excellent strategy for significantly increasing ad revenue. US publishers in 2021 used an average of 5.4 supply-side platforms, so if you opt for this route, you're in good company.
Keep in mind that creating and managing an account with even just one SSP can be a challenge. Many of them have requirements that only large publishers can satisfy.
So, we’ll also cover how we handle connecting to multiple SSPs for you with our header bidding technology at Snigel.
Now, without further delay, let's get into it!
Snigel connects publishers to top SSPs including OpenX, Google AdX, Amazon Publisher Services, and many more. With Snigel’s advanced AI-powered ad stack and a dedicated ad management expert, publisher’s see an increase in ad revenue of 57% on average. Get in touch to see how we can help you maximize ad revenue.
20+ Best SSPs for Publishers 2024
- OpenX
- Xandr
- ConnectAd
- Sovrn
- Teads.tv
- Google Ad Manager
- Index Exchange
- Vistar Media
- Improve Digital
- Magnite
- Media.Net
- E-Planning
- Pubmatic
- GumGum
- Amazon Publisher Services
- Sharethrough
- Criteo
- TripleLift
- AdMob
- AdColony
- Adform
- Kevel
- Nativo Edge
What Is a Supply Side Platform (SSP)?
A supply-side platform (SSP), sometimes called a sell-side platform, is a type of advertising technology platform that allows publishers to make money by creating and selling ad inventory on a visitor-by-visitor or impression-by-impression basis. SSPs automate the sale of digital ads through programmatic auctions. The result is improved yield optimization of ad inventory and reduction in unfilled ad space.
Sounds confusing? In simple words, SSPs connect publishers to advertisers, allowing publishers to sell their ad inventory directly and to the fullest extent. In the past, publishers would manually sell ad space. And while this method is still used for premium ad space in some cases, it's fallen out of favor with the advancement of programmatic advertising technology. SSPs are a better way forward because they allow publishers to scale their selling processes, maximize the price of ad impressions, and ensure that ad space isn't left empty.
An ad tech platform must meet specific criteria to be considered an SSP. For example, it must be able to integrate with publisher ad servers and connect to ad exchanges and demand-side platforms (DSPs) to sell ad inventory in real-time.
What Is a Demand Side Platform (DSP)?
You can think of Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) as the equivalent to SSPs, but for advertisers instead of publishers. So, while publishers use SSPs to sell their ad inventory, making it available to ad networks, exchanges, and DSPs, marketers use DSPs to buy advertising from programmatic ad exchanges and networks.
Advertisers use DSPs to buy mobile, search, and video ads from marketplaces where publishers have listed their inventory. They automate the process of deciding how much to bid for ads in real-time, making the ad buying process considerably faster, more efficient, and cheaper. And critically, they allow access to a wide range of ad inventory from one centralized user interface.
But how do they work exactly? Although the exact process varies depending on the platform, it typically works like this:
- The advertiser sets up their campaigns, including uploading creatives (ads), detailing targeting, and setting a budget for their campaigns. This can all be done through the dashboard.
- The DSP then scours its network of publishers for mobile apps or sites that fit the media buyers' criteria. Once it's found a match, it makes a bid for placement. As part of this process, the DSP will analyze critical data about the site or app users and determine how much a user is worth based on relevance to the campaign.
- Then, the DSP resolves the bid, manages the payment, and, of course, places the ad, all in just a few seconds.
In recent years, DSPs have become a powerful marketing automation tool because they grant advertisers access to high-quality traffic at scale and with next to no friction. Or in other words, they eliminate the need to spend time and energy contacting hundreds of publishers with advertising offers and instead automate the process. Moreover, DSPs allow marketers to manage campaigns in real-time based on performance. So, for example, media buyers can invest more money into ongoing campaigns that are performing well or pull campaigns that are performing poorly. They don't have to wait for a campaign to end before taking action.
Why Do You Need an SSP? Top SSP Benefits
Supply-side platforms are designed to improve advertising efficiency and streamline the supply and distribution of ad inventories. And they're incredibly successful at meeting these goals. Now let's look at some specific advantages of SSPs for publishers.
- Supercharged access to advertisers: SSPs offer ad inventory to a broader audience of media buyers, thereby allowing publishers to maximize their profits and ensure all inventory is filled. SSPs aggregate multiple networks to ensure the inventory value doesn't trend down because not enough bidders are coming in through one specific ad exchange or network.
- Automated selling: SSPs remove the manual work involved in publishers selling ad inventory to advertisers. Machines handle every transaction, freeing up publishers' time to focus on more creative or complex tasks (the things machines aren't capable of).
- Reporting: SSPs include reporting features that give publishers key insights into information such as how much their inventory is being bought for, who is bidding, and more. With this information, publishers can make informed decisions about the future of their websites and income.
- Enhanced control: SSPs give publishers more control over their inventory in multiple ways. For example, publishers can set price floors to dictate the minimum price inventory can be sold for. Publishers can also dictate through which channels their inventory can be bought or which advertisers can or cannot purchase their inventory. This is important because some publishers would rather run house ads (a self-promotional ad that a company runs on their own website) than sell impressions for next to nothing. In contrast, others might want to sell to a new advertiser for less than an existing one to establish a new relationship.
- Latency and performance (RTB): Effective real-time bidding requires low latency, but ad networks can have varying latency levels and tolerances. To combat this issue, SSPs automatically choose networks with the lowest latency levels to boost user experience.
How Do SSPs Work?
Supply-side platforms connect publishers to multiple demand sources simultaneously in a programmatic marketplace. This allows publishers to sell their inventory in numerous ways, for example, directly to ad networks, DSPs, or header bidding auctions. The actual process works like this:
- The publisher chooses an SSP and gives the platform access to their ad units.
- The chosen SSP will issue ad requests and deal IDs to various ad exchanges and DSPs whenever a user visits a publisher's site.
- DSPs bid on the ad units as part of the auction process, putting forward different prices.
- The SSP will then consider the publisher's ad unit criteria and the media buyer's audience requirements before matching the highest bid price.
- The ad server determines the winner, and the winning ad is displayed on the publisher's website.
What Are The Main Features and Components of a Supply-Side Platform (SSP)?
SSPs inhabit several key features that distinguish them from other programmatic advertising systems. These are:
- Ad Exchange Functionality: An ad exchange manages the buying and selling of ads between advertisers and publishers. Many SSPs now include ad exchange functionality, allowing publishers to connect directly to advertisers (through DSPs) rather than first connecting to external ad exchanges.
- Integration Support: SSPs communicate with ad servers, DSPs, ad exchanges, and data-management platforms (DMPs) to optimize revenue. These integrations with other ad tech platforms simplify the process and maximize profit potential.
- Network optimization: SSPs can mitigate discrepancies between high or low latency networks with network optimization.
- Geographic targeting: Publishers can target localized audiences in individual geographic locations.
- Trackers: SSPs provide trackers that allow publishers to gather data about the website and its users. Publishers can then share this data with user-profile databases and other reporting functions.
- Reporting: SSPs should allow publishers to view campaign analytics and create reports from the trackers, providing key insights that can inform better decision-making.
How to Choose the Best SSP
Choosing the best SSP becomes much more straightforward when you know what you're looking for. So, what factors do you need to consider when scouting for the top SSPs?
Proprietary vs. Third Party Technology
Not all SSPs work the same under the hood. For example, some platforms use their own tech infrastructure, while others use third-party tech platforms. While using a third-party platform isn't inherently wrong, SSPs that use their own technology typically perform better as a general rule.
Responsiveness to a Rapidly Changing Industry
Ideally, you want to select an SSP that has demonstrated a willingness to integrate new demand sources. The programmatic ads market is evolving rapidly, and you want to be able to take advantage of new opportunities as they arise. As a result, if an SSP is reluctant to expand its partner network, it might not be the best option.
Ease of Use
An SSP could contain the most advanced features currently achievable, but if you don't know how to use it, you won't be able to maximize your profits. Look beyond the initial dashboard and listen to what other publishers say about your shortlisted platforms.
Multiple Auction Protocols
Look for SSPs that offer different auction protocols like programmatic direct, open auctions, and header bidding solutions. More choice means more flexibility to respond to dynamic market needs.
Transparency
Obscure reporting and stealthy charges harm your success, so publishers should opt for SSPs with clear and detailed reporting features and quantifiable performance metrics.
Integration with Anti-Ad Fraud and Brand Safety Tools
The best SSPs will protect against ad fraud and offer tools for brand safety. Naturally, you'll want to be able to block suspicious advertisers and contentious ads to maintain a good relationship with your audience.
How to Easily Take Advantage of Multiple SSPs with Snigel
It can be quite difficult and time-consuming to connect to an SSP on your own. Not only does it require advanced technical expertise, but also many SSPs have strict requirements that publishers have to follow in order to join. And, many SSPs operate on an “invitation-only” basis so you may not even have the opportunity to join. In fact, typically only large enterprises are able to meet the SSPs’ requirements and have the resources to manage those accounts on their own.
That’s why most publishers work with a header bidding partner like Snigel.
Snigel connects you to the top SSPs including:
- Google AdX
- OpenX
- Xandr (formerly AppNexus)
- Amazon Publisher Services
- Index Exchange
- ConnectAd
- Magnite (formerly Rubicon Project)
- District M
- And many more
Not only do we give you access to the top SSPs, but our data-driven header bidding stack, AdEngine, also gives you access to advanced AI-powered ad technology, including:
- Next generation ad format technology: Adaptive ads (fill ad space with whatever combination of ad sizes will return the highest revenue), super adhesive ads (display large ads in a smaller ad space), interactive ad units (engage the user and increase the amount of time the user spends viewing the ad).
- Optimization features: AI bidder optimization (take advantage of client- and server-side header bidding in addition to matching users with the best bidders for their country, device, and browser), dynamic floor pricing (increase your CPM and prevent unfilled ad space), smart refresh (use event-based, time-based, or action-based triggers to display more ads within one ad space).
- AdStream: Display high-quality, native video ads in a variety of formats.
- AdConsent: Easily comply with GDPR and CCPA regulations while also earning ad revenue from more of your website’s traffic.
- And more…
Finally, with Snigel, you’ll also have a dedicated ad management expert who handles your ad strategy and setup for you.
You can be as involved or uninvolved with creating your ad strategy as you want. Either way, your ad setup will be monitored on a regular basis, adjusted whenever necessary, and highly customized to the specific needs of your website.
It takes years of experience to learn all of the ins and outs of what makes a truly effective ad strategy and most publishers don’t have this experience or the time to learn. By working with our ad management experts, you can take immediate advantage of our expertise. Our ad experts will help determine which SSPs are the best fit for your website and will produce the most revenue. We’ll also help you fine tune ad placement, ad type, and more.
On average, websites that partner with Snigel see an increase of 57% in revenue.
Here are a few case studies you can read to see how other publishers increase ad revenue by taking advantage of multiple SSPs and Snigel’s services:
- How Snigel helped Weatherspark increase their ad revenue by 51% compared to AdSense
- How Radiopaedia.org increased ad revenue while decreasing the number of ads per page
- How Snigel helped DeviceTests increase their ad revenue by 180% year-on-year
Get in touch to see how Snigel can help you get the most out of your ad inventory.
The 20+ Best SSPs: Detailed Breakdown
1. OpenX
Minimum traffic requirement: 10 million page views per month
OpenX is an SSP that provides publishers with a way to get better prices for the Ads placed on their websites. It also gives more control to advertisers over where their ads are placed. OpenX offers several features that make it one of the best SSPs for both publishers and advertisers. Some of its core features include real-time bidding, advanced targeting, and a wide range of ad formats.
It also has advanced reporting and analytics tools that publishers can use to effectively track the performance of their ad campaigns. Overall, OpenX is one of the most powerful SSPs that can help publishers boost their ad revenue while also giving advertisers more control over their campaigns.
OpenX Benefits
- Robust video monetization solutions. OpenX allows publishers to monetize their video content on their site or app using different ad formats, including in-stream and out-stream ads. It gives publishers the option to reach out to over 45 demand-side platforms.
- It provides Software Development Kits (SDKs) to app publishers
- It doesn’t require publishers to use the waterfall or Passback method. With OpenX, you can use OpenX Bidder and Adapters for third-party header bidding wrappers
- It also offers direct programmatic deals to publishers.
2. Xandr
Minimum traffic requirement: 10 million monthly page views
Xandr is another reliable SSP that publishers can rely on to monetize content on their websites and apps. With Xandr, publishers can contact hundreds of demand partners and use open auctions or private auctions to sell their ad inventory. Some popular publishers already using this platform to sell their ad inventory include Ouest France, Microsoft News, CNN, Schibsted, Seattle Times, and many more.
Xandr Benefits
- It gives publishers auditing tools that they can use to manually edit how Ads are placed on their site to avoid ruining their users’ experience.
- It gives publishers video monetizing and header bidding solutions through Prebid mobile and Prebid video, respectively.
- Xandr allows publishers to set up server-side header bidding, enabling them to run auctions on the server-side, which significantly boosts the page load speeds of the site or web application.
- It allows publishers to use both open exchanges and private marketplaces.
3. ConnectAd
Minimum traffic requirement: None specified
ConnectAd is a supply side platform that prioritizes the needs of publishers. The company's values center around the success of its partners, and it strives to put publisher requirements first in everything it does, from engineering to customer service to product development. They stand out with their commitment to transparency, risk-free approach, and simple setup. ConnectAd provides a holistic system that works hand in hand with the largest networks to let them compete against each other. This guarantees the highest possible eCPM, combined with full utilization of your inventory. ConnectAd also handles all processing, optimization, set-up, exclusion of advertisers, optimization of eCPMs, and automated payment, making it a simple and hassle-free SSP choice.
ConnectAd Benefits
- Supports desktop and mobile formats as well as video ads with their central platform.
- Maximum revenue with premium inventory and premium customers.
- Complete transparency with accurate overviews of utilization, income, eCPMs, and trends at all times.
- No risk with no exclusive contracts, no minimum contract duration periods, and no minimum quantities, and they return impressions if no suitable buyer is found.
- Simple setup with ConnectAd handling all the processing, optimization, set-up, exclusion of advertisers, optimization of eCPMs, and automated payment.
- Real-time evaluation with ConnectAd connecting with auctions in real-time, and their system updating itself every minute to ensure that publishers always have an up-to-date overview of all activities.
4. Sovrn
Minimum traffic requirement: No minimum traffic is required.
Sovrn is another SSP alternative for publishers that want to improve programmatic revenue and optimized ad monetization. It helps publishers to reach out to hundreds of demand partners on the internet. With Sovrn, publishers can utilize platforms like Google’s Exchange Bidding Dynamic Allocation and Amazon TAM (Transparent Ad Marketplace) to boost their ad revenue. Some of the popular platforms that use Sovrn include 9to5Mac, Spotify, Styde, and many more.
Sovrn Benefits
- Has a dashboard for reporting analytics which helps advertisers easily track the performance of ads on their site. Some of its reporting features include data management, bid-level reporting, and domain filtering.
- Has the Ad Block Unblock feature that enables advertisers to understand the significance of ad blocking on their site.
- Provides publishers with tools to monetize emails and mobile app data. Supports server-side script configuration of the wrapper that enables developers and publishers to integrate server-to-server header bidding to their website.
5. Teads.tv
Minimum Traffic Requirements: 100,000 monthly page views
This SSP is ideal for publishers who want to run out-stream ads in their video content. It is currently among the leading SSPs for monetizing video content. Publishers can use Teads to generate new video ad inventory to help monetize video content via programmatic buying. Some of the brands that use Teads include BBC, Bloomberg, CNN International, Mail Online, and more.
Teads.tv Benefits
- Provides publishers with an open exchange platform that allows them to effectively sell their video ad impressions.
- Teads offers a dashboard that allows publishers to easily analyze the performance of their ads with the different ad partners.
- Allows publishers to open up their ad inventories to the best demand partners before selling them through open exchanges or marketplaces.
- Publishers can use Teads Studio to create and personalize ads to improve their users’ experience on various devices.
6. Google Ad Manager
Minimum Traffic Requirements: No minimum traffic is required.
Google Ad Manager is considered one of the most used and reliable full-service platforms, including an extensive ad server and SSP. Both publishers and app developers can use the platform to sell their ad inventory and access Google's premium advertising exchange — Google AdX. With Google Ad Manager, you can monetize your ad inventory by running display, video, and rich media ads.
Google Ad Manager Benefits
- It offers users a robust dashboard that publishers can use to monitor the performance of their ads. Google Ad Manager allows publishers and app developers to seamlessly integrate other tracking tools, including Google Analytics, BigQuery, and Data Studio.
- Google Ad Manager ensures ads on your site are well optimized to avoid ruining the experience of your site visitors.
- It supports different ad formats for video content. Some of the supported formats include in-stream, out-stream, rewarded, and vertical.
- It also offers exchange bidding for publishers, which allows them to connect with several demand partners and increase their ad revenue.
7. Index Exchange
Minimum Traffic Requirements: No minimum traffic is required.
Index Exchange is one of the leading SSPs for premium digital media platforms. One of the main benefits of using this SSP is that it gives you full control over the pricing and configuration of your Ads.
Index Exchange Benefits
- Enables publishers to connect with premium advertisers so that they can sell their ad inventories at the highest possible price.
- Index Exchange gives publishers access to the various products of the Prebid community.
- Its header bidding wrapper complies with most of the privacy regulations, including GDPR TCF1 and TCF2, and CCPA.
- Provides publishers with header bidding solutions by integrating Wrapper, enabling them to sell the ad space to several demand partners.
8. Vistar Media
Minimum Traffic Requirements: No minimum traffic is required.
Vistar Media is one of the SSPs that provides publishers with an end-to-end programmatic revenue generation solution. It is an all-in-one platform comprising SSP, a demand-side (DSP), and digital signage software. All these programs are integrated to enable data-driven, automated, measurable DOOH transactions. Some of the popular brands that partner with Vistar Media include Adobe, XPETO, and LAMAR.
Vistar Media Benefits
- It is an all-in-one programmatic ecosystem, making it easy for publishers to access most of the tools they need to boost the Ad revenue generated from their sites.
- Vistar connects publishers to some of the leading omnichannel Demand-side platforms in the world.
- It provides media owners or publishers with programmatic and traditional ad scheduling capabilities, all in one platform.
9. Improve Digital
Minimum Traffic Requirements: No minimum traffic is required.
Improve Digital is the leading European programmatic advertising platform. Their main solution, 360 Polaris, includes a Supply Side Platform which allows you to manage your direct deals. You can use video, native, rich media, and display ad formats across devices like TV, mobile, tablet, and desktop. They have partnerships with more than 250 media owners across Europe.
Improve Digital Benefits
- Improve Digital performs well for publishers that have European traffic, particularly the DACH region.
- Offers a wide variety of ad formats to maximize revenue potential.
- Highly transparent and provides detailed insights into campaign performance.
10. Magnite
Minimum traffic requirements: 5 million monthly page views.
It is among the leading SSPs and provides publishers with the tools they need to maximize ad revenue on their websites. Magnite was created after the merger of Rubicon Project and Telaria in 2020. With this SSP, you will get access to its built-in Private Marketplace (PMP), Programmatic Guaranteed (PG) and Auction Package capabilities, giving you more control over the sale of your ad inventory. Some of the leading brands that use this SSP include Business Insider, Financial Times, GANNETT, Los Angeles Times, Hearst, and more.
Magnite Benefits
- Gives publishers and mobile app developers access to multiple ad formats.
- Magnite also has robust analytics and reporting tools that publishers and developers can use to learn more about the performance of the ads on their platforms.
- Offers video monetization solutions across multiple devices, including TV, OTT, DOOH, and Programmatic TV.
- Magnite provides premium publishers with private marketplace deals, preferred deals, and programmatic guaranteed campaigns.
11. Media.net
Minimum traffic requirements: 10,000 page views per month
Media.net is a reliable Supply Side Platform and is part of the Yahoo! Bing contextual network. This platform gives publishers access to one of the biggest marketplaces advertisers use for keyword targeting. Media.net makes it pretty easy for publishers to get advertisers that match their content, no matter the size and scope of their niche.
This platform also has all the core features expected on any modern supply-side platform in 2022. Media.net is considered one of the best Google AdSense alternatives. However, these two platforms can be used together and could significantly boost your Ads revenue.
Media.net Benefits
- Native Ads: This platform is well-optimized to show native Ads. One of the main benefits of native ads is that they are displayed in a way that doesn’t distract your users from reading the content on your site.
- Contextual Ads: Media.net will show your users ads that match the type of content on the site. For instance, phone ads will be displayed on a blog page with content about smartphones.
- Mobile responsive ads: Media.net will also show well-optimized ads for mobile devices. Mobile responsive ads automatically resize depending on the screen size of one’s device. This boosts your Ads revenue since most people use mobile phones to access the web.
- Market Place: It has the third largest marketplace in the ad tech industry, leading to more competition and ad revenue for publishers.
Display to search ad format: This is the ad format where display units are used to show search-type ads.
12. E-Planning
Minimum Traffic Requirements: No minimum traffic is required.
E-Planning offers an ad server and SSP all in one package. It is one of the oldest ad servers in the world right now. So, if you are looking for a two-in-one package, E-planning is one of the best alternatives. This platform allows publishers to select the most efficient ad network using built-in tools designed to maximize the potential of the ad exchange.
E-Planning Benefits
- Connects with multiple Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) and exchanges, leading to more profitability and efficiency in real-time ad auctions.
- Supports multiplatform ads. It can display ads on various platforms, including the web, mobile, and video.
- E-Planning is transparent in advertising sales and shows appealing ads to your users.
- Its excellent reporting capabilities make monitoring the performance of different Ads on your different web resources easy.
13. Pubmatic
Minimum Traffic Requirements: No minimum traffic is required.
Pubmatic is one of the leading Supply Side platforms trusted by several top brands, including Dictionary.com, Tribal Football, Verizon Media Group, News Corp, and many more. The platform combines an SSP and cloud infrastructure with ad tech solutions, enabling publishers and developers to run well-optimized ads for their web resources.
Pubmatic Benefits
- Provides an OpenBid SDK for mobile app developers and publishers to attract more demand via server-side bidding.
- Gives publishers and developers header bidding solutions to enable real-time monetization of their ads inventory.
- Provides its publishers with a proprietary dashboard, enabling them to monitor the performance of ads on their platform effectively. These insights can be used to optimize their ads further.
- Offers direct programmatic deals, allowing publishers to sell their premium ad impressions at higher CPMs to pre-approved advertisers based on specific categories, including CPM rates, number of ad impressions, ad formats, and more.
14. GumGum
Minimum Traffic Requirements: No minimum traffic is required.
GumGum has artificial intelligence and computer vision capabilities that enable it to study the content on your web pages to show the most relevant ads to your website visitors. They also use cookies to collect non-personally identifiable information about user behavior across the different web platforms where GumGum is enabled.
This data improves the accuracy of their ad targeting hence growing the revenue of developers and publishers that use this platform. GumGum works with several top brands, including some of the fortune 100 companies.
GumGum Benefits
- GumGum uses contextual intelligence that enables publishers to show the most relevant ads to their website and app users.
- Supports header bidding integration available via Index Exchange or PreBid adapters.
- Gives publishers a dedicated account manager that helps them effectively manage their accounts and maximize Ad revenue.
Server-to-server support that allows publishers to connect directly to their unique, premium demand for custom and display inventory through OpenRTB, Prebid S2S, or Amazon TAM/UAM
15. Amazon Publisher Services
Minimum traffic requirements: 5,000 unique visitors per day
This is a Supply Side Platform owned by Amazon. It utilizes Amazon’s access to huge amounts of data and computing power to show the most relevant ads to your website visitors. It should also be noted that Amazon is third on the list of the most popular digital advertising platforms.
Amazon Publisher Services Benefits
- Server-side header bidding gives advertisers access to direct demand from Amazon and integration with other (publisher-partnered) SSPs.
- Supports video monetization, enabling publishers with video content to display pre-roll ads in their videos.
- Connects publishers with multiple demand partners from Amazon Marketplace, including AppNexus, OpenX, Rubicon Project, and SpotX. Publishers are also given the option to come with their demand partners and add them to Amazon Transparent Ad Marketplace.
- Mobile responsiveness, enabling automatic resizing of mobile app ads to fit the small screens of mobile devices, including smartphones and tabs.
- Offers details reporting and analytics that makes it easy for publishers to monitor the performance of ads on their various web resources.
16. Sharethrough
Minimum Traffic Requirements: No minimum traffic is required.
Sharethrough is an omnichannel Supply Side Platform that enables publishers and app developers to create a sustainable advertising ecosystem. Its main focus is real-time bidding technology. Some of Sharethrough’s top clients include Air Canada Vacations, Spark Foundry, 360i, Freestar, Havas Media, and more.
Sharethrough Benefits
- Offers native advertising, enabling publishers to display ads that sync with their content automatically. This minimizes the user’s experience interruption while using your web resources.
- Dynamic video captioning, which automatically adds captions to video ads. This boosts the performance of video ads on your web resources, attracting more advertisers.
- Provides templates you can use to optimize the different ad formats on your website.
17. Criteo
Minimum traffic requirements: depends on the niche.
It is a supply-side platform that provides a wide range of ad formats, including standard IAB, Sticky footer, native ads, rich media ads, and native API. Criteo is among the most popular Advertising Campaign Management platforms, with a market share of 6.32%. This platform has the Direct bidder feature that enables publishers to grow their ad revenue by establishing a direct connection between premium inventory and premium demand.
Criteo Benefits
- Publishers utilize the Criteo standalone integration method or their existing header bidding wrappers through Prebid or Index.
- Gives publishers the flexibility to configure their server, which includes defining the best rules to maximize yield from their high-quality demand through 16,000+ global advertisers.
- Allows publishers to Connect directly to the Criteo programmatic platform.
- Supports different types of formats, including native ads, standard IAB, Sticky footer, and native API.
18. TripleLift
Minimum Traffic Requirements: No minimum traffic is required.
TripleLift is a pragmatic advertising platform that seeks to create the intersection between media and creativity. They aim to ensure the transaction benefits all parties, including advertisers, publishers, and consumers. It also supports multiple ad formats, allowing publishers to integrate ads that blend well with the kind of content they publish on their site.
TripleLift Benefits
- Supports video monetization, allowing publishers to show video ads within the video content on the website.
- Supports native ads that organically appear within the most relevant content on your website. This minimizes ad interruption hence boosting the user experience of your website visitors.
- TripleLift supports different ad formats, including In-feed, In-article, and Carousel formats for display and video advertising. Any of these formats will automatically be used on your site, depending on the type of content you publish.
- Supports various targeting options
- Has a CTV feature that allows placing video ads across top networks and streaming services. It is currently available in North America only. Ads can be displayed in multiple formats, including split screen, dynamic overlay, and brand and product insertion.
19. AdMob
Minimum Traffic Requirements: No minimum traffic is required.
AdMob is a mobile app monetization platform owned by Google. It is a platform that Google Created for developers that want to monetize their apps. This platform features multiple ad options, including in-app advertising, access to programmatic demand, rewarded video ads, native ads, and more.
AdMob Benefits
- Publishers and developers can use in-app advertising to show ads from millions of Google advertisers. They can also access programmatic demand or use AdMob Mediation to earn from more than 40 networks.
- It gives developers and publishers access to use Google tools such as analytics that enable them to monitor the performance of ads on their apps.
- AdMob has multiple ad templates that you can customize to ensure the ads placed on your website sync with your site’s design language.
20. AdColony
Minimum Traffic Requirements: No minimum traffic is required.
Ad-colony is a video monetization platform designed for mobile apps. If you have a mobile app, this is one of the most effective SSPs you can use to monetize it. Some of the handy capabilities of AdColony include Instant-Play HD video, Aurora HD Interactive video technologies, and its programmatic marketplace. All its features are geared towards improving mobile app monetization.
AdColony Benefits
- Multiplatform support: Your ads will be published on both iOS and Android. The supported devices include Android smartphones, Android Tablets, iPads, and iPhones.
- Built-in reporting and analytics systems to track the performance of your ad on all platforms. This system will show you all the key performance parameters you may need to know about ads. These parameters include views, clicks, CTR, eCPI, eCPM, and the number of installations and conversions.
- AdColony is primarily built for video monetization on mobile devices. This boosts developers' ad revenue since most advertisers in this era love using video ads.
21. Adform
Minimum Traffic Requirements: No minimum traffic is required.
Adform is a Supply Side Platform designed to generate Ads for web and mobile applications. It enables website and app publishers to earn by placing different ads on their apps or websites. The good news is that Adform can be integrated into your current ad server, and you will get access to premium ad networks.
Adform's specialty is in Real Time Bidding and Programmatic ad buying. This platform recently added a new feature called Adform Flow that makes it easy to plan, buy, and activate digital ads. These kinds of technologies can lead to more ad revenue for publishers.
Adform Benefits
- Supports running ads on different channels, including mobile applications, web apps, and websites.
- Can be used for different types of ads, including dynamic ads and video ads.
- Adform’s dashboard enables publishers and advertisers to learn more about the performance of ads, not only with your Adform data but with all your other digital marketing tools.
- Access to Powerful Advertisers and Content Controls allows you to choose who bids on your ad inventory.
- Rich media support includes extensive support for rich media formats, such as a suite of free self-service creative tools.
22. Kevel
Minimum Traffic Requirements: No minimum traffic is required.
Kevel has an SSP that offers an ad serving API that enables publishers to create a server-side ad platform without encountering significant complexities. Like most of the platforms we have shared on this list, Kevel also supports different formats of ads. Some top brands that use Kevel include Yelp, Mozilla, Flink, Ticketmaster, and more.
Kevel Benefits
- Its personalized content capabilities will allow you to publish relevant ads to your audience at the right time, leading to more ad revenue.
- Email monetization allows publishers and developers to insert native ads into their emails.
- Kevel also supports the traditional native ads that you can add to your site or mobile application.
- This platform supports sponsored listings that allow publishers to charge advertisers for getting better placements in search results on their mobile app or website.
23. Nativo Edge
Minimum Traffic Requirements: No minimum traffic is required.
Nativo is an Advanced Supply Side Platform that allows publishers and developers to serve ads that are well-optimized by the platform they're being published on. It has several built-in proprietary tools that enable publishers and developers to implement exclusive next-gen ad formats on their platforms. Nativo Edge has worked with several well-known publishers, including Time Inc and The Wall Street Journal.
Nativo Edge Benefits
- Has content intelligence capabilities that allow publishers to serve ads in the right sections of their content.
- Nativo also has a flexible native ads placement model that allows publishers to choose how and where ads should be placed.
- Publishers can integrate the Nativo API into their site to gain access to Nativo's patented advertising technologies.
Selecting the Best SSPs: Conclusion
While SSPs have massively simplified the world of advertising and allowed publishers to find new revenue streams, not all SSPs are created equal. So much of selecting the best SSP comes down to your specific needs and how they align with the strengths and weaknesses of the various platforms available. By reading this list, you should now understand the available SSP and how best to choose them, but that doesn't mean your work is done. Your programmatic advertising setup is always dynamic, and after selecting your preferred SSPs, testing and monitoring their performance over time is still essential.
In most cases, we recommend consulting a third party ad tech expert, like Snigel, that can optimize your ad setup and connect you to multiple SSPs to sustainably and quickly grow your revenue. Snigel has helped publishers get the most out of their inventory since 2011. With our cutting-edge programmatic advertising solution, AdEngine, publishers have seen an average revenue increase of 57%.
Get in touch to learn more about how Snigel can help you connect to the best SSPs for your website.
Ira is Snigel's Head Of Marketing. She supports our team and publishers by creating awesome guides on the latest adtech trends. Ira's background is in software development, communications, and media.
