DSP (Demand-Side Platform)

A DSP is the buying-side technology stack of programmatic advertising. Advertisers log in to a DSP: The Trade Desk, DV360, Xandr, Amazon DSP, Yahoo DSP: configure their targeting criteria, bid strategies, budgets, and creatives, and then the DSP automatically competes in real-time auctions across thousands of SSPs to buy impressions that match the criteria.

DSPs enable agencies to execute cross-channel buys at massive scale: a single campaign setup can target display, video, CTV, audio, and DOOH across thousands of publishers without any manual insertion orders. The DSP handles bid management, frequency capping, creative rotation, and measurement. The trade-off is reduced publisher control: the DSP optimises for the advertiser's goals, not any individual publisher's yield.