DSP (Demand-Side Platform)

A demand-side platform (DSP) is software that lets advertisers buy digital ad impressions programmatically across many ad exchanges, bidding on each impression in real time. A mobile DSP specializes in in-app and mobile web inventory and integrates with mobile measurement partners so it can optimize toward installs and post-install events.

The DSP's role is to represent the buyer: evaluate each bid request, predict how valuable the impression is for the advertiser's goal, and bid accordingly. Good DSPs combine broad supply access, fraud filtering, transparent source-level reporting and optimization toward CPA, ROAS or retention rather than clicks alone. Its counterpart on the publisher side is the supply-side platform (SSP); the two meet in the exchange auction.

When choosing a DSP, ask which exchanges it reaches, which goals it can optimize toward, what it filters before bidding and how granular its reporting is. Those answers matter more than headline reach claims, and they tell you whether the platform works for you or for its own margin.