The Trade Desk recently classified SSPs as resellers and doubled down on a strategy that has been in place for years: establishing direct connections to supply sources. The stated goal is to deduplicate bid requests in pursuit of perfect supply-path optimization, all under TTD’s roof.
This strategy shines a spotlight on SSPs, which are now staring at their own demise. And the hard truth is that they have nobody to blame but themselves.
Agnostic to everything, master of nothing
For over a decade, SSPs have positioned themselves as agnostic platforms: marketplaces that ensured transactions could occur seamlessly between buyers and sellers of advertising space. Their ultimate goal was to achieve a commanding market share by being the unbiased middleman, taking a fee from everyone’s transactions.
But agnostic quickly turned into indifferent:
- Agnostic to measurement protocols
- Agnostic to publishers
- Agnostic to DSPs
- Agnostic to DMPs
- Agnostic to ad servers
Meanwhile, SSPs encouraged partners to use their ad servers, claiming small benefits that were commoditized and barely detectable in anyone’s bottom line.
The result: SSPs became compatible with everything but masters of nothing.
A path forward
The Trade Desk already owns the only differentiator SSPs once claimed: better demand sourcing and a steady flow of bids.
If SSPs want to survive, now is the time to plant a flag. Their only job is to help publishers earn more revenue. That means building, buying or investing in technology that brings new value to the market.
That could mean creating a new class of supply that transacts at premium rates, inventory that advertisers demand and publishers cannot live without. It could mean creating proprietary ad formats that actually generate more revenue for publishers and higher performance for advertisers.
It definitely means taking a differentiated position, influencing new technologies and reclaiming ownership of pricing and market dynamics.
From that position, SSPs could reassert control and decide which demand partners to work with, not the other way around. But it’s impossible if SSPs are just undifferentiated pipes connecting buyers to the same inventory sources.
Reverse the plague
The “agnostic plague” is what hollowed out SSPs in the first place. Reversing it requires bold moves, real innovation and a willingness to stop being neutral.
The opportunity is still there. But it won’t be found in agnosticism. It will be found in differentiation.
It’s time for SSPs to reverse the plague – back to the trade.
“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media.
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