Ever since the first ad was displayed in 1994, the programmatic industry has enjoyed a rapid increase in new tech and processes to help publishers monetize their websites and mobile apps.
The first tools publishers used to sell their available ad space were ad networks. Then, supply-side platforms (SSPs) came along. Then came ad exchanges and real-time bidding (RTB).
Nowadays, there are many pieces of technology and services that help publishers manage their inventory and monetize their websites, mobile apps, and other properties.
Below we list the main SSPs and ad exchanges used by publishers and app developers.
What Is a Supply-Side Platform (SSP) and How Does It Work?
A supply-side platform (SSP) is an advertising technology (AdTech) platform that helps publishers monetize their websites and mobile apps by managing, selling and optimizing their available inventory (aka ad space). SSPs are a key player in real-time bidding (RTB) media transactions, whereby publishers sell display, video and native ad space to advertisers on an impression-by-impression basis.
While they are mainly used to sell inventory on websites and in mobile apps, SSPs are now used in many other channels, such as DOOH and CTV, to sell ad space for publishers.
We Can Help You Build a Supply-Side Platform (SSP)
Our AdTech development teams can work with you to design, build, and maintain a custom-built supply-side platform (SSP) for any programmatic advertising channel.
What Is an Ad Exchange and How Does It Work?
An ad exchange is a marketplace where buyers and sellers come together to trade digital media. The buyers (i.e. advertisers and agencies) use demand-side platforms (DSPs) to bid on individual impressions. These impressions are put up for sale by sellers (i.e. publishers) via supply-side platforms (SSPs).
This buying and selling process is handled by real-time bidding (RTB).
Ad exchanges were once standalone platforms, and many still are today, but over the past few years many AdTech companies have incorporated ad exchange functionality into their SSPs, and vice versa. This allows publishers to manage their inventory and sell it via RTB from one platform.
The Main Components of an Supply-Side Platform (SSP)
Below are the main components of an SSP.
You can view the full infographic here.
The Criteria
We define an SSP as a platform that helps publishers monetize and manage their inventory. We define an ad exchange as a platform that allows publishers and app developers to sell inventory on an impression-by-impression basis on real-time bidding (RTB) auctions.
As we mentioned above, many SSPs incorporate ad-exchange functionality and vice versa.
The Top Supply-Side Platform (SSP) Companies in 2024
AdColony
AdColony is one of the largest mobile advertising platforms in the world with a reach of more than 1.5 billion users globally.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2011
HQ: Los Angeles, California
Public or private: Public
Adform
Adform is the only global, independent and fully integrated advertising platform built for modern marketing. Its unique enterprise technology – Adform FLOW – harnesses superior user experience and a scalable, modular and open architecture, to enable seamless management of the whole campaign life cycle.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2012
Headquarters: Copenhagen, Denmark
Private or public: Private
Admix
Admix empowers game developers to monetize their content through interactive, programmatic brand placements and putting player’s experience first to reach higher revenue, retention, and happy users.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2017
Headquarters: London, UK
Private or public: Private
Admixer
Admixer is an independent adtech company that develops an ecosystem of full-stack programmatic solutions with
customizable technology, in-depth expertise, and a personal approach help businesses turn programmatic advertising into a scalable revenue channel.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2008
Headquarters: London, UK
Private or public: Private
Adspruce
AdSpruce has created the technology and platform to make video advertising work on all mobile devices by enabling publishers to monetise their video ad inventory through the delivery of rich media video campaigns on more mobile devices than anyone else in the industry.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2011
Headquarters: West Glamorgan, UK
Private or public: Private
Adthink
Adthink addresses the B2C market by developing a global digital and physical distribution platform and the B2B market by providing advertisers with its trading desk and affiliate platform to develop their customer acquisition.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2001
Headquarters: Tassin La Demi Lun, France
Private or public: Public
Axonix
Axonix is a Telefónica-owned mobile first data expert and ad exchange that specializes in audience trading and mobile advertising exchange that delivers the highest quality, unique 1st party telco verified data sets.
Type: Ad exchange
Founded: 2014
Headquarters: London, UK
Private or public: Private
Bidstack
Bidstack empowers brands to place advertising into spaces that sit naturally within video games by designing contextually relevant ads that fit to the eastestics of the game and protect the gaming experience in the form of trackside banners, cityscape billboards, pitchside LED boards wand other native spaces within the virtual world.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2015
Headquarters: London, UK
Private or public: Public
Cedato
Cedato is a programmatic operating system for modern video, offering publishers and advertisers a comprehensive SaaS-based video technology stack, enhancing value and viewing experience
Type: Video player with header bidding capabilities
Founded: 2015
Headquarters: New York, US
Private or public: Private
Chocolate
Chocolate is a global leader in programmatic digital video advertising. Chocolate Premium, is the world’s first video SSP with 100% server-side auctions. With 7700+ websites & apps and 20+ billion impressions per month, Chocolate Premium is one of the leading video SSPs connecting premium brands with premium publishers.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2007
Headquarters: San Francisco, US
Private or public: Private
District M
District M is a full-service advertising exchange that creates open, transparent marketplaces through which publishers and advertisers can quickly and easily connect to maximize today’s digital advertising demand.
Type: Ad exchange
Founded: 2013
Headquarters: Montreal, Canada
Private or public: Private
Equativ
Formerly known as Smart AdServer, a French advertising technology company. Created in 2001 as part of Aufeminin, it was bought by private-equity fund Cathay Capital in 2015, and then by private-equity fund Capital Croissance for a secondary LBO in 2021.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2001
Headquarters: Paris, France
Private or public: Private
ExoClick
ExoClick platform API allows to create 20+ different ad formats, optimized targeting and behavioural retargeting, access to big data statistics and strategic analysis tools to further improve ROI, data refresh every 60 seconds, day parting and 24/7 customer service.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2006
Headquarters: Barcelona, Spain
Private or public: Private
Fyber
Fyber is a global technology company, developing a next generation monetization platform for mobile publishers that combines proprietary technologies and expertise in mediation, RTB, video and audience segmentation to create holistic solutions that shape the future of the app economy.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2009
Headquarters: San Francisco, US
Private or public: Public
Genesis Media
Genesis Media is the first company to connect user behavior, content analytics and programmatic advertising in one platform that leverages data to create viewable video ad experiences that are best suited for each page and each device.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2010
Headquarters: New York, US
Private or public: Private
Geniee
Geniee is a Japan’s top-tier ad platform for maximizing revenue with the usage of largest intetories to gather a high quality audience at low cost and achieve both stable management and revenue maximization for ads.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2010
Headquarters: Shinjuku, Tokyo
Private or public: Public
Getintent
Getintent is an adtech company that offers a highly customizable AI-powered programmatic suite for agencies, publishers, broadcasters and content owners empowering them to grow programmatic revenue.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2013
Headquarters: New York, US
Private or public: Private
Glispa
Glispa is a mobile ad tech company dedicated to empowering our partners with sophisticated solutions that make it simple for agencies and brands to connect with target audiences and for publishers to monetize their apps.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2013
Headquarters: New York, US
Private or public: Private
Google Ad Manager
Google Ad Manager is a complete platform to grow all of your digital ad revenues and protect your brand in all the new ways and places people are watching, playing, and engaging.
Type: Ad exchange
Founded: 2018 (rebranded from DoubleClick to Google Ad Manager)
Headquarters: Mountain View, US
Private or public: Private
GumGum
GumGum is a global technology and media company specializing in contextual intelligence that comprehends the meaning of text, images and video online, allowing marketers to safely and precisely place ads where people are most engaged.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2007
Headquarters: Santa Monica, US
Private or public: Private
Hivestack
Hivestack’s is a marketing technology company that helps marketers target consumers based on where they are and places they’ve been with the full ad tech stack platform that includes an SSP for DOOH media owners, an ad exchange with APIs to monetize unsold inventory, a geotemporal DOOH ad server, and a DSP used by digital agencies to buy DOOH programmatically.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2017
Headquarters: Montreal, Canada
Private or public: Private
Improve Digital
Improve Digital is the leading European Programmatic Advertising Platform with the mission to build smart, efficient, and responsible digital businesses for its customers by providing solutions to help owners optimize their programmatic advertising strategy and maximize revenue.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2008
Headquarters: Schiphol-Rijk, Netherlands
Private or public: Private
Index Exchange
Index Exchange is a global advertising marketplace where premium digital media companies transact ad impressions with accountability.
Type: Ad exchange
Founded: 2003
Headquarters: New York, New York, USA
Private or public: Private
Magnite
Magnite is the world’s largest independent sell-side advertising platform that combines Rubicon Project’s programmatic expertise with Telaria’s leadership across all screens and formats—including desktop, mobile, audio and CTV.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2007
Headquarters: Los Angeles, US
Private or public: Private
Marfeel
Marfeel is an ad tech platform that revolutionizes the way publishers create, optimize and monetize mobile websites
by analyzing publishers’ unique audience – user habits, behavior and usage patterns- and dynamically adjusts the mobile site layout, engagements, pageviews, loading time and ultimately- ad revenue.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2011
Headquarters: Barcelona, Spain
Private or public: Private
Mintegral
Mintegral is a leading global mobile advertising platform driven by AI technology and full-stack programmatic products that provide user acquisition, monetization, and creative solutions for mobile app publishers worldwide.
Type: Ad exchange
Founded: 2016
Headquarters: Beijing, China
Private or public: Private
MoPub
MoPub, a Twitter company, is the leading ad server and programmatic exchange for smartphones that offers a comprehensive monetization platform for mobile app publishers that combines real-time bidding, ad serving, cross-promotional capabilities and ad network mediation into one easy-to-use platform.
Type: Ad exchange
Founded: 2010
Headquarters: San Francisco, US
Private or public: Public
Netric
Netric provides the largest sell side solution for premium publishers with the leading ad exchange which maximizes the value of every impression through service, analysis and advice.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2008
Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden
Private or public: Private
OpenX
OpenX solves a fundamental issue for brands: how to reach consumers, at scale, in a fragmented media environment, powering highly relevant advertising and delivering quality and value to consumers, publishers and marketers across all ad formats globally.
Type: Ad exchange
Founded: 2007
Headquarters: Pasadena, US
Private or public: Private
PowerLinks
PowerLinks Media, Ltd. is the advertising industry’s leading relevance automation platform, powering growth for some of the world’s largest brands by distributing personally and contextually relevant advertising to their audiences.
Type: Ad exchange
Founded: 2013
Headquarters: New York, US
Private or public: Private
PubMatic
The PubMatic platform empowers independent app developers and publishers to control and maximize their digital advertising businesses by enabling advertisers to reach and engage their target audiences in brand-safe, premium environments across ad formats and devices.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2006
Headquarters: Redwood, US
Private or public: Private
PubNative
PubNative, now part of Verve Group, is a mobile publisher platform and programmatic ad exchange, providing advanced monetization solutions for mobile app developers and enabling mobile publishers to maximize their programmatic advertising revenue via flexible integrations (API, SDK, JavaScript).
Type: SSP
Founded: 2014
Headquarters: Berlin, Germany
Private or public: Private
PulsePoint
PulsePoint is an advanced data and technology company that is breaking new ground with programmatic solutions for healthcare organizations, to personalize information and improve outcomes.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2011
Headquarters: New York, US
Private or public: Private
Roxot
Roxot provides quality publishers with a full-service programmatic monetization solution by growing ad revenue and increasing the impression value for Advertisers.
Type: Monetization services
Founded: 2016
Headquarters: New York, US
Private or public: Private
Setupad
Setupad helps publishers to find the way to join a programmatic ecosystem without compromising the current revenue streams, but vastly increasing them.
Type: Header bidding tech
Founded: 2015
Headquarters: Riga, Latvia
Private or public: Private
Sharethrough
Sharethrough is an omnichannel supply-side platform underpinned by advanced RTB tech and enhanced ad experiences with the goal of creating a sustainable advertising ecosystem for journalists, content creators, and app developers.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2008
Headquarters: Quebec, Canada
Public or private: Private
Smart
Smart is a fully transparent ad monetization platform built for premium publishers to serve demanding buyers and provide full control back to publishers by driving performance and value of their loyal audience.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2001
Headquarters: Paris, France
Private or public: Private
SmartyAds
SmartyAds is a global programmatic advertising company offering innovative advertising and monetization solutions for digital advertisers and publishers. Its innovative products help businesses to achieve impressive results across all channels, devices and ad formats.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2013
Headquarters: Kyiv, Ukraine
Private or public: Private
Sonobi
Sonobi is an independent, consumer-focused technology company that provides a fair and equitable media marketplace to connect advertisers directly with individuals and transforms the business of traditional impression-based advertising to individual-based advertising.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2011
Headquarters: Winter Park, US
Private or public: Private
Sovrn
Sovrn provides products and services to tens of thousands of online publishers that help them grow, operate their business, understand their readership, and manage consumer data.
Type: SSP and header bidding
Founded: 2014
Headquarters: Boulder, US
Private or public: Private
SpotX
SpotX is the leading global video advertising platform that enables media owners and publishers to monetize premium content across desktop, mobile and connected TV devices.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2007
Headquarters: Denver, US
Private or public: Private
Tappx
Tappx is a fast-growth AdTech company that delivers state-of-the-art digital advertising solutions for multiple platforms including mobile, OTT/CTV and desktop.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2014
Headquarters: Barcelona, Spain
Private or public: Private
Teads.tv
Teads is one of the best-suited seller-side platforms for publishers who are looking to run video ads (out-stream) on their websites. Trusted by some of the top publishers such as BBC, CNN International, Mail Online, Bloomberg, and many more, Teads provides a video monetization suite to premium publishers.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2009
HQ: New York, New York
Public or private: Private
Unruly
Unruly is one of the leading video ad platforms with the self-service tools, global relationships with premium demand partners, user-friendly ad formats and dedicated support team to maximise their revenue across a range of different screens, including CTV, mobile and desktop.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2006
Headquarters: London, UK
Private or public: Public
Verizon Media
Verizon’s media group helps people stay informed and entertained, communicate and transact, while creating new ways for advertisers and partners to connect with technologies like XR, AI, machine-learning, and 5G.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2017
Headquarters: New York, US
Private or public: Public
Vistar Media
Vistar Media offers a complete end-to-end programmatic ecosystem to help businesses get the most out of digital out-of-home media
Type: Ad exchange
Founded: 2012
Headquarters: New York, US
Private or public: Private
TheViewPoint
TheViewPoint is an ad monetization platform that helps CTV publishers to build, manage, and grow their own ad exchange, so they can sell more, earn more, and succeed more.
Type: Ad exchange
Founded: 2019
Headquarters: New York, US
Private or public: Private
WideOrbit
WideOrbit platform helps media companies do more business by making it easier to buy and sell advertising in a rapidly evolving media landscape, doing more business means doing less paper-chasing, less chair-swiveling, and less data re-re-entry.
Type: Ad exchange
Founded: 1999
Headquarters: San Francisco, US
Private or public: Private
Wider Planet
Wider Planet provides new solutions for the mobile and online advertising markets with an online targeting advertising platform that creates real values for vitalizing the global economy.
Type: SSP and ad exchange
Founded: 2010
Headquarters: Seocho-gu, China
Private or public: Private
Xandr
With one of the world’s largest collections of digital, film, and TV properties, Xandr provides a premium option for advertisers and publishers looking to reach specific audiences at scale in brand-safe environments all through a powerful, unified platform.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2018
Headquarters: New York,US
Private or public: Public
Zelto
Zelto (formerly known as AdPushup Inc) is a leading technology company. The company is constantly innovating & developing full stack programmatic solutions for web publishers, to help them optimise and scale their ad revenue with their current product suite including AdPushup, AdRecover & Glimpse.
Type: SSP
Founded: 2014
Headquarters: Delaware, USA
Private or public: Private
We Can Help You Build a Supply-Side Platform (SSP)
Our AdTech development teams can work with you to design, build, and maintain a custom-built supply-side platform (SSP) for any programmatic advertising channel.
