What Is a Meta-DSP and How Do You Build One?

The programmatic advertising ecosystem of today consists of over a dozen different types of advertising technology (AdTech) platforms and intermediaries that all play a crucial role when it comes to the creation, execution, and measurement of advertising campaigns. 

On the buy side, the most common platform used by brands and ad agencies to purchase ad space is called a demand-side platform (DSP). 

DSPs allow media buyers (i.e. brands and ad agencies) to purchase ad space on an impressions-by-impression basis via a process known as real-time bidding (RTB). 

Over the years, many brands and ad agencies have started using more than one DSP to run campaigns. This has led to inefficiencies and time-consuming and redundant tasks. 

In an effort to help brands and ad agencies solve these issues, a new type of platform has emerged — a meta-DSP.

In this blog post, we explain what a meta-DSP is, how it works, and how it differs from a regular DSP. 

Key Points

• A meta-DSP is a piece of software that sits on top of existing DSPs.
• While a meta-DSP is classed as an AdTech platform, it’s not actually a demand-side platform (DSP). It’s rather a tool designed to centrally manage and automate campaign design, targeting, trafficking, and reporting across various DSPs.
• The role of a meta-DSP is to simply allow brands and ad agencies to create, set up, and manage multiple campaigns across various DSPs via one user interface
• To allow meta-DSPs to create, set up, and manage campaigns, they need to integrate with the various DSPs — typically via an API. If the meta-DSP utilizes data for ad targeting or reporting on campaign performance, then they’ll also need to integrate with data platforms and sources, such as a data lake and customer data platform (CDP).
• A regular DSP allows media buyers (advertisers and agencies) to run advertising campaigns and buy inventory from numerous ad exchanges and SSPs through one user interface. A meta-DSP, on the other hand, is a platform that essentially aggregates many DSPs in one place.

What Is a Meta-DSP?

A meta-DSP is a piece of software that sits on top of existing DSPs. While a meta-DSP is classed as an AdTech platform, it’s not actually a demand-side platform (DSP). Instead, a meta-DSP is a tool designed to centrally manage and automate campaign design, targeting, trafficking, and reporting across various DSPs. 

Compared to your standard DSP, a meta-DSP doesn’t usually conduct media buying. The DSPs that connect to the meta-DSP are responsible for media buying via real-time bidding (RTB) auctions. 

The role of a meta-DSP is to allow brands and ad agencies to create, set up, and manage multiple campaigns across various DSPs via one user interface.

A meta-DSP is responsible for analyzing the different targeting capabilities and inventory sources of the various DSPs it is connected to. Not only that, but they are also capable of choosing which DSP should be used to purchase a particular impression based on the campaign’s KPIs. 

How Do Meta-DPSs Work?

To allow meta-DSPs to create, set up, and manage campaigns, they need to integrate with the various DSPs — typically via an API. If the meta-DSP utilizes data for ad targeting or reporting on campaign performance, then they’ll also need to integrate with data platforms and sources, such as a data lake and customer data platform (CDP).

Once an advertiser has created a campaign in the meta-DSP, that information will then be passed on to the various DSPs it’s connected to. Data and metrics about the performance of the campaigns can also be sent back to the meta-DSP for creating and viewing reports.

What’s the Difference Between a DSP and a Meta-DSP?

A regular DSP allows media buyers (advertisers and agencies) to run advertising campaigns and buy inventory from numerous ad exchanges and SSPs through one user interface. DSPs play a crucial role in the real-time bidding (RTB) process, allowing advertisers to buy media on an impression-by-impression basis.

A meta-DSP, on the other hand, is a platform that essentially aggregates many DSPs in one place. 

A meta-DSP should be distinguished from a regular DSP as it is an advanced trading and management platform responsible for unifying multiple DSPs and technologies through one single entry point that creates a holistic view of the media ecosystem.

Because a meta-DSP brings many different DSPs together, it gives marketers access to multiple and powerful media-buying tools from a single entry point. By managing multiple DSPs from one user interface, meta-DSPs provide advertisers and agencies with greater audience reach, unique customer data, and better insights into campaign performance.

One of the main reasons why brands and agencies use a meta-DSP is because it can be hard for them to find a DSP that has all the features and targeting capabilities they need. 

For instance, DSP 1 might offer geo-fencing technology, DSP 2 might specialize in mobile advertising, and DSP 3 might only offer a certain type of ad format (e.g. text and image ads).

While many advertisers and agencies use different DSPs for different campaigns, by using a meta-DSP they can automate their workflows, increase efficiency and improve the performance of ad campaigns. 

How Do You Build a Meta-DSP?

While there are many meta-DSPs on the market, many companies, especially ad agencies and AdTech companies, can benefit from building their own meta-DSP.

When we’re talking about “building a meta-DSP”, we’re referring to a custom software development project whereby you design and build your own proprietary meta-DSP.

How to Design and Build a Meta-DSP

View the image below to learn more about how we build AdTech platforms like meta-DSPs.