Why the open internet needs strong SSPs

Once upon a time there were billions of available banner advertising spaces across millions of websites — and no efficient way to match them with the advertisers who wanted to buy them.

The simple solution: Create a marketplace to sell them in real-time auctions, with DSPs finding the best spaces for advertisers to reach their audiences for the best value, and SSPs selling as much of a publisher’s ad space as possible for the highest price. So programmatic was born.

Soon, the ability to buy ad space in real time based on data across the entire open internet expanded across all digital channels — CTV, audio, DOOH, retail, gaming — and buyers and sellers found themselves building more sophisticated buying logics and complex commercial arrangements.

But the protocols underpinning programmatic buying were made for a simpler world. Its very success made buying ads on the open internet complex.

Meanwhile, huge, global, closed platforms emerged, making it incredibly simple to buy their ad inventory (and take credit for its success, but that’s a story for another time).

As a result, brands began shifting more spend into these closed platforms, leaving the open internet — with all its premium content from news to entertainment — often coming short.

But it’s time to add a new chapter to that story, because programmatic advertising has grown up.

We’re partnering with the entire open internet ecosystem, including many of the largest global and regional SSPs, to overcome complexities, create more efficient and transparent supply chains, and compete in fairer auctions that are win-/wins for both advertisers and publishers.

Why? Because when the open internet wins its fair share, we all win.

Replumbing the open internet

We can’t talk about reducing complexities without touching on deal IDs.

Once a simple, elegant mechanism to connect buyers and sellers of premium inventory, deal IDs have grown to create an immense amount of operational overload, losing their initial value proposition. Just ask anyone who touches programmatic campaigns: How much time did they waste troubleshooting deal IDs in the past year?

Nowadays, deal IDs rarely fulfill the actual commercial agreement buyers and sellers want to transact on, such as a spend commitment or endeavor.

That’s the exact issue Deal Desk, a new pillar of The Trade Desk’s Kokai platform, is designed to help solve for — on both sides of the transaction.

Publishers and SSPs can propose deals with rich metadata: contextual signals, audience details and performance benchmarks through APIs or a direct interface. Buyers get real-time visibility into deal performance with actionable recommendations. No more manual troubleshooting. No more guessing at deal value.

Deal types mirror what both sides agree on, such as spend commitments or endeavors to spend, at either fixed or variable CPMs.

Publishers can get more revenue predictability without sacrificing yield. Buyers get more budget confidence while maintaining decisioning capabilities.

The Trade Desk’s Price Discovery and Provisioning (PDP) API extends this further, giving SSPs a structured way to communicate deal parameters. It’s built on IAB Tech Lab standards for broad adoption.

Proof of momentum

Across Europe and globally, supply-side partners are already proving what’s possible.

In Germany, Ströer SSP, YOC and Yieldlab just became the first SSPs to integrate PDP API. In Spain, Rich Audience has focused on high-fidelity supply and deal troubleshooting — the operational rigor that makes inventory valuable rather than just available.

Globally, PubMatic became the first SSP last year to go live with The Trade Desk’s PDP API. As Chief Revenue Officer Kyle Dozeman put it: The question isn’t which side of the transaction you’re on, but what value you’re actually bringing.

These partners aren’t just plugging in. They’re reducing their own operational workload while proving their value to the world’s biggest brands.

A strong SSP ecosystem is the backbone of a healthy, diverse open internet. The advancement of digital advertising isn’t a solo mission. It’s a collective upgrade of the entire supply chain.

Going back to the beginning — programmatic is simple. A marketplace where buy side and supply side aim to transact and find the best value for their respective clients.

Publishers, and thereby the open internet, are in need of strong SSPs that represent their inventory and optimize yield. The open internet needs strong SSPs that lean into making the ecosystem better and help the open internet win back its fair share.

Will there always be tension between buyers wanting efficiency and sellers wanting yield? Of course. That’s a healthy market, not a crisis.

What matters is building infrastructure that lets both sides compete on merit.

The Current is owned and operated by The Trade Desk, Inc.