A demand-side platform is software used to purchase advertising in an automated fashion from a variety of sources. Advertisers and agencies use DSPs to buy display, video, mobile, search, and increasingly OTT and even TV ads. DSPs help make the buying process cheaper and more efficient by purchasing media algorithmically across a wide variety of sources, theoretically in a more efficient way.

As an independent media buying agency, Criterion Global works with a variety of DSPs chosen according to client preference and needs. While there are risks with removing humans from parts of the equation, and certain limitations to what can be accomplished using DSPs (no Facebook, since Facebook “sunsetted” FBX), DSPs are terrific for performance media buying as they help advertisers purchase inventory at scale.