Final week, Forrester launched its first SSP wave since 2014, and there’s a shock.
The analysis agency ranked Google – whose sell-side advert tech platform is dealing with federal antitrust prices – as a mere challenger to Amazon, Magnite, PubMatic, Microsoft, InMobi, Index Alternate, Equativ and Adform.
OpenX was additionally listed as a challenger alongside Google.
So what occurred?
Google’s downgrade
In the 2014 SSP wave, Forrester listed Google’s DoubleClick for Publishers as a pacesetter within the class.
However Google Advert Supervisor (GAM) – its SSP successor that combines the DoubleClick advert server with the Google Advert Alternate – dropped all the best way right down to the underside tier on this 12 months’s report.
There’s been a scarcity of innovation on the SSP facet of Google’s enterprise and worsening transparency and media high quality, Mo Allibhai, a senior analyst at Forrester and lead writer of the report, instructed AdExchanger.
As a result of Google didn’t take part within the research, Forrester needed to rely solely on publicly out there data and interviews with publishers, Allibhai mentioned.
And there’s been loads of, uh, not-so-good information for Google this 12 months.
Throughout the DOJ’s antitrust trial towards Google’s advert tech platform, many trade consultants testified that Google’s SSP solely enjoys mass adoption amongst publishers as a result of they haven’t any selection however to make use of it. The federal government is arguing that Google’s advert server is tied to its alternate, which publishers want to make use of to entry Google Advertisements demand.
Publishers having to make use of its SSP by default disincentivizes Google from innovating, Allibhai mentioned.
Google can be nonetheless tied to the “albatross of Privateness Sandbox” and hasn’t been capable of create a viable focusing on and attribution various to third-party cookies, he mentioned. “That’s a tough spot to be in if you happen to’re an SSP who can’t deliver first-party knowledge options to the desk.”
Google additionally misplaced factors for basic items like not sustaining a sellers.json file to assist patrons distinguish between direct sellers and resellers, in addition to its lack of assist for header bidding, Allibhai mentioned. And it was additional dinged by stories about sketchy media high quality and focusing on adverts to children.
“It was exhausting to get publishers to say good issues about [Google], apart from the free advert server and entry to Google’s advertisers,” Allibhai mentioned.
Plus, the likelihood that Google’s platform may very well be damaged up by regulators compelled Forrester to judge the SSP in a brand new mild.
“Taking a chilly, dispassionate have a look at the place it will be as a standalone SSP,” Allibhai mentioned, “it’s trying bleak in comparison with the place it as soon as was.”
The leaders
On the other finish of the spectrum, Forrester named Amazon Advertisements, Magnite and PubMatic as class leaders.
Amazon Advertisements impressed as a relative newcomer to the SSP market, Allibhai mentioned, primarily as a result of its interoperability with various identifiers, its neutrality within the browser and platform wars and its endemic energy within the booming retail media vertical.
And since Amazon’s advert enterprise is smaller than Google’s, it’s hungrier and extra centered on innovation, Allibhai mentioned. However its curation providing lacks maturity, which is the principle knock towards it.
Magnite, in the meantime, is described within the report because the “standard-bearer within the programmatic CTV advert house.”
Its principal differentiator is SpringServe, the video advert server it acquired in 2021, and it additionally excels in curation, particularly for video and CTV, Allibhai mentioned.
However Magnite’s largest damaging, he mentioned, is its repute for late writer funds and its continued use of sequential legal responsibility. If an upstream accomplice fails to honor its spending commitments, Magnite claws again income from its publishers.
Nonetheless, the break up amongst SSPs that depend on sequential legal responsibility is “possibly 60/40, the place it’s extra widespread,” Allibhai mentioned, so the apply isn’t a novel flaw of Magnite’s.
PubMatic, which Forrester named “final of the purebred SSPs” in 2014, was additionally listed as a pacesetter on this 12 months’s report. It ended up in a “picture end” with Amazon and Magnite, Allibhai mentioned.
PubMatic’s principal energy is that it’s a writer “Swiss military knife” with deep buyer assist, he mentioned. It was additionally an early mover in sell-side curation.
Plus, PubMatic’s OpenWrap is among the many most modern header bidding merchandise available on the market, he mentioned. He added that publishers cited OpenWrap and Amazon’s Clear Advert Market as extra modern on header bidding than even Prebid, which develops open-source header bidding instruments.
However PubMatic’s principal drawbacks are its lack of assist for streaming audio and DOOH – so it appears the Swiss military knife is lacking a couple of instruments.
Sturdy performers
The subsequent tier of SSPs included InMobi, Index Alternate, Equativ and Microsoft Promoting, which had been deemed as robust performers.
InMobi’s has cell promoting experience and distinctive demand in Asian markets, Allibhai mentioned, nevertheless it’s lacking out on alternatives in mobile-friendly rising channels, together with CTV and digital audio.
Index Alternate has “competence throughout the board,” particularly in curation, Allibhai mentioned, noting that “there was nothing damaging that anybody needed to say about Index.” In reality, he pointed to Index’s robust efficiency within the research as proof that firms weren’t harmed by not being paid individuals.
Index’s principal damaging, based on Allibhai, is its lack of an advert server. To be truthful, not each SSP in Forrester’s high 10 has one. However providing an advert server has helped smaller SSPs like Magnite and Equativ compete towards giants like Google and Amazon, which supply their very own advert serving capabilities by way of GAM and Amazon Internet Companies, respectively. An advert server may deliver Index to the following degree, Allibhai mentioned.
Talking of Equativ, its origins as a video advert server, mixed with its merger with Sharethrough this summer time, helped it “punch above its weight class,” Allibhai mentioned. Its strategy to curation helped it excel in writer service, he added, which is a “dying artwork in advert tech.” However Equativ’s investments on the DSP facet and in server-side advert stitching have but to bear fruit, he famous.
And Microsoft Promoting is coasting on its programmatic legacy and high-profile partnerships like its Netflix deal, nevertheless it feels stagnant, Allibhai mentioned. “There’s numerous inertia to beat post-[Xandr] acquisition,” he mentioned, and the corporate has maybe prioritized bettering Microsoft’s personal enterprise and recouping M&A prices fairly than supporting third-party publishers.
The remainder
Rounding out the wave was Adform, which stood alone within the contenders class, and OpenX, which joined Google within the challengers tier.
Adform’s “middling capabilities” in CTV, streaming audio and commerce media are “behind the curve for 2024,” based on the report, nevertheless it’s among the many greatest SSPs for OOH publishers. It’s additionally differentiated by its dedication to knowledge privateness and environmental sustainability, in addition to its interoperability with various IDs, Allibhai mentioned.
Different ID compatibility was additionally a energy for OpenX and its OpenAudience id graph, Allibhai mentioned. However, like Google, it noticed a precipitous decline from robust performer in 2014 to the underside.
In OpenX’s case, that decline was primarily as a result of a scarcity of publicly out there data on the corporate, which didn’t take part within the wave and doesn’t appear to prioritize advertising its accomplishments, Allibhai mentioned. Consequently, Allibhai had the sense that OpenX hasn’t been placing partnerships with main company holding firms on the similar tempo as its friends, which led him to ding the SSP for a scarcity of differentiated demand.
However an SSP’s worth doesn’t solely come from the distinctive demand it will probably ship, as Forrester’s analysis of Google demonstrates. And, with at the very least 80 DSPs built-in with every SSP that participated within the wave, we’re seeing SSPs innovate in different areas – like rising channel assist and ID interoperability – to drag forward of the pack.
Final week, Forrester launched its first SSP wave since 2014, and there’s a shock.
The analysis agency ranked Google – whose sell-side advert tech platform is dealing with federal antitrust prices – as a mere challenger to Amazon, Magnite, PubMatic, Microsoft, InMobi, Index Alternate, Equativ and Adform.
OpenX was additionally listed as a challenger alongside Google.
So what occurred?
Google’s downgrade
In the 2014 SSP wave, Forrester listed Google’s DoubleClick for Publishers as a pacesetter within the class.
However Google Advert Supervisor (GAM) – its SSP successor that combines the DoubleClick advert server with the Google Advert Alternate – dropped all the best way right down to the underside tier on this 12 months’s report.
There’s been a scarcity of innovation on the SSP facet of Google’s enterprise and worsening transparency and media high quality, Mo Allibhai, a senior analyst at Forrester and lead writer of the report, instructed AdExchanger.
As a result of Google didn’t take part within the research, Forrester needed to rely solely on publicly out there data and interviews with publishers, Allibhai mentioned.
And there’s been loads of, uh, not-so-good information for Google this 12 months.
Throughout the DOJ’s antitrust trial towards Google’s advert tech platform, many trade consultants testified that Google’s SSP solely enjoys mass adoption amongst publishers as a result of they haven’t any selection however to make use of it. The federal government is arguing that Google’s advert server is tied to its alternate, which publishers want to make use of to entry Google Advertisements demand.
Publishers having to make use of its SSP by default disincentivizes Google from innovating, Allibhai mentioned.
Google can be nonetheless tied to the “albatross of Privateness Sandbox” and hasn’t been capable of create a viable focusing on and attribution various to third-party cookies, he mentioned. “That’s a tough spot to be in if you happen to’re an SSP who can’t deliver first-party knowledge options to the desk.”
Google additionally misplaced factors for basic items like not sustaining a sellers.json file to assist patrons distinguish between direct sellers and resellers, in addition to its lack of assist for header bidding, Allibhai mentioned. And it was additional dinged by stories about sketchy media high quality and focusing on adverts to children.
“It was exhausting to get publishers to say good issues about [Google], apart from the free advert server and entry to Google’s advertisers,” Allibhai mentioned.
Plus, the likelihood that Google’s platform may very well be damaged up by regulators compelled Forrester to judge the SSP in a brand new mild.
“Taking a chilly, dispassionate have a look at the place it will be as a standalone SSP,” Allibhai mentioned, “it’s trying bleak in comparison with the place it as soon as was.”
The leaders
On the other finish of the spectrum, Forrester named Amazon Advertisements, Magnite and PubMatic as class leaders.
Amazon Advertisements impressed as a relative newcomer to the SSP market, Allibhai mentioned, primarily as a result of its interoperability with various identifiers, its neutrality within the browser and platform wars and its endemic energy within the booming retail media vertical.
And since Amazon’s advert enterprise is smaller than Google’s, it’s hungrier and extra centered on innovation, Allibhai mentioned. However its curation providing lacks maturity, which is the principle knock towards it.
Magnite, in the meantime, is described within the report because the “standard-bearer within the programmatic CTV advert house.”
Its principal differentiator is SpringServe, the video advert server it acquired in 2021, and it additionally excels in curation, particularly for video and CTV, Allibhai mentioned.
However Magnite’s largest damaging, he mentioned, is its repute for late writer funds and its continued use of sequential legal responsibility. If an upstream accomplice fails to honor its spending commitments, Magnite claws again income from its publishers.
Nonetheless, the break up amongst SSPs that depend on sequential legal responsibility is “possibly 60/40, the place it’s extra widespread,” Allibhai mentioned, so the apply isn’t a novel flaw of Magnite’s.
PubMatic, which Forrester named “final of the purebred SSPs” in 2014, was additionally listed as a pacesetter on this 12 months’s report. It ended up in a “picture end” with Amazon and Magnite, Allibhai mentioned.
PubMatic’s principal energy is that it’s a writer “Swiss military knife” with deep buyer assist, he mentioned. It was additionally an early mover in sell-side curation.
Plus, PubMatic’s OpenWrap is among the many most modern header bidding merchandise available on the market, he mentioned. He added that publishers cited OpenWrap and Amazon’s Clear Advert Market as extra modern on header bidding than even Prebid, which develops open-source header bidding instruments.
However PubMatic’s principal drawbacks are its lack of assist for streaming audio and DOOH – so it appears the Swiss military knife is lacking a couple of instruments.
Sturdy performers
The subsequent tier of SSPs included InMobi, Index Alternate, Equativ and Microsoft Promoting, which had been deemed as robust performers.
InMobi’s has cell promoting experience and distinctive demand in Asian markets, Allibhai mentioned, nevertheless it’s lacking out on alternatives in mobile-friendly rising channels, together with CTV and digital audio.
Index Alternate has “competence throughout the board,” particularly in curation, Allibhai mentioned, noting that “there was nothing damaging that anybody needed to say about Index.” In reality, he pointed to Index’s robust efficiency within the research as proof that firms weren’t harmed by not being paid individuals.
Index’s principal damaging, based on Allibhai, is its lack of an advert server. To be truthful, not each SSP in Forrester’s high 10 has one. However providing an advert server has helped smaller SSPs like Magnite and Equativ compete towards giants like Google and Amazon, which supply their very own advert serving capabilities by way of GAM and Amazon Internet Companies, respectively. An advert server may deliver Index to the following degree, Allibhai mentioned.
Talking of Equativ, its origins as a video advert server, mixed with its merger with Sharethrough this summer time, helped it “punch above its weight class,” Allibhai mentioned. Its strategy to curation helped it excel in writer service, he added, which is a “dying artwork in advert tech.” However Equativ’s investments on the DSP facet and in server-side advert stitching have but to bear fruit, he famous.
And Microsoft Promoting is coasting on its programmatic legacy and high-profile partnerships like its Netflix deal, nevertheless it feels stagnant, Allibhai mentioned. “There’s numerous inertia to beat post-[Xandr] acquisition,” he mentioned, and the corporate has maybe prioritized bettering Microsoft’s personal enterprise and recouping M&A prices fairly than supporting third-party publishers.
The remainder
Rounding out the wave was Adform, which stood alone within the contenders class, and OpenX, which joined Google within the challengers tier.
Adform’s “middling capabilities” in CTV, streaming audio and commerce media are “behind the curve for 2024,” based on the report, nevertheless it’s among the many greatest SSPs for OOH publishers. It’s additionally differentiated by its dedication to knowledge privateness and environmental sustainability, in addition to its interoperability with various IDs, Allibhai mentioned.
Different ID compatibility was additionally a energy for OpenX and its OpenAudience id graph, Allibhai mentioned. However, like Google, it noticed a precipitous decline from robust performer in 2014 to the underside.
In OpenX’s case, that decline was primarily as a result of a scarcity of publicly out there data on the corporate, which didn’t take part within the wave and doesn’t appear to prioritize advertising its accomplishments, Allibhai mentioned. Consequently, Allibhai had the sense that OpenX hasn’t been placing partnerships with main company holding firms on the similar tempo as its friends, which led him to ding the SSP for a scarcity of differentiated demand.
However an SSP’s worth doesn’t solely come from the distinctive demand it will probably ship, as Forrester’s analysis of Google demonstrates. And, with at the very least 80 DSPs built-in with every SSP that participated within the wave, we’re seeing SSPs innovate in different areas – like rising channel assist and ID interoperability – to drag forward of the pack.
