Channels & programmatic
DSP (demand-side platform)
A DSP is the platform advertisers and agencies use to buy programmatic inventory: it holds the campaigns, audiences, budgets, bids and creative, and bids into auctions across many exchanges and publishers on the buyer's behalf. DV360 and The Trade Desk are prominent examples.
In practice
The DSP is where planning decisions become live settings - which makes plan-to-platform mapping and activation QA as important here as on any social platform.
DSP choice affects inventory access, data integrations, fees and measurement; for many digital plans it sits alongside the social platforms as a core buying seat.