Defining supply path optimization
Supply Path Optimization (SPO) is an industry-wide effort to remove intermediaries in the programmatic flow and create a more direct path to publishers. In other words, SPO helps advertisers identify the most strategic supply paths, so you can reach your audiences efficiently.
How SPO works in programmatic marketing
Over the past decade, more and more advertisers have added programmatic marketing to their strategy. Programmatic marketing uses data insights and automation to show the right mobile ad for the right price, while providing transparency and efficiency for advertisers of all sizes.
That said, the road between the advertiser and the publisher can be long. That’s where SPO comes in. SPO removes unnecessary intermediaries that drive up costs, bringing you closer to in-app ad supply and increasing efficiency.
The benefits of supply path optimization
SPO improves your brand’s buying power.
1. Reduce costs: Get transparency into fees and reduce costs from reseller intermediaries, extending the impact of your ad dollars.
2. Drive performance: Ensure your dollars are flowing to premium, quality ad space that has been authorized by the publisher for sale.
3. Maintain quality partnerships: Manage your publisher-partner relationships more effectively and ensure you’re buying from trusted direct sources.
4. Get full transparency: Gain visibility into which supply sources the publisher has authorized to sell their ad traffic.
Top methods for supply path optimization
The goal of SPO is to provide transparency in choosing the right supply path to reach optimal impressions, all while reducing intermediary costs. Mediators make SPO possible by enabling you to:
1. Utilize supply chain transparency tools: Get transparency into the supply path with tools like app-ads.txt, sellers.json, and the Supply Chain Object.
2. Evaluate scale and source of inventory: Ensure you have access to quality developers and ad formats to maximize ROI.
3. Buy direct from the last stop on the supply chain: Mediation SDKs are the ultimate decision-makers for which ads will be shown to end-users. To optimize access to ad space, partner with mediators to get as close to publishers as possible.
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