Advertiser Perceptions: Independent DSPs Find Pockets Of Growth Despite Google’s Dominance

The Trade Desk in particular has always been focused on agencies, but is clearly paying more attention to brands, Mannion said.

“That’s what’s giving them the boost we see in this wave,” he said.

There could be a chance to seize agency business as well.

Google’s agency penetration dropped from 41% to 30% in the past six months, according to the report.

And Mannion said that drop doesn’t incorporate Google’s recent policy announcement restricting the Google Ad ID to Ads Data Hub, which is expected to further distance Google from agencies.

Before Amazon crashes the party, there’s also a chance to solidify self-service DSP campaigns, which have higher growth potential than managed service IO-based buys because media dollars are becoming more automated.

Amazon is the leader in terms of managed service DSP use, but that’s in part because its ad platform is relatively new and clunky. More Amazon advertising will shift to self-service moving forward, Mannion said

The Trade Desk leads all DSPs with 42% of respondents saying they use it for self-service campaigns, followed by Adobe at 37%. If those companies can maintain that lead despite Amazon’s DSP maturation, they could box the ecommerce and advertising giant out of a growth opportunity.

‘Wishful thinking’

It’s an open question whether the strength of independent DSPs in the Advertiser Perceptions wave is “wishful thinking” on the part of advertisers and the market to build alternatives to the major platforms, Mannion said.

Brands have a habit of calling for verified measurement and hyping alternatives to Google or social media without actually changing their media plans.

And Google’s inertia has propelled the company through advertiser crises before. In previous waves, negative sentiment about working with Google hasn’t translated to tangible business losses.

For example, MediaMath, The Trade Desk and Adobe strengthened their lead as the top three, respectively, in terms of “Net Promoter Score,” a metric Advertiser Perceptions uses to gauge a buyer’s likelihood to recommend a DSP vendor. But Google and Amazon are still way ahead in terms of concrete DSP pipeline metrics like “proven track record” and “audience-targeting capabilities.”

But wishes can come true. And buyer preferences for independent DSPs may not be a mirage.

Google and Amazon both lost favor as preferred single-use DSPs for the first time since Advertiser Perceptions started surveying the DSP field in 2016, while The Trade Desk, Adobe and MediaMath each gained ground.

This post was syndicated from Ad Exchanger.