Advertiser · Agency ↔ DSP: campaign control segment
Purpose
This document explains the advertiser and agency interaction with DSPs as a control-plane segment before the auction. The main goal is to distinguish campaign setup and operations from real-time bidding protocols.
Key Takeaways
- The core of this segment is
campaign control, not the auction itself. - There is no dominant universal protocol comparable to OpenRTB here.
- DSP UIs, proprietary APIs, bulk upload tools, audience sync, and pixel / conversion APIs dominate this segment in practice.
- Some adjacent standards exist, but they do not play the same role that OpenRTB plays in RTB auctioning.
Main concerns in this segment
| Concern | Description |
|---|---|
| Campaign structure | how to organize campaign, insertion order, line item, and creative |
| Targeting | audience, geo, device, content, and supply allow/block rules |
| Budget and bidding strategy | budget, pacing, bid strategy, frequency cap |
| Creative management | creative upload, approval, landing URL, tracking pixel |
| Performance connection | conversion events, attribution, audience sync, reporting |
Standard protocol status
| Item | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Dominant universal protocol | Weak |
| Common practical interfaces | DSP UI, proprietary APIs, bulk upload, server-to-server event APIs |
| Adjacent standards | OpenDirect and Ad Management API can support selected workflows around this segment |
Data often handled in this segment
Control fields
- advertiser account
- campaign id
- insertion order / line item
- budget, pacing, bid strategy
- frequency cap
- start / end date
Targeting fields
- geo target
- device target
- audience segment
- content category allow / block
- supply allowlist / blocklist
Creative and measurement fields
- creative id
- creative type
- landing URL
- click tracker
- conversion event
- attribution window
Why this must be separated from OpenRTB
Some of this data influences later bid decisions, but it rarely maps 1:1 into a bid request. Internal DSP structures such as line items or bid strategy logic belong more to the DSP control model than to the auction protocol itself.
Practical interpretation
- Advertisers and agencies define
what they want to buy. - DSPs translate that into
how they will bid. - This makes the segment closer to an operating model than to a transaction protocol.