SSP ↔ Publisher SDK / Player / Tag: ad delivery segment
Purpose
This document explains the request and response segment between the publisher runtime and the SSP. It serves as a baseline for understanding the relationship among ad request, ad response, adm, VAST, and markup.
Key Takeaways
- The core concern in this segment is
fetching an ad and delivering it into the runtime environment. - Industry patterns are strong, but there is no single universal protocol comparable to OpenRTB here.
- In video, VAST is a major delivery format.
admin an OpenRTB bid response is a creative handoff mechanism before this segment, not proof that the SDK response must use the same field name.
Main concerns in this segment
| Concern | Description |
|---|---|
| Ad request creation | sending placement, session, format, and device context to the SSP |
| Ad response delivery | passing the winning creative, VAST URL/XML, and trackers back to the publisher runtime |
| Format compatibility | ensuring display, video, native, or audio output matches the runtime |
| Runtime readiness | deciding what data the SDK, player, or tag needs before rendering |
Standard protocol status
| Item | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Dominant universal request/response standard | Weak |
| Video delivery standard | VAST plays a major role |
| Emerging transport standard | CATS aims to standardize ad requests across RTB and non-RTB scenarios |
Data often seen in this segment
On the request side
- placement id
- app / site context
- format capability
- device / session signal
- consent / privacy signal
On the response side
- creative markup
- VAST URL or inline VAST
- click tracker
- impression tracker
- macro values or substitution hints
Relationship to OpenRTB
- The bid response from DSP to SSP is OpenRTB.
- The ad response from SSP to SDK may be an internal platform model.
- The SSP can interpret
adm,nurl, inline VAST, or a VAST URL and reshape that into the format expected by the SDK.
In other words, bid response and SDK ad response should not be treated as the same thing.
Practical interpretation
This segment is the handoff layer that turns an auction outcome into an executable ad response. That is also why ad request and bid request must be kept separate.