How Does Magnite Explain Supply Side Partnerships to a Teen?

I Spoke to Ashley Wheeler, who works at Magnite. We talked about supply side partnerships, “SSPs” which is a term used in advertising and thrown around like “DSP” (demand side partnerships). It’s even confusing to people in the industry. Everyone could be FAR less confused if they all spoke in the same manner as Ashely who simply says: we have tech that helps companies with content make money with ads. (Dear industry, I may be wrong but seems to me, it’s as easy as that!).

SKIP TO THE ADVICE: ”I have been at Magnite for 11 years, and I can honestly tell you that every single year I’ve been here, it has felt like a different company. It has felt like a different industry. Technology moves so fast, and my biggest piece of advice would probably be: be adaptable. Certainly pursue the things that you think are right, but be open to new concepts and ideas. Be open to learning. Because in order to be successful in a fast-moving industry, you really need to be thinking on your feet, be open to, you know, hearing from other people and different perspectives so that you can really reshape things and evolve as the industry does.”- Ashley Wheeler.

READ THE TRANSCRIPT:

Rio Damata:
So, what's your name and what do you do?

Ashley Wheeler:
So, I'm Ashley Wheeler, and I oversee our supply side partnerships for Magnite, which is one of the biggest independent supply side platforms in the ecosystem.

Rio:
A supply side plat—oh, supply side platform. What is that? Explain that.

Ashley:
So, a supply side platform is a technology company that works with publishers to help them monetize their online inventory and CTV inventory programmatically or in real time.

Rio:
Hm. So, when you say programmatically and in real time, well, how does that work?

Ashley:
So, I have an example. I think it'll work. Do you know how when you're on YouTube or you're on TikTok and you're watching stuff that you like, and then the algorithm shows you more of the stuff that you like and then makes some suggestions as to other things that it thinks are going to interest you?

So, programmatic advertising is an awful lot like that—except for ads. And so, when you're on the internet and you're doing things and you're reading things and you're shopping, it understands the things that you're interested in so that it can show you ads that are relevant to you and not boring.

Rio:
So Magnite does it—or your job does it—kind of  it personalizes your ads in a sense depending on what you're searching and things like that?

Ashley:
Exactly. And so, Magnite is the exchange through which those personalized ads run. So my job on the supply side is to work with publishers to open up their inventory to allow that programmatic demand to monetize.

Rio:
And when you're talking about publishers, do you mean website publishers or advertisement publishers or what exactly?

Ashley:
So, for the supply side—for Magnite specifically—we actually work with a range of publishers. My specific job works for those publishers on the display and video side. So think BuzzFeed, Vox, The New York Times.

But we also have a very big CTV footprint. So we’ll work with partners like Disney and Warner Brothers Discovery and Netflix. So it really kind of ranges the gamut.

Rio:
Can you explain CTV? You've said it before, but can you do like a simple explanation?

Ashley:
Yeah. I mean, what kinds of things do you like to watch on TV?

Rio:
Shows, uh, movies, anything.

Ashley:
Do you watch Netflix? Do you use Hulu, Disney Plus?

Rio:
Definitely.

Ashley:
So, CTV is basically any of the television shows that you're watching on TV. But it's not happening through traditional broadcast anymore. It's happening through apps. It's in real time. It's on demand. You get to watch what you want.

And have you ever seen an ad in one of those shows that you've watched?

Rio:
Definitely.

Ashley:
Yeah. So, we’re serving that. And again, it's based on the information that we know about you. So that we're not showing you pharmaceutical ads for 60-year-olds—we're showing you stuff about sneakers, right?

Rio:
Yeah. Thank you. And what's your advice to—[Laughter] That was great, I'm sorry. And what's your advice for someone who wants to join your field or join your industry? What would you say?

Ashley:
Yeah, so I have been at Magnite for 11 years, and I can honestly tell you that every single year I’ve been here, it has felt like a different company. It has felt like a different industry. Technology moves so fast, and my biggest piece of advice would probably be: be adaptable.

Certainly pursue the things that you think are right, but be open to new concepts and ideas. Be open to learning. Because in order to be successful in a fast-moving industry, you really need to be thinking on your feet, be open to, you know, hearing from other people and different perspectives so that you can really reshape things and evolve as the industry does.

Rio:
So just really be able to adapt and change.

Ashley:
Yeah.

Rio:
Yep. Exactly. Well, thank you very much.

Ashley:
Thank you for meeting. Thank you so much. This was awesome.

Rio:
All right. Great.

THANK YOU ASHLEY!