In this edition of our Supply-Side Spotlight series, we sit down with Colossus SSP, a minority-owned platform flying the flag for diversity in the programmatic space.
Originally launched in 2018, Colossus SSP is a supply-side platform with a purpose. Recognising a lack of advertiser focus on smaller niche publishers — especially those which are minority-owned — Colossus made it its mission to amplify these multicultural publishers by aggregating their supply and audiences at scale.
Here’s what Colossus told us about their story, their goals, and their position in the marketplace.
What makes Colossus SSP unique among programmatic supply platforms?
As a minority-owned SSP, we’re able to work with brands to qualify their diversity spend. We also put culture first and focus on the under-represented voice, whether it’s a specific audience or small publisher. We understand that smaller publishers are often shut out of the space due to lack of traffic, resources, or knowledge and we work with them to make sure they are included. We also understand the value of niche audiences given their buying power, despite their size in comparison to the general market.
Why is it important to have a minority-owned platform representing multicultural media and minority-owned properties?
It’s important to be authentic. When you are a part of the culture that you are selling towards, it gives a form of expertise that’s innate and cannot be taught or bought. It also provides a level of comfort to the buyers as well as strategic partners to understand that we are a part of the fight to see a more equitable and diverse overall ecosystem.
How do you see this benefitting the end users, and visitors to those properties?
We intentionally seek out those who may be unknown as it relates to publishing properties. While we may not be the only Supply Side Partner a publisher works with, we may very well be the first in which there’s no duplication to their traffic. With that, there’s high value placed on the targeted users and they now have an opportunity to show the power of their dollar and influence.
What types of advertisers are you working with, and what do you see as their typical goals when working with Colossus SSP?
Colossus SSP works with advertisers across all categories such as telecom, CPG, Auto and Insurance just to name a few. Given the recent and very tragic social injustice events witnessed across the US, many brands began to put plans into action that showed their support of Black Americans. With that, we received many inbound enquiries regarding the brands wanting to purposefully spend on Black-Owned properties which was the basic short term goal.
Your site mentions wanting to normalize diversity in the field of programmatic. What would you say is the current state of diversity in ad-tech, and how do you see it evolving? What changes would you like to see take place?
Diversity needs to be intentional and graded equally.
At this time, there’s a lot of talk but when we see the action attempted to be put into play, we are met with strict inclusion lists that actually prohibit brands from reaching a scaled audience. We would like to see less dictation and more questions being asked from partners such as Colossus on how to diversify.
If you’d like to know more about connecting to Colossus SSP via BidSwitch, simply reach out to your account manager today to get the ball rolling.