• by Tyler Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_tyler, June 1, 2015

Programmatic marketers keep trying to out-oxymoron themselves. There’s a new demand-side platform (DSP) on the market, but it’s being pitched to the supply side.

The platform comes from ChargeAds, an automated ad tech provider. The company says the platform lets publishers open up their data and inventory, as well as third-party sites, to ad-buyers. “This allows advertisers to target ads to individuals based on their data footprint, a collection of attributes that both the publisher and advertiser would contribute to,” writes ChargeAds.

“User data is undoubtedly the new currency for Internet advertising and much as publishers understand its value, they lack the platforms to bring forward scalable advertising products that make use of the resource.” stated Mihai Fanache, CEO and founder of ChargeAds.

It’s essentially audience acquisition for reach extension done programmatically and “collaboratively,” making it a DSP of sorts -- the demand-side is ultimately the one using the platform to buy -- but in an obviously ironic sense of the term, as publishers are on the supply-side of the equation.

It’s kind of an SSP masquerading as a DSP. ChargeAds does note in its release that publishers are “thoroughly [in] control” of the technology, and the platform’s core function -- supplying audiences to the demand-side -- is, well, in the supply-side’s wheelhouse.

ChargeAds’ new platform highlights the sometimes grey areas of supply and demand. It also brings to light how platforms can toggle back and forth depending on what they are trying to achieve.

ChargeAds is claiming to launch an “industry first” here, and while I can’t say for certain that ChargeAds’ exact technology is a true first, I can say that their platform is not the first to let demand- and supply-side technologies comingle. Late last summer, for example, Centro announced that a slew of local publishers are using its DSP to grow their audience in regional markets.