• by Tyler Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_tyler, June 4, 2015

Forrester Research has combed through a spate of demand-side platforms (DSPs) and concluded that nine of them stand above the rest -- five “Leaders” (AOL, DataXu, Turn, The Trade Desk, AppNexus), and four “Strong Performers” (Rocket Fuel, MediaMath, AudienceScience, Google).

Forrester says it considered 22 DSPs for the report and ultimately stuck with these nine for a variety of reasons, including reach potential, technological capacity and number of clients. Nine was a solid number to land at too, considering that the top 10 DSPs accounted for 91% of all programmatic spending in Q4 2014, according to recent data from Index Exchange.

But even nine whittled from 22 does not paint the full picture, because the DSP landscape is more oligopolistic than that. According to new data from Index Exchange, spend from the top three DSPs accounted for 53% of the market in the U.S. during Q4 2014.

DSP #1, unnamed in Index Exchange’s report along with the others, accounted for 23% of all programmatic spend into the market during the quarter. DSP #2 accounted for 18%, while DSP #3 checked in at 11%.

These two reports -- from Forrester and Index Exchange -- can be viewed as evidence that the programmatic landscape is nearing maturation. A handful of leaders have established themselves -- in the case of DSPs, it appears to be about 10 -- and among those leaders, the stalwarts have staked their claim.

Index Exchange notes that the top three DSPs accounted for 55% of the total programmatic spend in Q3 2014 as well, indicating that there’s not much change at the top in terms of market presence. To be fair, we can’t confirm that the three DSPs that led in spending in Q3 were the same as those in Q4, but at the very least, Index Exchange’s report implies that there’s only room for about three big dogs in the DSP playing field, leaving enough scraps for only about a half-dozen more behind them.