Here are 20 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) on the topic of Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) in programmatic advertising, designed to help prepare for an interview.
MCQs on Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) in Programmatic Advertising
1. What is the primary function of a Demand-Side Platform (DSP)?
A) To help publishers manage their ad inventory.
B) To allow advertisers to buy ad impressions across multiple ad exchanges through a single interface.
C) To create and design display ad creatives.
D) To verify the quality of website traffic for publishers.
Answer: B
2. In a real-time bidding (RTB) auction, what does a DSP send to the ad exchange to participate?
A) The final creative file.
B) A bid request.
C) A purchase order.
D) A bid response containing the bid price.
Answer: D
3. Which of the following is a key benefit of using a DSP?
A) Guaranteed ad placement above the fold.
B) Full control over the cost per click (CPC).
C) Granular audience targeting and real-time optimization.
D) Directly negotiating prices with each individual publisher.
Answer: C
4. What is the main difference between an Open Auction and a Private Marketplace (PMP)?
A) Open Auctions are more expensive.
B) PMPs are open to all advertisers, while Open Auctions are by invitation only.
C) PMPs offer premium, curated inventory to a select group of advertisers, while Open Auctions are public.
D) Open Auctions do not use real-time bidding.
Answer: C
5. The “QPS” (Queries Per Second) limit in a DSP is primarily concerned with:
A) The quality of the ad server.
B) The speed at which the DSP can process bid requests.
C) The number of ads a user can see per second.
D) The query speed of the advertiser’s database.
Answer: B
6. What is the primary goal of “Frequency Capping” in a DSP campaign?
A) To increase the number of times a user sees an ad.
B) To limit the number of times a specific user is exposed to the same ad within a given period.
C) To cap the total budget of the campaign.
D) To ensure the ad is only shown on high-frequency websites.
Answer: B
7. When a DSP uses a “First-Price Auction” model, the winning advertiser pays:
A) The price of the second-highest bid plus one cent.
B) The average of the top three bids.
C) The exact amount they bid.
D) A price negotiated beforehand with the publisher.
Answer: C
8. What is the purpose of a “Pacing” algorithm in a DSP?
A) To slow down the loading time of ad creatives.
B) To control the spend rate of a campaign to ensure the budget lasts for the entire flight.
C) To match the speed of the user’s internet connection.
D) To prioritize which ad exchanges to bid on.
Answer: B
9. Which of these is a key metric used in DSP reporting to measure ad viewability?
A) Click-Through Rate (CTR)
B) Completed View Rate (CVR)
C) Cost Per Mille (CPM)
D) Viewable Impressions %
Answer: D
10. What does the term “Ad Fraud” commonly refer to in the context of programmatic buying?
A) Ads that are not creatively appealing.
B) Invalid traffic generated by bots or fraudulent sites to steal advertising money.
C) Ads that are incorrectly formatted.
D) Publishers rejecting an advertiser’s bid.
Answer: B
11. Integrating a Data Management Platform (DMP) with a DSP allows an advertiser to:
A) Design better ad creatives.
B) Use first-party and third-party audience segments for more precise targeting.
C) Manage their financial invoices.
D) Host their own website content.
Answer: B
12. What is a “Deal ID” used for in a DSP?
A) It is a unique identifier for the ad creative.
B) It is used to access a specific Private Marketplace (PMP) deal.
C) It identifies a specific type of ad fraud.
D) It is the ID for the advertiser’s account.
Answer: B
13. The “Win Rate” in a DSP campaign measures:
A) The percentage of users who click on the ad.
B) The percentage of impressions where the ad was viewable.
C) The percentage of bid requests that resulted in a successful impression.
D) The percentage of auctions the DSP wins.
Answer: D
14. Which targeting method involves showing ads to users based on their recent online behaviors, such as visiting a specific website?
A) Contextual Targeting
B) Retargeting
C) Geotargeting
D) Demographic Targeting
Answer: B
15. What is the main advantage of “Programmatic Guaranteed” deals?
A) They are the cheapest form of ad buying.
B) They use a second-price auction model.
C) They offer guaranteed inventory at a fixed price, combining the efficiency of programmatic with the certainty of direct buys.
D) They do not require a DSP to execute.
Answer: C
16. If a campaign’s Click-Through Rate (CTR) is high but the Conversion Rate is low, what is the most likely issue?
A) The ad is being shown to the wrong audience.
B) The landing page experience is poor or not relevant.
C) The frequency cap is set too low.
D) The CPM bid is too high.
Answer: B
17. What does “Supply Path Optimization (SPO)” aim to achieve for a DSP user?
A) Optimizing the number of ad creatives in a campaign.
B) Finding the most efficient and cost-effective routes to purchase ad inventory.
C) Increasing the supply of advertisers on the platform.
D) Optimizing the file size of video ad creatives.
Answer: B
18. In the advertising technology chain, a DSP primarily interacts with:
A) The advertiser’s website server.
B) The user’s web browser.
C) Ad Exchanges and Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs).
D) Creative agencies.
Answer: C
19. What is a “Bid Shading” strategy?
A) Placing a bid only during certain hours of the day.
B) Slightly increasing a bid to ensure a win in a first-price auction.
C) A method to gradually reduce the bid price to find the lowest possible winning price in a first-price auction environment.
D) A technique to prevent ads from being shown in the shade (dark areas) of a webpage.
Answer: C
20. Which of these is NOT a typical reporting dimension available in a DSP?
A) Creative Performance
B) Domain/URL Performance
C) Individual User’s Browsing History
D) Geographic Performance
Answer: C (Due to privacy regulations, DSPs do not report on individual user-level data in this way.)
What is a DSP (Demand-Side Platform)?
A Demand-Side Platform (DSP) is a software system used primarily by advertisers and agencies to purchase digital ad inventory in an automated, programmatic way.
Think of it as a sophisticated, centralized “ad buying terminal” or a “stock trading platform for advertisements.”