New Colossus Connections initiative delivers on supply path optimization, while maximizing media budgets for advertisers

Colossus Media LLC (“Colossus SSP”), a subsidiary of the only Black-owned publicly traded advertising technology company, Direct Digital Holdings, Inc., announced the launch of Colossus Connections. This new initiative brings advanced direct integration capabilities to the company’s supply-side platform (SSP). This program is designed to optimize supply path efficiency for advertisers through streamlined, direct connections with top demand-side platforms (DSPs), ensuring a more efficient, cost-effective, and impactful programmatic ecosystem.

Colossus Connections enables Colossus SSP to establish and foster direct integrations with leading DSPs, reducing intermediaries and enhancing transparency and control for advertisers. By consolidating pathways between buyers and sellers, the initiative gives advertisers a clearer view of their media supply chain, ultimately driving more meaningful engagement and outcomes. In recent months, Colossus SSP has rapidly advanced its integration efforts, with two of the top 10 DSP partners already onboarded and expected to go live in 2025.

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“Our goal with Colossus Connections is to simplify and elevate the ad delivery process by ensuring that every connection is valuable for advertisers and publishers,” said Mark D. Walker, CEO and Co-Founder of Direct Digital Holdings. “This program aligns with our commitment to provide premium programmatic solutions and to enhance value for advertisers by optimizing each step of the supply path.”

The importance of supply path optimization (SPO) continues to grow across the industry. According to IAS, 95% of ad buyers are implementing or planning to implement SPO technology next year. Colossus Connections directly responds to this demand, empowering advertisers with more efficient and transparent pathways to access digital inventory while supporting underrepresented publishers within the programmatic ecosystem.

Reducing connections and streamlining SPO cuts down on the “adtech tax” by minimizing the number of intermediaries in the ad transaction process. Each intermediary takes a percentage of the ad spend, so a cleaner, more direct path reduces these fees. This efficiency allows a more significant share of the budget to reach publishers and ensures that advertisers’ investments go further, creating a more cost-effective ecosystem for all parties.

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This strategic initiative is supported by the recent $20 million Equity Reserve Facility with New Circle Principal Investments LLC, which provides Direct Digital Holdings with the flexibility to drive key growth initiatives across its platform. This financing will empower the continued development of Colossus Connections, enabling Direct Digital Holdings to invest in the technology and partnerships necessary to advance its SPO and integration efforts.

“The funding has enabled the expansion of our technology and strategic capabilities, benefiting both publishers and advertisers,” said Walker. “It also opens the door to new growth opportunities, like Colossus Connections.”

Founded in 2012, Colossus SSP, as part of Direct Digital Holdings, the only Black-owned, publicly-traded digital advertising technology business in the U.S., is dedicated to fostering diversity in the programmatic marketplace. Colossus SSP is the only minority-owned SSP on the public market, championing fair access for all publishers, regardless of size, ensuring they can attract advertiser budgets despite industry challenges like inventory minimums. By offering the tools, expertise, and customized marketplace solutions to support publishers and advertisers, Colossus SSP drives effective ad campaigns and helps brands and agencies meet diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals in their media buys.