TL;DR: Alkimi is not a DSP and does not replace one. It is a neutral agentic marketplace that handles the deal negotiation and governance layer between buy-side agents and publisher supply. US buyers use Alkimi alongside their existing DSP, not instead of it.

The Confusion Around DSPs and Agentic Marketplaces

US programmatic buyers are accustomed to a clear structure: the agency or brand uses a DSP to buy inventory from publishers, mediated by exchanges and SSPs. The DSP is the primary buy-side technology.

When agentic advertising platforms appear, buyers often ask whether they replace the DSP. The answer is no, and understanding why requires understanding what each does.

What a DSP Does

A demand-side platform handles campaign management and auction-based buying. It manages audiences, bids into real-time auctions across multiple exchanges, applies brand safety controls, optimises towards campaign goals, and provides reporting.

The DSP is the buyer's operational platform. It manages the continuous, high-volume, auction-based activity that constitutes most programmatic buying.

What Alkimi Does

Alkimi is a neutral marketplace for agent-to-agent deal negotiation. It sits between buy-side agents (which may be separate from or connected to a DSP) and publisher supply.

When a buyer uses Alkimi, their buy-side agent negotiates deal terms with publisher-side supply through the Alkimi marketplace. The result is a DealSheet: a bilateral deal record held by both buyer and publisher, with a full audit trail.

Once a deal is agreed through Alkimi, the campaign runs against those deal parameters. Delivery, ad serving, measurement, and reporting remain in the buyer's existing systems. Alkimi does not manage campaign execution or handle the continuous bidding process.

The Structural Difference

The clearest way to understand the distinction is this: a DSP manages auctions, Alkimi manages deals.

A DSP bids into exchanges in real time, thousands of times per second, on the buyer's behalf. Alkimi facilitates a negotiated agreement between a buyer agent and a publisher agent, producing a shared deal record before the campaign begins.

These are different problems. One requires high-frequency auction infrastructure. The other requires a negotiation protocol, a deal record layer, and a governance framework.

Most US buyers will continue to need both. Their DSP handles the continuous auction-based buying. Alkimi handles the negotiated deals where bilateral accountability matters.

When to Use Alkimi Alongside Your DSP

Alkimi is most relevant for US buyers in situations where:

Supply path matters. When a buyer wants to reduce intermediary layers and negotiate directly with publisher supply, Alkimi provides the infrastructure for that negotiation.

Deal accountability is required. When a buyer needs a bilateral record of what was agreed, who agreed it, and on what terms, Alkimi's DealSheet provides that. The DSP does not.

Agent-to-agent buying is the goal. When a buyer is deploying autonomous buy-side agents and wants those agents to negotiate directly with publisher agents, rather than just bid in auctions, Alkimi provides the marketplace for that negotiation.

Governance and audit are priorities. When a finance team or compliance function needs to audit programmatic deals at the individual deal level, the DealSheet provides the evidence base. Standard DSP reporting does not.

What Stays in the DSP

Everything related to campaign execution stays in the DSP: audience management, bidding strategy, creative trafficking, viewability controls, frequency management, and post-campaign reporting.

Alkimi does not touch any of this. It handles the deal layer, not the execution layer.

The Practical Implication for US Agency Trading Desks

For US agency trading desks, adopting Alkimi is an infrastructure addition, not a replacement decision. The question is not "Alkimi or our DSP" but "which deals should run through negotiated agentic infrastructure, and which should continue as standard programmatic buys."

The answer will vary by client, by supply relationship, and by campaign type. But for deals where bilateral accountability, direct publisher relationships, and audit trail matter, Alkimi provides what DSPs were not built to provide.