The Trade Desk is at a crossroads. Companies don’t make this many moves unless they see storm clouds on the horizon. Between intensifying competition and a bruised reputation, the pressure is real. Still, the first quarter proved it’s far from faltering. Digiday listened in on the company’s earnings call and spoke with clients, partners and industry insiders to get a read on what’s next — for better or worse.
Getting closer to more advertisers
No surprise here: The Trade Desk is doubling down on direct deals with big advertisers. These joint business plans are essentially structured trading deals and are being struck at an all time high, said CEO Jeff Green. The logic is simple: more deals mean more ad dollars flowing through its pipes — and therefore more opportunities to take a cut. Already, over 40% of the spend on the platform comes from these deals, which are growing 50% faster than overall spend, said Green.
… Just like everyone else in ad tech
Of course, The Trade Desk isn’t the only one chasing closer ties with advertisers. Across the industry, vendors are waking up to the same reality: winning on inventory aggregation or superior data signals is a dead end. The real power lies in controlling ad dollars. That’s why ad tech firms built for publishers are pivoting toward the buy-side, and it’s why agencies that funnel massive budgets into platforms like The Trade Desk are now building their own programmatic marketplaces. Everyone’s scrambling for leverage. The Trade Desk just happens to be a few steps ahead — for now.
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