Three years after Kokai, The Trade Desk is betting on refinement with Zuma

The Trade Desk is pushing out another update to Kokai, its buying platform. But don’t expect the same uproar as its last major overhaul three years ago. Unlike then, this one leans on fixes agencies have been asking for rather than forcing them through a disruptive integration.

When Kokai launched, buyers complained they were being forced onto a platform that wasn’t ready for how they actually worked. In turn, they started spending money they would’ve otherwise spent with The Trade Desk elsewhere. That frustration got blamed for the company’s revenue miss since going public, and its stock fell 33% on the news in Q4 2024.

With this update, the plan is to do the opposite.

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The case for and against the ‘programmatic-ification’ of the creator economy

The creator economy is officially trying to build its own ad stack.

It’s probably the most arresting signal that parts of the creator economy are starting to mirror the programmatic ad industry — at least at the infrastructure level. 

Just look at LTK. The creator commerce platform this week rolled out its own AI-powered offering that allows marketers to structure campaigns, identify creators and recommend next steps. 

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