By Ronan Shields • November 21, 2024 •
In its most recent earnings call, The Trade Desk declared 2024 a “banner year for CTV,” a now familiar catch-cry for the company that’s long been the ad tech darling of Wall Street.
The public markets’ curiosities saw the demand-side platform’s stock price tumble in the immediate aftermath of the early November earnings call. Still, yesterday (Nov. 20)’s confirmation of its long-rumored TV operating system, Ventura, has further stirred market intrigue, given the promise of market disruption in 2025.
To recap, Ventura is a new streaming TV operating system designed to enhance the user experience, streamline the CTV ad supply chain, and resolve “content conflicts.”
According to a release from The Trade Desk, Ventura will also contain features like cross-platform discovery, personalization, and fewer (presumably more relevant) ads enabled by tools such as OpenPath and UID 2.
Indeed, the DSP claims Ventura will improve ad ROI and audience targeting for streaming platforms, with streaming service providers such as Disney, Paramount, Tubi, and Sonos all named as supporting partners at launch.
Furthermore, according to the company, The Trade Desk will partner with smart TV original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and other streaming TV aggregators to deploy Ventura in early 2025.
It’s the first time that a pure-play ad tech outfit has made such a move, with The Trade Desk emphasizing a much cleaner supply chain, i.e., minimizing supply chain hops and costs, for streaming TV advertising.
Confirmation of the move may seem to counter some of the language used by The Trade Desk’s CEO, Jeff Green, in recent weeks, but it’s one that’s (predictably) driven speculation over the rollout.
While it’s unlikely for consumers to be presented with Ventura-branded TV sets on the shelves as their local retail outlet — we need only consider the travails of free-to-consumer TV sets Telly when it comes to last-mile logistical challenges.
However, adland actors want to know more about how The Trade Desk intends to resolve “conflicts-of-interest.”
Arguably, a more like-for-like comparison could be the challenges Roku faces as part of its OS rollout; these have included component shortages, shipping and freight issues, increased GTM costs, and device-sales numbers, which will more directly impact The Trade Desk’s bottom line in future should it lean heavily on Ventura to further its CTV footprint.
Meanwhile, OEMs will want to know more about the nature of the incentives The Trade Desk offers to stream service providers in return for greater ad demand, such as just what level of targeting granularity the DSP will be allowed.
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