The Trade Desk

The largest independent demand-side platform, positioned as the open internet's answer to the walled gardens, with particular strength in connected TV, retail data partnerships, and its own identity framework, Unified ID 2.0.

Where ads run

• Connected TV (Disney, NBCU, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, Roku, Samsung, LG, Vizio, and most FAST services through direct deals)
• Open-web display, video, and native across all major exchanges
• Audio (Spotify, SiriusXM, iHeart)
• Digital out-of-home
• Retail media off-site inventory (Walmart, Target, Kroger, Albertsons, and others through data partnerships)
• No access to YouTube, Meta, or Amazon-owned inventory

Campaign types

• Display
• Video and CTV
• Audio
• Native
• DOOH
• Cross-channel with Kokai's AI planning

Targeting

• First-party data via UID2, hashed emails, and pixel
• Third-party data marketplace (the largest of any DSP)
• Retail data segments from retail media partners
• Contextual through Koa and third-party providers
• Cross-device graph
• Brand safety and MFA exclusion through IAS, DV, and TTD's own quality scoring

Buying

Fee is a percentage of media (published platform fee historically around 20 percent of media on open auction, negotiated downward at scale, lower on direct deals), plus data and verification. Self-service for qualified advertisers and agencies with a minimum spend commitment (commonly cited in the low hundreds of thousands per year; verify current terms); many mid-size advertisers access it through an agency seat. OpenPath connects directly to publishers and bypasses SSPs.

Measurement

Third-party ad server integration (CM360, Flashtalking, Innovid), Unified ID 2.0 based attribution, retail media closed-loop sales measurement through partners, clean room integrations, and brand lift through partners.

Watch

The Trade Desk is the standard choice for CTV at scale and for advertisers who want open-web buying independent of Google. Its Kokai interface (2023 onward) rebuilt the platform around AI-driven planning and is now the default. Ventura, its CTV operating system, launched in 2025 and is a bid to influence the supply side as well.

Documentation

https://www.thetradedesk.com/resource-center

See also: benchmarks for typical costs, and the glossary for any term used above.