Trade Desk, Inc. is a global leader in advertising technology, empowering ad buyers to create, manage and optimize digital advertising campaigns across ad formats, channels and devices. The company’s platform provides depth, artificial intelligence capabilities and a rich ecosystem of inventory, publisher and data partner integrations to enable superior reach and decisioning for clients. Trade Desk, Inc. serves advertising agencies, advertisers and other service providers…
Trade Desk, Inc. is a global leader in advertising technology, empowering ad buyers to create, manage and optimize digital advertising campaigns across ad formats, channels and devices. The company’s platform provides depth, artificial intelligence capabilities and a rich ecosystem of inventory, publisher and data partner integrations to enable superior reach and decisioning for clients. Trade Desk, Inc. serves advertising agencies, advertisers and other service providers through ongoing master services agreements, generating revenue primarily through platform fees based on a percentage of client spend and value-added services and data.
Trade Desk, Inc. generates revenue by charging clients a platform fee generally based on a percentage of their total platform spend and from providing value-added services and data to support advertising campaigns. The company’s self-service platform allows clients to purchase digital media programmatically, acquire and use third-party data, integrate proprietary first-party data and utilize AI-powered insights for real-time campaign optimization. Revenue is driven by ongoing master services agreements with advertising agencies, advertisers and service providers, which provide constant platform access and support long-term client relationships.
The company operates through the following segments:
• Demand-Side Platform: This segment provides the core technology enabling advertisers and agencies to plan, execute and measure highly expressive, data-driven campaigns across premium, omnichannel inventory. The platform includes Koa, the AI co-pilot, which processes and analyzes robust data sets to surface insights, optimizations and recommendations for data-driven decisions. Additional features such as Auto Optimization, Advanced Reporting and Analytics Tools, Data Management and Measurement Tools and Private Marketplace Support enhance campaign effectiveness and transparency.
• Data Marketplace: This segment functions as an important distribution channel for third-party data vendors, offering clients access to an extensive selection of data sets to optimize and measure digital advertising campaigns. As of December 31, 2025, the platform was integrated with more than 370 third-party data vendors whose products are available for purchase through the platform. The data marketplace enables clients to acquire and use third-party data, integrate proprietary first-party data and leverage proprietary benchmarking tools and indices for improved campaign performance.
• Publisher Management Platform Marketplace: This segment provides access to services such as the data management platform and publisher management platform marketplace, enabling clients to link digital campaigns to offline sales results or other business objectives. It includes tools like OpenPath, designed to give clients access to quality inventory through a simplified, direct connection to publishers, and PubDesk, a dashboard for publishers to understand buyer behavior and bid pricing. The segment also supports OpenSincera, an open-source tool providing visibility into the ad experience across 400,000 publishers, and OpenAds, which facilitates better transparency and integrity of ad auctions.
Trade Desk, Inc. holds a leading position in the digital advertising industry as an independent demand-side platform focused exclusively on the buy side, differentiating it from competitors that also own and operate media. The company competes based on platform performance, capabilities, transparency, proprietary AI technologies and comprehensive access to premium omnichannel inventory and third-party data vendors. Its open platform approach allows clients to build proprietary advantages through APIs while leveraging a rich ecosystem of third-party providers, reinforcing its competitive edge in a fragmented and highly competitive market.
Trade Desk, Inc. serves advertising agencies, advertisers and other service providers for agencies or advertisers, with whom it enters into ongoing master services agreements. The company’s clients are purchasers of programmatic advertising inventory, value-added services and data, managing budgets independently and served by unique Trade Desk teams. Specific customer names are not disclosed in the filing, but the client base includes global advertising agencies and brands that leverage the platform for omnichannel campaign execution across devices and channels.
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Sector: Communication Services Industry: Advertising Agencies CIK: 0001671933