Ad tech giant The Trade Desk today announced it is launching its own CTV operating system (OS) called ‘Ventura’, confirming rumours which surfaced this summer. Starting next year, the OS will be deployed by smart TV original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), as well as streaming TV aggregators.
The Trade Desk said Ventura will help solve key issues with current OS in the market, including “frustrating user experiences, inefficient advertising supply chains, and content conflicts-of-interest.”
The company talked up the user experience, with an interface that features cross-platform content discovery, personalisation and subscription management tools. Ventura will also offer “fewer (more relevant) ads”, according to The Trade Desk, although the company provided no point of comparison.
The ad tech firm additionally touted the benefits to advertisers, including a “cleaner supply chain” with fewer intermediaries and lower costs. Ventura will incoporate The Trade Desk’s supply path optimisation (SPO) product OpenPath, alongside its identifier Unified ID 2.0 (UID2), to help advertisers find relevant audiences on connected TV.
“We’re at a point in the evolution of streaming TV where we must ensure the supply chain of streaming TV advertising is competitive and transparent, so advertisers can maximise campaign performance, publishers can fund this new golden age of TV, and consumers have a better streaming TV ad experience,” said Jeff Green, CEO and Founder at The Trade Desk. “This innovation has to come in the OS, and it has to come from a company that brings the objectivity of not owning any streaming TV content. At The Trade Desk, all we want is a fair marketplace, where supply chain costs are minimised, and advertiser trust can thrive.”
“Always on the buy side”
Rumours that The Trade Desk was planning its own OS first circulated back in August, when sources suggested the business was building a product to compete with Roku, Google and Amazon. The Trade Desk did not comment at the time, and CEO Jeff Green appeared to deny the rumours at ExchangeWire’s ATS London conference in September.
When asked about the reports by ExchangeWire’s president and CSO Ciaran O’Kane, Green replied “they are wrong”, though Green might argue he was talking about suggestions that The Trade Desk will be competing with Roku. Green told Axios the company has “no intention of getting into the hardware business”, and is partnering with OEMs to offer the OS instead. “I don’t look at Roku as a competitor,” he said. “I look at them as a partner.”
Ostensibly a demand-side business, The Trade Desk has made moves towards the sell-side in recent years, prompting concerns that the company was encroaching on supply-side platform (SSP) territory. Upon launching OpenPath in 2022, a product enabling publishers to directly integrate with the DSP, Green stated: “The Trade Desk is not entering the supply side of digital advertising, and will not provide supply-side services.”
The CEO restated that commitment at the September event. “We are always the buy side, we we always be on the buy side, we will never own content,” he said. A number of companies that own OS, including Roku and LG, have expanded into owning and operating their own channels.
But Green stressed the need to “obsess about supply chains” without abandoning the buy-side. “We have to make certain that the supply chain of the open internet is better than that of walled gardens,” he said.
The company already has strong relationships with content owners such as Disney, offering advertisers direct access to Disney+ and Hulu inventory. The Trade Desk aims to build on those relationships by owning the TV OS itself.
“As the streaming TV landscape rapidly evolves, we are entering a new paradigm for TV advertising,” said Jamie Power, SVP Addressable Advertising Sales at Disney Advertising. “These trends are driven not only by consumer adoption but also by the innovation in the marketplace. We look forward to seeing The Trade Desk continue to drive innovation that will create more efficiency and a more enjoyable TV experience.”
