The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk Inc (TTD) is a global technology company that markets a software platform used by digital ad buyers to purchase data-driven digital advertising campaigns across various ad formats and devices.
Public | |
Traded as | NASDAQ: TTD (Class A) Russell 1000 Index component |
Industry | Digital Marketing, Online Advertising, Software, Software as a Service |
Founded | 2009[1] |
Headquarters | Ventura, California |
Key people | Jeff Green (Founder and CEO), Dave Pickles (CTO and Co-Founder) |
Products | Digital advertising, media buying |
Revenue | $477 million (2018)[2] |
Number of employees | 1,200 |
Website | thetradedesk |
Founded and headquartered in Ventura, California, TTD is the largest independent demand-side platform (DSP) providing real-time ad pricing and placement for advertisers at agencies and brands.[3] The company’s self-service software platform includes integrations with data, inventory, and publisher partners; enterprise APIs facilitate custom development on the platform.
History
The Trade Desk was co-founded in 2009 by Jeff Green, the company's chairman and CEO, and David R. "Dave" Pickles, its chief technology officer (CTO).[4][5] The partners had met at Microsoft,[6] where Pickles worked, after it acquired Green’s real-time, online auction advertising company, AdECN, in 2007.[5]
In 2012, the company was included as an alpha partner in Facebook’s launch of the real-time bidding (RTB) advertising platform, Facebook Exchange.[7]
In 2015, The Trade Desk was named among the top 10 of America’s Most Promising Companies by Forbes; Green and Pickles were also named Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of The Year 2015 in the Greater Los Angeles region.[7][8]
In 2017, The Trade Desk became one of the originators of the OpenRTB SupplyChain, which provides transparency in programmatic buying, enabling buyers to see all selling or reselling parties to a bid request.[9]
In 2018, The Trade Desk launched new AI tools: Koa, an AI forecast engine; Megagon user interface; and The Trade Desk Planner, for mapping strategies. That year, the company also introduced its proprietary unified ID solution, as a free universal cookie identification service.[10][11] In 2018, The Trade Desk was also ranked #2 among the 100 Best Medium Workplaces 2018 by Fortune.[12]
In September 2019, The Trade Desk launched an advertising campaign, “Media for Humankind,” to position itself as a “more transparent digital advertising”[13] alternative to Google and Facebook.[14][15]
Operations
The Trade Desk is the largest,[10] independent programmatic advertising DSP for digital media buyers in the world.[3] Through its real-time bidding technology platform, media buyers can target specific audiences with customized interactions across a variety of formats and devices.[6]
The Trade Desk platform facilitates purchases of digital media on various media networks and sell-side platforms; users can manage digital advertising campaigns in real-time. Enhancements include integration of proprietary first-party and third-party data to optimize campaign efficacy, and a user interface and APIs to build proprietary technology on top of The Trade Desk’s platform.[8]
In 2017, The Trade Desk integrated connected TV buying and measurement directly into its platform;[16] acquired marketing insights firm AdBrain;[17] and partnered with fraud prevention firm White Ops to block fraudulent ad traffic prior to purchase.[16][18]
In July 2019, Amazon opened connected TV (CTV) Apps integrated with Amazon Publisher Services, enabling the purchase of ad inventory for third-party TV content provider The Trade Desk, through Amazon Fire TV devices.[19]
As of December 31, 2018, The Trade Desk employed over 634 people in the United States, with a total of 944 personnel in 23 offices worldwide.[8] As of October 10, 2019, The Trade Desk had 1,200 employees in 23 offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.[20]
The Trade Desk launched its programmatic ad buying platform in China, in 2019, facilitating access to Chinese media companies, such as Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu Exchange Services.[21][22]
Financial
The Trade Desk launched its IPO September 21, 2016,[23] with an initial stock price of $18.00; its IPO closing market price gained to $30.10 per share.[24]
TTD's opening day was reported as a "vote of confidence for the demand-side platform, whose S1 filing revealed healthy financials: Triple digit revenue growth and profitability — rare in a sector that is seeing much of its growth chomped away by the duopoly Google and Facebook."[25] TTD has been cited as one of the best-performing stocks in the market,[26] [27] with its stocks trading at nearly 14 times the IPO price three years later.[26]
In 2017, revenue rose 52 percent to $308 million.[4] In September 2018, the firm had a market cap of $6.2 billion,[28][6] which doubled to $12.37 billion by 2020.[29] Revenue for 2018 rose to $477 million.[21] In 2019, third-quarter revenue was reported as $164 million, attributed to the growth of connected TV advertising.[30] The Trade Desk finished 2019 with a record total spend on the platform of $3.1 billion.[31]
References
- "The Trade Desk".
- "The Trade Desk Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2018 Financial Results". investors.thetradedesk.com. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
- Frankenfield, Joseph (August 15, 2018). "Ad Tech Firm Poised to Surge 50%". Retrieved November 18, 2018.
- Tom Metcalf (31 August 2018). "Ad Man Inspired by Goldman Becomes a Billionaire". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- Chowdhry, Amit. "How Jeff Green Took The Trade Desk From A Simple Idea To A Programmatic Ad Giant". forbes.com. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- Martinez, Arlene (July 21, 2019). "Ventura's The Trade Desk returns to where it all started". Ventura County Star. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
- "The Trade Desk Inc. (TTD), Interview with Jeff Green, CEO". Nasdaq. November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- "The Trade Desk, Inc". UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION. February 22, 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
- "Trade Desk Clashes With Google Over Transparency Initiative". AdExchange. July 22, 2019. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- Shields, Ronan (May 21, 2019). "How The Trade Desk Is Integrating With Prebid to Boost Its Unified ID". Retrieved November 18, 2018.
- "Our industry needs a common cookie language. Let's talk". Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- "100 Best Medium Workplaces". Fortune. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
- Murphy, Paige (September 24, 2019). "The Trade Desk takes aim at Google and Facebook in a new campaign". AdNews. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
- Wodinsky, Shoshana (September 26, 2019). "The Trade Desk Focuses on People, Not Programmatic in Latest Campaign". AdWeek. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
- Graham, Megan (September 26, 2019). "TThe Trade Desk's new ad campaign pokes Google and Facebook in the ribs". AdWeek. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
- Heine, Christopher (September 21, 2017). "The Trade Desk's New Product Helps Advertisers Reach Consumers on TV and Digital". Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- "The Trade Desk acquires the assets of Adbrain Ltd". Reuters. October 25, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- Shields, Ronan (September 1, 2017). "The Trade Desk and White Ops ink deal to block fraudulent traffic before it is bought". The Drum. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- Graham, Megan (July 26, 2019). "The Trade Desk hits 52-week high on deal to sell video ads on Amazon Fire TV". Retrieved November 20, 2019.
- Johnson, Lauren (November 2019). "Meet The Trade Desk's Jeff Green, ad-tech's most loved CEO, who thinks he can save targeted advertising". Business Insider. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- Graham, Megan (May 31, 2019). "This US ad tech company is cracking into the Chinese market, and Wall Street loves it". Retrieved November 18, 2019.
- Jhonsa, Eric (March 26, 2019). "The Trade Desk Remains a Pretty Unique Story – Tech Check". Retrieved November 20, 2019.
- O'Reilly, Lara (September 15, 2016). "Trade Desk CEO hopes IPO will rebuild 'trust' between ad tech companies and Wall Street". Business Insider. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- "UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Form 10-K". SEC.gov. February 16, 2017. p. 46, 88. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
- O'Reilly, Lara (September 21, 2016). "Trade Desk CEO hopes IPO will rebuild 'trust' between ad tech companies and Wall Street". Business Insider. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
- Duberstein, Billy (July 16, 2019). "Is The Trade Desk a Buy?". MotleyFool.com. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
- Shields, Mike (September 21, 2016). "e Trade Desk Surges in First Day of Trading". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
- "TTD:USNASDAQ Trade Desk Inc/The". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- "https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/TTD". The Wall Street Journal. February 2, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2020. External link in
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(help) - Sleffo, George P. (November 7, 2019). "THE TRADE DESK BETS BIG ON CONNECTED TV AS REVENUE JUMPS 38 PERCENT". Ad Age. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
- "The Trade Desk Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2019 Financial Results". The Trade Desk, Inc. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
External links
- Business data for The Trade Desk, Inc.: